If you want to jump high, you need to make sure your muscles are strong and working well.
Heavy strength training is a HUGE part of this equation. Specifically, doing exercises to build stronger glutes, quads, hamstrings and calves is a vital part of training your body to jump higher.
But, as much press as those groups of muscles get, there are a couple groups of muscles that you never hear about that can have a tremendous impact on your jumping ability.
What are these muscles?
The muscles that bend and straighten your toes.
The muscles that bend and straighten your toes can have a huge impact on how well your foot and ankle are able to move.
When it comes to jumping (and landing), being able to efficiently plantar flex (point your foot down) and dorsiflex (point your foot up) as well invert and evert your foot are crucial to being able to have a solid foundation to plant off of and a powerful and rigid lever to propel yourself up off the ground.
The muscles that control your toes have a great ability to help with each of these motions.
If you aren’t strengthening your toe muscles directly, this is a huge potential source of improved athletic performance for you!
In my experience over the last 13 years, nothing has been more effective at strengthening all the different toe muscles directly than Muscle Activation Techniques®.
Yes, you can do general exercises for the toes, but the specificity of MAT® is unmatched.
Furthermore, if your toe muscles aren’t working well to begin with (which for most athletes they aren’t…), trying to do general exercises for the toes can create more issues than are solved.
Through the MAT® process, every single one of the 50 muscles in your feet and toes can be assessed and strengthened directly.
Once your toe muscles are strong and functioning well, doing more general strengthening exercises for your feet and toes can be extremely beneficial. But, if the muscles in your feet and toes that you are trying to strengthen aren’t working well before you try to strengthen them, that is when many foot, ankle, and Achilles issues can start to occur.
So, to build stronger muscles of your feet and toes, the first step is Muscle Activation Techniques®. MAT® can specifically strengthen every single one of your toe muscles, helping you to take your vertical (and your game) to new heights.
If you would like to have the muscles of your feet and toes (and throughout the rest of your body) assessed with MAT®, you can book your initial MAT® consultation and assessment with here by clicking here.
Charlie
Charlie Cates is the leading consultant to high-level professional, college, and high school basketball players in the Chicagoland area for injury prevention, recovery, and muscle performance.
As one of Chicago’s most sought-after Muscle Activation Techniques® practitioners, he is certified in the highest levels of MAT®, including MATRx, MATRx Stim, and MAT® Athlete.
A former college basketball player, he uses his personal experience and understanding of the game and player demands to create customized exercise options for his clients to recover faster and perform their best.
He sees clients in-studio at Muscle Activation Schaumburg as well as in-home.
You can schedule your MAT® assessment with him by clicking here, and be sure to follow him on Instagram at @CharlieCates!
