Pure athleticism stands out more than anything at the NFL Combine. In many cases, it’s the difference between being selected in the first or second half of the draft. Translation: It could make or lose you millions of dollars. Nobody knows how the draft will unfold, so take every measure and answer every question by taking your broad jump off the charts.

The broad jump expresses horizontal power, which is more specific to football motions than vertical power. Vertical power helps you go up for a ball, bat down passes or hurdle defenders; horizontal power helps you cover the full 5300 square yards of the ironed grid. A pure acceleration step expresses horizontal power.

Two NFL Combine Rules To Remember

1. You can’t shuffle or move the feet before you jump; they must remain planted.
2. You must stick the landing without falling backward or forward.

Four Broad Jump Exercises

Bommarito Performance Systems uses the box broad jump as a pure expression of horizontal power, and to soften the impact of landing. Landings put the lower body through excessive joint load you don’t want to consistently repeat. There’s no better way to soften the landing than to jump onto a box, rather than letting gravity take you hard into the ground.

There’s no quick progression. Shoot for micro progression within what a person is able to do at that particular moment. If they can safely land on the box, that’s the proper distance.

Start three feet away from a 30-40-inch-tall box, then micro progress the box higher and the distance farther. Perform it once per week toward the end of the program to soften the joint load and master the technique. The rep range is 1-3 with 4 super sets comprised of heavy or speed squats that will also be your rest period.

How To Execute A Box Broad Jump

The Landmine Linear Jammer is a BPS favorite because it’s a great way to micro progress through an external load of horizontal power. The Landmine Linear Jammer looks a lot like the jump position used for the Box Broad Jump (erect knees, hips and ankles) before the jump.

The energy transfer created from the hips can be extended into the arms. It’s similar to a broad jump when you’re trying to hold the arms up and out for as long as possible, even into the descent before the landing. BPS works on jammers twice per week with 4 sets at 3-5 reps. Take 2-3-minute rest periods between sets to allow the nervous system to recover.

The landmine is a sleeve attached to a rack that a barbell can easily fit into, but can also be on a ground plate. A combat handle attached to opposite end of the barbell is an inexpensive, easy way to train linear power. There needs to be room between the plate and the combat handle (BPS uses PVC pipe as a spacer).

How To Execute A Landmine Linear Jammer

The elevated back lunge is a great single-leg strengthening exercise. There are several single-leg exercises that help you in the broad jump or any other athletic position, but the elevated back lunge is a BPS favorite because:

1. From the back of the position you accelerate the hips forward.
2. The joint load on the back of the leg is extremely important (the stretch reflex through the ankle joint). Elevate to drop your back knee below the front foot.

It’s easy to micro progress the overall load because of the weight on your back. Keep the rep range at 2-6 and perform 4-to-5 sets with 3-to-4-minute rest periods. Perform this twice per week to build maximal strength.

How To Execute An Elevated Back Lunge

The Seated Band Hamstring Curl is simplistic and easy to control. You have to control pure knee flexion without external things like hip flexion and extension getting in the way of what you’re trying to accomplish.

Wrap the band around any type of solid post and micro progress by moving the band up or down. Moving the band creates a different type of arm movement, which adds resistance at different angles.

Attach the band to the post at hip level because it’s easy to control. Loop the band around your leg. As you come back, the load will vary because you’re coming into more band resistance and knee flexion. This exercise can also be done with a machine or a partner. It’s all about isometric control of your pelvis. You don’t want the pelvis to shift; it takes away from the goal of the exercise: to strengthen the knee flexors.

Perform this exercise twice per week with 4-or-5 sets at 2-6 reps and rest for two minutes between each leg to create time under tension.

How To Execute A Seated Band Hamstring Curl

Leaping high into the air can help you become a better football player. High leapers can receive up-for-grabs passes, a Hail Mary, or block a kick, bat down a pass or bound over defenders.

But, NFL scouts agree: the vertical jump is the most overrated test at the NFL Combine. Instead, scouts look for vertical power potential; the vertical jump is just the clearest way to determine it.

