DETERMINANTS OF THE ABILITIES TO JUMP HIGHER AND SHORTEN THE CONTACT TIME IN A RUNNING 1-LEGGED VERTICAL JUMP IN BASKETBALL

KEN MIURA, MASAYOSHI YAMAMOTO, HIROYUKI TAMAKI,

National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya, Kagoshima, Japan
AND

KOJI ZUSHI

ABSTRACT
Miura, K, Yamamoto, M, Tamaki, H, and Zushi, K. Determinants of the abilities to jump higher and shorten the contact time in a running 1-legged vertical jump in basketball. J Strength Cond Res 24(1): 201206, 2010This study was conducted to obtain useful information for developing training techniques for the running 1-legged vertical jump in basketball (lay-up shot jump). The ability to perform the lay-up shot jump and various basic jumps was measured by testing 19 male basketball players. The basic jumps consisted of the 1-legged repeated rebound jump, the 2-legged repeated rebound jump, and the countermovement jump. Jumping height, contact time, and jumping index (jumping height/contact time) were measured and calculated using a contact mat/computer system that recorded the contact and air times. The jumping index indicates power. No signicant correlation existed between the jumping height and contact time of the lay-up shot jump, the 2 components of the lay-up shot jump index. As a result, jumping height and contact time were found to be mutually independent abilities. The relationships in contact time between the lay-up shot jump to the 1-legged repeated rebound jump and the 2-legged repeated rebound jump were correlated on the same signicance levels (p , 0.05). A signicant correlation for jumping height existed between the 1-legged repeated rebound jump and the lay-up shot jump (p , 0.05), although none existed for jumping height between the lay-up shot jump and both the 2-legged repeated rebound jump and countermovement jump. The lay-up shot index correlated more strongly to the 1-legged repeated rebound jump index (p , 0.01) when compared to the 2-legged repeated rebound jump index (p , 0.05). These results suggest that the

1-legged repeated rebound jump is effective in improving both contact time and jumping height in the lay-up shot jump.

KEY WORDS lay-up shot jump, 1-legged repeated rebound

jump, training technique

INTRODUCTION

Address correspondence to Ken Miura, k-miura@nifs-k.ac.jp. 24(1)/201206 Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 2010 National Strength and Conditioning Association

n basketball, improving jumping abilities markedly enhances individual competitive performance. In basketball, players most often jump when shooting and rebounding. When shooting, a player must dribble the ball while avoiding defenders and follow the rules of basketball without traveling, and then put the ball through the basket. Additionally, depending on defender actions, a shooter must decide whether to jump with 1 or 2 legs. The most common example of shooting with a 1-legged takeoff on an approach run is to drive to the basket and shoot a lay-up; the most common example of shooting with a 2-legged takeoff on an approach run is to drive to the basket and shoot a jump shot. A dunk may be performed with either a 1-legged or a 2-legged takeoff. These jumping abilities involve jumping height and contact time. In competition, if an offensive player can jump high and quickly, then this player is more likely to disrupt the timing of defenders (10), draw a foul, and shoot the ball. When comparing running 1-legged and 2-legged vertical jumps, there is no marked difference in jumping height, but a running 1-legged vertical jump has a shorter contact time (16,21). In studies on the running 1-legged vertical jump, there have been reports on the high jump and long jump in track and eld, but because people compete for height and distance in these athletic events, there have not been many studies that analyzed contact time as 1 of the factors determining jumping performance (2,13,14). Any movement that exerts explosive power, such as the running 1-legged vertical jump, is referred to as a ballistic movement, and its neurological control mechanisms are different from movements that take a relatively long time to execute, such as the running 2-legged vertical jump in which the knees are exed deeply (6). Additionally, in the running 1-legged vertical jump, motor unit mobilization and neurological stimulation of muscles enable quick movements (9,17). From the viewpoint of muscle contraction, the running 1-legged vertical jump is a stretch-shortening cycle
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movement characterized by a high level of eccentric muscle contraction occurring immediately after landing, which is immediately followed by concentric muscle contraction. The stretch-shortening cycle facilitates the regulatory mechanism of nerves, muscles, and tendons in terms of the stretch reex mechanism (9) and elastic energy storage and reuse (1,4,5). It exerts a large amount of force quickly from the beginning and improves motor efciency. This information suggests that the running 1-legged vertical jump in basketball requires comprehensive abilities to efciently carry out ballistic and stretch-shortening cycle movements. With the drop jump, in which a person jumps off of a stand, lands, and then immediately jumps, and with the repeated rebound jump, in which a person successively and quickly jumps vertically (19,22), a basic jumping index that was calculated based on contact time and jumping height (jumping height/contact time) has been used to assess ballistic stretchshortening cycle movements (23,24). Many studies on basketball players have analyzed jumping techniques (11,12,26), but there have only been a few studies that measured a jumping index (3). In the present study, the aforementioned assessment method was applied to assess the abilities to jump higher and shorten the contact time of the running 1-legged vertical jump in an attempt to ascertain determination factors and efcacy. In addition, we compared basic jump performances, in which the subject was asked to jump in different techniques, with the running 1-legged vertical jump performance. These basic jumps were performed without an approach run and were classied by the combination or 2-legged or 1-legged takeoff with deep or shallow knee bending. The hypotheses were that a subjects ability to perform a running vertical jump in basketball could be effectively assessed with the jumping index; that there is a basic jump that is effective in improving both contact time and jumping height, the 2 components of the jumping index in the running 1-legged vertical jump; and that the basic jump is a jumping technique resembling the running 1-legged vertical jump motion.
Subjects

