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KB1992 · #1 (**permalink**) 11-08-2007, 05:35 PM

do you guys have any tips or exercises that will strengthen the shin muscles? any help will be appreciated

Lazarus · #2 (**permalink**) 11-08-2007, 06:26 PM

Read and learn... READ THE WHOLE THING!:

Quote:

Lower Leg Jump Training
Lower leg training is one of the most overlooked areas when trying to maximize an athletes vertical jump. The reason for this is that most people only think of the jumping muscles as being the big work horses in the upper legs of the glutes, quads and hamstrings.
However, in order to fully achieve your jumping potential it is important to provide some training stimulus to the calves, shins, ankles and feet. Lower leg training is even more important if you do a lot of single leg jumps, or jumps off the run as these movements receive higher input from the muscles and tendons below the knee.

How Do You Train The Lower Leg?
As is the case with all vertical leap training, the key principles of muscle balance, explosiveness, and specificity need to be applied. The lower leg for the purposes of jump training is basically made up of the calves (gastrocnemius and soleus) and the shins (anterior tibialis), as well as the Achilles tendon. The calves are the biggest and most powerful of these muscle groups and this is the area where the majority of your training will focus.
If you contract your shins and point your toes upwards this is known as dorsiflexion. If you contract your calves resulting in your toes being pointed down, this is planter flexion. When you push off the ground as you are jumping your toes naturally point down in a planter flexion fashion. Specificity of training therefore dictates that we need to explosively train the planter flexion movement.

This can be done in a number of ways including the various types of calf raises, or as part of a follow through movement at the end of a squat. The nature of the planter flexion movement in calf training also requires the muscles and tendons in the ankles and feet to contribute.

Maximizing your jumping potential isn’t just about developing your calves however. To ensure full development, and also to help prevent muscle imbalance related injuries, you also need to train the shin muscles. This can be slightly trickier, but none the less, doing so is a vital component of your lower leg training.

Training your shins is done in the opposite way to training calves, i.e. by contracting your muscles via dorsiflexion. One of the simplest and most effective ways to add resistance to your dorsiflexion is to attach a jump stretch band to a non-moveable object.

Once that is done you sit down with your legs outstretched in front of you and place your foot into the loop of the band. Now you simply stretch and contract the shin muscles by moving your toes away and towards your body.

Some other things you can do to development the lower leg for vertical jumping is incorporate the use of training aids such as Jump Soles or a Sky King Calf Isolator. Both these aids really target the lower leg nicely and can produce some decent gains.

How Much Lower Leg Work Should You Do?
This is a question that causes much debate in vertical training circles. The simple answer is – not that much. The reality is that the lower leg does already get a lot of direct and indirect attention from many jump related exercises.
Having said that, some key drivers of your jump, including the Achilles tendons, are situated below the knee, so a certain amount of training is indeed beneficial.

On top of that, lower leg training helps ensure there are no weaknesses in your triple extension (the extension and straightening out of the three main joints used for jumping - the hips, knees and ankles).

There are a number of theories about the best way to include lower leg emphasis into your program. You can target them specifically through various calf and shin exercises. Alternatively you can incorporate the work through some minor adjustments to your technique such as exploding up onto your toes out of the squats for example.

In your jumping/plyometrics sessions, lower leg training may be as simple as including jumps that involve minimal knee bend, or even more simply, good old fashioned hopping. Hopping in particular is very effective and highly recommended for not only its ability to target the lower leg, but to generate a single leg plyometric response.

Another question you should ask yourself when deciding how much lower leg work to do is how much one leg jumping does your sport require. The more one leg jumping you do, the more emphasis you should place on your lower leg training.

Conclusion
Lower leg training needn’t take up a whole lot of your precious training time or recovery capacity, but it is important if you want to jump as high as possible. Incorporating a balanced approach that focuses on training your areas of weakness will yield positive results to not only your vertical leap, but your overall athletic performance.

btw, found think link on youtube and thought it could/would be beneficial: http://youtube.com/watch?v=diDwjLN1UEU

Vrt4u · #3 (**permalink**) 11-08-2007, 06:44 PM

Yes I agree with most of that. I have used bungee cords to work my shins. I have also weighted my foot down and then pointed my toes up. Kind of like a reverse calf raise. I think I first heard about this from Bionic Plyometrics.