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Training Equipment:
Strength® Weighted Vest and Shorts
Now I personally have these and use them for ALOT of things. They work good for everything from adding weight in plyometrics
to making my boxing conditioning workouts more intense. The best part is that its very fitting. My old weight vest "All pro
contour foam" was big and bulky and would bounce around whenever I moved like a fat girl wearing a shirt 3 sizes too small.
Strength Vests are made sort of like a scuba diving suit where its real right on your body help by a belt and zipper but at
the same time the weights aren't digging into your ribs. Go workout, run, whatever. I would think the purpose of this
"suit" is that you don't necessarilly need to change your workout to see greater gains. The added weight, of which you can
purchase additional units when you are ready, is placed strategically with becoming clunky. Don't expect results overnight
but trust me, this vest and shorts set does help.
Result: Worth the Buy
Jumpsoles from JUMPUSA
JumpUSA
140 South Whisman Rd.
Mountain View, CA 94041
Cost $99.90 plus $8.62 continental U.S. shipping
Toll free phone
: 1-800-JUMP-USA (586-7872)
JumpuSA Jumpsoles at a discounted price.
Jumpsoles are probably one of the most popular vertical leap devices to come along in a while. Everyones heard the stories
of 5'6 guys strapping on jumpsoles and in a month hes throwing down windmill dunks. Again, I've had these for a
while and I just dont see it. First off the program is mostly basic plyometrics combined with light weight lifting. Jumpsoles
focus most of the plyo stress on you've calves assuming that you'll develop a 50 inch vertical just by doing overstressed
calf raises. Partially true since people say a good amount of explosivness comes from your achilles tendon which gets a good
stretch from these. The down side is most of your vertical comes from your hips and hamstrings, not your calves. The workouts
pretty simple, and basic, few rim jumps, bounding, weighted lunges etc.. So you'd still gain even without the jumpsoles.
Result: Go with the weight vest first.
Speed Trainers
Speed TrainersKolka Equipment LLC. 6346 Orchard Lake Rd. Suite #10 West Bloomfield, Michigan 48322 Cost $59.95 plus $9.95 continental
U.S. shipping Toll free phone : 1-800-626-6866
Pretty straight forward. Work on your form while strengthing key running muscles. Maybe NFL players use these along with
Parachutes to work on their speed and I've heard they work pretty well. I myself have not used them yet as I'm waiting to
hear from the owner but my friend Miles Austin who recently signed with the Dallas
Cowboys used them to drop his 40 yard time while training for the 06 NFL combine. Also their not that expensive running
you about 60 dollars plus shipping.
Result: Worth the buy
Sky King Calf and Ankle Isolator
Not going to lie, when I first read about this in slam magazine I thought it was a joke. How could
this be any different then doing normal calf raises with a barbell or on a seated calf machine which are a piece of cake.
WRONG WRONG WRONG!! Anyone who has issues with rolled ankles should invest in this. I bought both
the ankle and calf isolators and I was more then impressed. Now as someone who does track,football and basketball plus workouts
out 5 days a week, my calves are very above average when it comes to strength but after trying the calf Isolater it quickly
showed I had more work to do. The coils that come with it are much harder then the weights since the position your in eliminates
any other body part helping move them. Even after doing calf raises for years I had trouble finishing the workout when I first
got the isolator. The workout consists of calf raises in 3 different positions (forward, toes out and toes in) and take maybe
30 minutes. You don't feel too bad although I don't recommend you go play basketball right after a workout (I tried it, got
a fast break and my legs were so dead from the workout I had a larry hughes moment and completey clanged a dunk off the front
of the rim). The only 2 downsides I see with this are 1. The price, kind of steep but not much
different than most things you can buy now for your vertical
2. If you have weak arches, using this KILLS. Eventually your arches will
get stronger (took me a few months) but until then I could barely do all the sets because of arch pain (I have like no arch
so too much stress on it hurts alot)..