Subjects were 19 male university basketball team players who were selected to play in a national collegiate tournament (32 teams) in Japan in 2006. Their mean (6SD) height was 176.9 6 7.0 cm, body weight was 68.9 6 7.3 kg, and age was 19.6 6 1.3 years. All subjects had played basketball for at least 5 years. The subjects volunteered to participate in this study. The subjects were tested after 1 week in a major collegiate tournament. No subjects were currently suffering any lowerextremity injury that would prevent them from completing the testing jumps. All subjects were informed of the experimental risks and signed an informed consent document prior to the investigation. This investigation was approved by an Institutional Review Board for the use of human subjects.
Procedures

In LSJ, the subject was placed 6 m from the center of the basket (height: 3.05 m) and was asked to take 2 steps and jump with a 1-legged takeoff for a lay-up without the basketball. In the present study, tests were conducted without the basketball to eliminate various constraint conditions, and this allowed the subjects to fully concentrate on jumping.

TABLE 1. Jump performances in LSJ, ORRJ, TRRJ, and CMJ (Mean 6 SD).* Parameter LSJ LSJh (cm) LSJtc (ms) LSJindex (m/s) ORRJ ORRJh (cm) ORRJtc (ms) ORRJindex (m/s) TRRJ TRRJh (cm) TRRJtc (ms) TRRJindex (m/s) CMJ CMJh (cm) Mean 6 SD 58.6 6 5.3 217.5 6 19.7 2.715 6 0.4 26.0 6 2.3 273.6 6 39.3 0.974 6 0.2 43.6 6 5.4 177.6 6 20.7 2.486 6 0.4 50.5 6 5.4

METHODS
Experimental Approach to the Problem

Each subject was asked to perform several jumps: a lay-up shot jump (LSJ), in which the subject ran toward the basket and jumped with a 1-legged takeoff for a basketball lay-up shot, and basic jumps in which the subject was asked to jump in different ways. The types of basic jumps were countermovement vertical jump (CMJ), 2-legged repeated rebound jump (TRRJ), and 1-legged repeated rebound jump (ORRJ). The independent variables in this study were maximum jumping height, contact time, and jumping index in LSJ. The dependent variables in this study were maximum jumping height; contact time (except for CMJ); and jumping index (except for CMJ) in CMJ, TRRJ, and ORRJ.

*Results of signicant differences are as follows (n = 19). Jumping height: LSJ.CMJ.TRRJ.ORRJ (p , 0.001). Contact time: TRRJ,LSJ,ORRJ (p , 0.001). Jumping index: LSJ.TRRJ (p , 0.05), LSJ.ORRJ and TRRJ.ORRJ (p , 0.001). LSJ = Lay-up shot jump; LSJh = jumping height for LSJ; LSJtc = Contact time for LSJ; LSJindex = jumping index for LSJ. ORRJ = One-legged repeated rebound jump; ORRJh = jumping height for ORRJ; ORRJtc = Contact time for ORRJ; ORRJindex = jumping index for ORRJ. TRRJ = Two-legged repeated rebound jump; TRRJh = jumping height for TRRJ; TRRJtc = Contact time for TRRJ; TRRJindex = jumping index for TRRJ. CMJ = Countermovement jump; CMJh = Jumping height for CMJ.

