This week’s guest is Jon Hinds, owner of Monkeybar gym chain, with its HQ in Madison, Wisconsin. Jon is the son of Bobby Hinds, founder of Lifeline USA, a prolific trainer and exercise inventor in his own right. You can say that working out is in Jon’s blood. Jon is a former NBA strength and conditioning coach and training consultant for the NFL and MBA.
One of the things Jon is known best for is vertical jump training. He is a master of the use of the power jumper, as we’ll get into this episode. In Jon’s own training, he reached a very high vertical jump, and routinely trains athletes towards 8” gains on their own vertical leap through a unique system. What’s most impressive is that he does so without pushing barbell training, but rather emphasizes training based on movement abilities, band resistance, and descending power sets.
By listening to Jon talk, there are a lot of implications to be made in regards to the way we as humans learn and adapt skills. Jon’s thoughts on the priority of movement skill (sprinting and jumping being a skill) over barbell lifting numbers is definitely something I am in agreement with. The way things like the power jumper overload running jumps is really interesting to consider since it is a more specific overload than what most traditional plyometric exercises have to offer. The more I learn about sport, the more I realize that the way we force the brain to react to our environment dictates our sprint and jump results much more than cueing movements and lifting weights.
Jon has been doing jump training for 25 years, and it’s great to have a wealth of practical information on the podcast.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 39:55 — 31.9MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | Pandora | iHeartRadio | JioSaavn | Podchaser | Gaana | Email | Deezer | Anghami | RSS
Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more.
Key Points:
- Jon’s background in the field, with NBA basketball, and how he got to where he is now
- Jon’s basic philosophy on movement and power in sport
- Types of resistances for vertical jump training
- Weight belts vs. power jumper cords in vertical jump training
- Jon’s thoughts on plyometric training and depth jumps
- Drills for athletic alignment
- The scope of Jon’s resistance training component of his work
Quotes:
“You didn’t need any requirements (to be an NBA strength coach back in the 1980’s)”
“Perfect the technique, and then lightly resist it”
“You don’t want to interfere with technique by loading it too much, and if you stay within those parameters, you improve speed”
“My objective on the field is not “what’s my squat, what’s my clean”, my objective on the field is “what’s my vertical, what’s my speed”.”
“The cable works superior to dead weight in (vertical jump training), I think it has to do with the pre-load effect”
“For my jump training program, I do 2 days per week, and about 30-40 jump reps per workout”
About Jon Hinds
Jon is currently the Owner and Founder of the Monkey Bar Gym franchise. He is also the Vice President of LifelineUSA, a global leader in fitness innovation and product distribution. Jon is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, the National Academy of Sports Medicine and is certified by the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Jon is also a writer and contributor to a variety of major sports publications and periodicals
Jon Hinds is a former NBA strength and conditioning coach and is a training consultant for the NFL and MBA. He has trained over one hundred pro athletes and has also worked with renowned motivational speaker Tony Robbins (Please don’t hold this one against him 😉 In addition an incredibly successful trainer, Jon is an outstanding athlete and some of his personal accomplishments include
- Gold Medallist in the 2000 Pan American Games – Brazilian Jiu-jitsu
- Gold Medallist in the 2001 Rickson Gracie World Championships – Brazilian Jiu-jitsu
- At 6’1” and 215 lbs. could do every dunk imaginable and took his vertical from a modest 25” to 42” in a span of months, hitting his elbow easily on the rim. Still dunking at age 45!
- Did 1,000 push ups in 40 minutes at age 40
- Did 500 push ups in 12 minutes at age 43
Free Speed Training eBook - Velocity 101
Improving speed is one of the most popular topics in the athletic performance equation. Where there are many ideas and thoughts out there, as to particular training exercises, or setups, the more core aspects of speed training often go without mention. These include the fundamental aspects of what makes an athlete fast, specific sprint-power concepts, the relevance of "3D" motion, motor learning and more.
Velocity 101 will help you take a leap forward in understanding of what makes athletes fast, and how to train it effectively