Result: If you have the money, get it
The Basketball Intelligym: Think Faster, Play Better
Call 1-800-575-4223
Basketball IntelliGym Personal Edition:$99.95
Basketball IntelliGym Personal Edition Gold:$189.95
Ah the Intelligym. A interesting idea...but does it work? The owners were kind enough to send me a copy to find out for
myself. Thats already a good sign that they were 100% sure about their product, most companies wouldn't do that. So I
tested it out. At first it seemed kind of odd. It comes across as your basic Atari type games but the whole idea is the situations
that the game puts you in helps work the same brain patterns that you would used in your real life basketball games. I know,
it sounds pretty futuristic but after getting the hang of it, I can kind of believe it. I havn't had it turn me into Chris
Paul yet but I can easily see a difference during games with my decision making skills. It is already helping me make smarter
choices and seeing the easiest way to make a play without forcing things or really slowing down and hesitating. I'd recommend
it to serious players or coaches in a heartbeat (2x if your a point guard). I wouldn't recommend it though if your just average
joe who doesn't really take it serious cuz you'd probably be wasting your time but its a must for college players. When I
get a chance I'll put up some before and after stats. Another big plus, the people who run the site are very responsive and
have no problem answering your questions through emails and such.
The only downside is:
1. You have to do it 2-3 times a week 80% of younger athletes won't do that because
most just aren't dedicated.
2. Like i said, it reminds me of Atari, and the sounds are kind of annoying but they make
sure you know if your doing the right thing or not so its a MUST.
Result: Get it, its worth it, it helps, and its easy to use.
The Vertical Project
Email (no phone number given):TheVerticalProject.com
I, Bron have not personally done "The Vertical Project".
I get Lukes newletters and between reading that and talking to people who have used it, I don't think its worth the buy.
But to be completely fair, one of the guys I train has used it, twice actually, so I had him write this review.
"Here is my review of The Vertical Project, For those of you that don't know, there
is a product out on the internet called "the vertical project", Basically a product that they claim they can "double
your vertical leap or your money back," now this product does not come cheap, I bought it last march when
it was $150, but recently the owner, Luke Lowrey, raised the price to 250. This product is very difficult to understand to
the average athlete, and it centers around basically an eating and recovery plan which luke calls "the window plan" . It starts
1 hour and 30 minutes before you work out and ends 3 hours after you work out. In short, before the workout all you do is
eat a certain meal and take a certain supplement. After the workout you have meals at different times, take two showers doing
cryotherapy (shower switching between hot and cold), do oxygen drills to help strengthen your respiritatory system, and stretch
3 times. The workouts for the most part consist of high volume low weight style of training, with a few max effort excersises
such as deadlift holds and bench press holds, you workout six times a week, and generally the workouts last an hour to an
hour and 30 minutes. Now enough advertising, lets get to the neccesary information. Ok, well this product has two main claims
to 1. double your vert. or your money back and 2. that you will gain 6 inches in 60 days or your money
back. Here was my experience with the product. I did the product twice, once right before the summer of 2006, and the
2nd time was right after the summer of 2006. The 1st time after 3 weeks i gained 3 inches, i was excited, then as i finished
the program and tested my vertical leap i found that i only gained 2 inches. Then during the 2nd time i did TVP i gained 1
inch. Now i will be the 1st to tell you the customer service is horrible once you are asking for a lot of help, before the
product i would get answers to my e-mails within a few hours, once i had the product and started asking questions i would
get e-mails once a week at most. Now, since i hadn't lived up to their gurantees i asked for my refund, they waited a few
weeks and sent me a reply which without going into a lot of detail they said that they werent going to give me my refund because
it had been past their gurantee. I sent my refund question a few weeks before the 90 days, yet they neglected to reply until
the "90 day gurantee" was over. Now I am not an Einstein but it doesnt take a month to get an e-mail and reply to it when
before I could get a response within a few hours. And for the window plan, generally speaking, most people run on a tight
schedule, let alone have 5 hours of their afternoon to give to working out. However I made the sacrifice because I am commited,
but commitment can only take you so far when you are getting scammed out of your money. Luke has two big claims of note. 1. he says he has helped 9 "average-Joe" athletes get over a 50 inch vertical leap, and he claims at a certain
point in time he had over a 40 inch vertical leap and was getting recruited by many big colleges in the u.s., yet he has no
video-proof of him or his athletes doing big things. 2. he claims to have a "secret-vertical leap exercise" which are
basically just ankle hops with jumpsoles and ankle weights, i went through that program too and gained a whopping total
of 0 inches! This is my review of TVP, and although I know I will not get my refund, I am interested in helping others who
want to get better athletically, and there are way better things that you can be doing than getting scammed by such punks
like Luke Lowrey."
Result: Don't get it. Costs way too much with
evidence to back up the over the top claims
minus testimonials he could have easily
posted himself.
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