Originally Posted by
Hermes
@
globecanvas I was at the gym and saw a guy doing box jumps to a 24 inch box. He took off on two legs and landed on one and went into a pistol shot position with his free leg straight out in front. He did a set of back squats and then back to jumping and used a 12 inch box to jump with one leg and land in the same pistol shot position. He had great form and balance. I do pistol shot one leg stuff but no one leg jumps or landings. BTW, I would not do one leg jumps due to too much risk if I miss the landing or jack my back or knee on the take off but this guy seemed to have it down.
That's interesting. For one leg jumps I alternate between landing with the free leg behind or out front pistol squat style. I do them on a 12 inch box (started at 20, then 16, now 12 - actually I am jumping off a 4" block onto a 16" box because I don't have a good 12" surface). I did a few years of ballet and modern dance performance after college so I feel like I have decent body control, although that was 25 years ago so the control is not unconscious, it takes mental effort.
I really concentrate on preloading and then jumping as if the box were a few inches higher. It still feels risky, because any lack of focus causes the jumps to get lazy, and complacently jumping just high enough to clear the top of the box is where the risk is. As a result the workout is mental in addition to physical. I've had 3 botched one leg jumps out of probably about a thousand, no real damage but it does cause a definite sense of relief when I get through a set without incident. I always do the one leg jumps first because afterwards, jumping off 2 legs is practically relaxing, mentally speaking.
I will try jumping off two legs and landing on one. But it's the jump that feels like the important fast twitch training, the landing feels more like typical leg strength work a la squats.