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Additionally, the subjects were asked to run toward the basket indicated as TRRJh, ORRJh, LSJh, and CMJh, respectively. so that they could maximize their jumps (7,1315). All Jumping index was calculated by dividing the jumping height subjects took off on the leg opposite from the hand used for by the corresponding contact time (jumping height/contact shooting the basketball. The subjects were instructed to time) and indicates power. The jumping index for TRRJ, ORRJ, imitate a lay-up and jump as high as possible. and LSJ were indicated as TRRJindex, ORRJindex, and In basic jumps, the subjects were asked to perform CMJ and repeated rebound jumps (RRJ) (19,22). The CMJ was the vertical jump from an erect standing position with a preliminary countermovement. In this test, the subjects were instructed to jump as high as possible. The RRJ were repeated vertical jumps with a rebound movement similar to bouncing a ball and were performed with 2 legs (TRRJ) or 1 leg (ORRJ). In this test, the subjects were instructed to jump as fast and as high as possible. Before measurements were taken, the subjects sufciently practiced these jumps. Jumping heights and contact times (except for CMJ) were measured using a contact mat/ computer system (8,19,24). In each test, the subjects jumped on a contact mat (66 3 100 cm). In LSJ, because takeoff and landing sites markedly differed, 2 mats were placed near the takeoff site and 4 mats were placed near the landing site. The contact mat/computer system read the ON and OFF signals during foot contact on the ground and the ight of the body in milliseconds. Contact, takeoff, and landing times were recorded to calculate contact time (Tcon, sec) and air time (Tair, sec). The contact times for TRRJ, ORRJ, and LSJ were indicated as TRRJtc, ORRJtc, and LSJtc, respectively. Jumping height was calculated using the free-fall formula (H = 1/8 g Tair2). Furthermore, g was gravitational acceleration with a value of 9.81 m/sec2. The Figure 1. Relationships among lay-up shot jump index (LSJindex), contact time (LSJtc), and jumping height (LSJh) jumping heights for TRRJ, in lay-up shot jumps. ORRJ, LSJ, and CMJ were
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LSJindex, respectively. These data were immediately displayed and feedback was provided after each trial. Tests were invalid if the feet were off the mats. In LSJ and CMJ, 3 valid measurements were taken and data from the highest jumps were used (19). In TRRJ and ORRJ, the subjects swung their arms to continuously perform 5 repeated rebound jumps (19,22) and each test was repeated twice. From 10 measurements, the highest jumping index was used for analysis (19).
Statistical Analyses

Numerical data were expressed as mean 6 SD. One-way analFigure 2. Relationship of lay-up shot jump index (LSJindex) to 1-legged repeated rebound jump index (ORRJindex) ysis of variance (ANOVA) was and 2-legged repeated rebound jump index (TRRJindex). Relationship of contact time (LSJtc) to ORRJtc and used to compare data among TRRJtc. Relationship of jumping height (LSJh) to ORRJh, TRRJh, and countermovement jump height (CMJh). the different jumping tests. Items with signicant F values were further subjected by Scheffe multiple comparison height. Regarding jumping index, a signicant correlation analysis. Pearson correlation analysis was used to compare existed between ORRJindex and LSJindex (r = 0.614, p , parameters. In all analyses, the level of signicance was set at 0.01) and between TRRJindex and LSJindex (r = 0.509, p , p , 0.05. The within-session reliability for each variable was 0.05). Regarding contact time, a signicant correlation calculated with an intraclass correlation coefcient (LSJh, existed between ORRJtc and LSJtc (r = 0.472, p , 0.05) R = 0.818; LSJtc, R = 0.886; LSJindex, R = 0.861; TRRJh, R = and between TRRJtc and LSJtc (r = 0.567, p , 0.05). 0.849; TRRJtc, R = 0.797; TRRJindex, R = 0.846; ORRJh, R = Regarding jumping height, a signicant correlation existed 0.718; ORRJtc, R = 0.780; ORRJindex, R = 0.839; CMJh, between ORRJh and LSJh (r = 0.570, p , 0.05). However, no R = 0.928). signicant correlation existed between TRRJh and LSJh (r = 0.305, ns) or between CMJh and LSJh (r = 0.360, ns).