Many players go about it all wrong. They practice under a Vertec Vertical Jump Trainer (the device used to test athletes’ vertical power potential). That gets you nowhere. Don’t train for the test, train your body to complete the athletic movement the test tests. Express your true power potential by developing a powerful jumping foundation.

Every move you make in football requires power output. You can’t express an exact motion of power that’s going to be football-specific in terms of tackling and blocking. Start with basic power expressions, build on them and make it sports-specific.

Bommarito Performance Systems teaches vertical jump exercises at the end of a training cycle because they are easiest to learn. BPS loves to use potentiation (power development; increased effectiveness). BPS potentiates power development with heavy, loaded lower-body exercises (split squats and elevated back lunges).

When you develop neural activation (when workouts become routine) go right into power potential exercises. It’s almost like a complex superset. Do a heavy set, immediately followed by one of the power exercises, take a rest period and repeat.

Five Vertical Leap Exercises

The Variable Load Speed Box Squat series is only done once per week. BPS performs it once every 10 days because it’s neurologically taxing. You do yourself a disservice if you try to execute dynamic box squats many times within a set (never do more than two reps during a set). Perform multiple sets (up to 14) with a 1-minute rest period.

Allow the nervous system to regenerate, but never let it fully recover; keep rest periods short. Regeneration allows you to execute the same power potential for every set, to build power endurance over time.

Band tension varies the load on the bar, but not the resistance. If you have 135 pounds on your back while standing, it’s 135 pounds. When you squat down and stand up, it will be 135 pounds plus whatever band tension you have. Going down through the squat releases band tension; the bar becomes lighter at the bottom and heavier at the top. That variable load provides the acceleratory component of concentric power. It’s all about making the bar heavier as you rise from a squat to a standing position.

How To Do A Variable Speed Box Squat

Variable Tempos

Use these tempos to get the most out of the exercise. The first number indicates eccentric action duration, the second indicates the pause duration and the third indicates how fast you rise.

(The X indicates exploding up and the * indicates exploding down)

The arms lead the hips during a jump, just as they do when you run. Teach arm leading with Box Jumps for two reasons:

1. You might not land properly after jumping under a Vertec.
2. You don’t want to continually load your joints by landing on the ground (jumping onto a box softens the blow).

BPS uses box jumps during every lower body day. This technique is invaluable if you’re training for the NFL Combine with only 6-8 weeks of preparation. Keep the reps short at 2-3 jumps per set. Execute 3-10 perfect sets without shuffling your feet through the decent or accent and try to micro progress week-by-week.

How To Execute A Box Jump

Dumbbell Seated Box Jumps are similar to regular box jumps. The only difference: you use pure concentric power, because there is minimal eccentric loading. You begin fully erect and descend into an eccentric load, using the stretch reflex as a huge component. The only stretch during a Dumbbell Seated Box Jump is when your feet slam down into a plyometric action (using a bounding technique and trying to limit ground contact time).

Micro-progress the height of the jump and the weight as you become more experienced with the exercise. Adding weight makes the power expression more challenging and overloads the stimulus. Use weight that allows you to safely execute a jump. Never do more than three Dumbbell Seated Box Jumps at once. Perform one, rest and go again.

How To Execute A Seated Box Jump

The Linear Depth Jump introduces a safe base-line plyometric without much joint loading. A competent base strength, comprised of muscles in the hips, quads and hamstrings, is effective. A solid transfer ties everything together and presents a good opportunity to time arm rip (arms leading the legs out of the jump).

Implement the Linear Depth Jump during the latter phases, after you’ve built a solid foundation. BPS adds Linear Depth Jumps during the last 2-3 weeks of a training period.

How To Execute A Linear Depth Jump

Floor Glute Ham Raises strengthen knee flexors. It can be performed with no equipment (a partner can hold your ankles down).

Eccentric loading during this exercise is crucial for pelvis control (watch for excessive hip flexion). Starting on a leg curl machine or doing glute ham raises helps hip flexion, but you want to maintain that hip flexion as you go through the knee flexion and extension exercise.

That type of control is important and easy (use yourself as resistance). It helps people to micro-progress through the exercise. Knee flexion strength can be related to almost every athletic motion, but it’s extremely important to maximize jumping ability.

How To Execute A Floor Glute Ham Raise