RESULTS
Comparison of LSJ, ORRJ, TRRJ, and CMJ Measurements

DISCUSSION
In the present study, we rst compared LSJ, a typical running 1-legged vertical jump in basketball, to basic jumps that are generally used to assess jumping abilities (Table 1). The results showed that the LSJh was signicantly higher than those for the basic jumps and the LSJindex was also signicantly higher. Hence, LSJ was the jumping technique with the highest jumping index. However, LSJtc was signicantly longer than that TRRJtc. Aura and Viitasalo reported that the average contact time for the high jump was 177 ms (2), and Stefanyshyn and Nigg reported that the average contact time for the long jump ranged from 150 to 170 ms (18). The average LSJtc was 217.5 ms in the present study, which was shorter when compared to past study results of 230 to 250 ms (18). The lay-up shot jump index (LSJindex) is a parameter that is calculated based on the contact time (LSJtc) and jumping height (LSJh) of LSJ. As shown in Figure 1, a signicant correlation existed between LSJindex and LSJtc and between LSJindex and LSJh. However, no signicant correlation

Table 1 lists the mean (6SD) for LSJ, ORRJ, TRRJ, and CMJ. The jumping height was the highest LSJh, followed by CMJh, TRRJh, and ORRJh, in that order (p , 0.001). The contact time was the highest TRRJtc, followed by LSJtc and ORRJtc, in that order (p , 0.001). The LSJindex was signicantly greater than TRRJindex (p , 0.05), and ORRJindex was signicantly smaller than that LSJindex or TRRJindex (p , 0.001).
Interrelationships Among LSJindex, LSJtc, and LSJh

Figure 1 shows the interrelationships among LSJindex, LSJtc, and LSJh. A signicant correlation existed between LSJtc and LSJindex (r = 20.700, p , 0.001) and between LSJh and LSJindex (r = 0.678, p , 0.01). However, no signicant correlation existed between LSJtc and LSJh (r = 0.041, ns).
Relationship of LSJ to ORRJ, TRRJ, and CMJ in Terms of Jumping Index, Contact Time, and Jumping Height

Figure 2 shows the relationship of LSJ to ORRJ, TRRJ, and CMJ in terms of jumping index, contact time, and jumping

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existed between LSJtc and LSJh, thus conrming that these 2 variables are mutually independent. These results show that LSJtc represents the ability to shorten the muscle action and LSJh represents the ability to acquire the jumping height, and, as a result, contact time and jumping height are mutually independent abilities. Therefore, when examining LSJ, it is important to separately analyze contact time and jumping height. In the present study, LSJ was compared to basic jumps (ORRJ, TRRJ, and CMJ) in terms of jumping index, contact time, and jumping height (Figure 2). The results showed that LSJindex correlated more closely to ORRJindex than TRRJindex, but LSJtc correlated more closely to TRRJtc then ORRJtc. Furthermore, a signicant correlation was seen in jumping height between ORRJh and LSJh, but not between LSJh and TRRJh or between LSJh and CMJh. The 2-legged drop jump is a typical reactive strength movement, and this jump is important for improving the running 1-legged vertical jump and assessing jumping abilities (25). The present study claried that TRRJ is a training technique that is effective in improving LSJtc. However, LSJindex correlated more closely to ORRJindex than TRRJindex and no signicant correlation existed between TRRJh and LSJh. The reason for this was that both ORRJ and LSJ required subjects to jump with 1 leg, and when compared to TRRJ, ORRJ more closely resembled LSJ in terms of movement characteristics. In addition, no signicant correlation existed between CMJh and LSJh, and the reason for this was that CMJ was a low-intensity movement with a low stretch-shortening cycle, whereas LSJ was a ballistic high-intensity movement with a high stretch-shortening cycle. This suggests that effective training must follow the principle of specicity. Furthermore, a signicant positive relationship existed between ORRJ and LSJ in terms of contact time and jumping height. This indicates that people with quick ORRJ also have quick LSJ and those with high ORRJ height have high LSJ height. Aura and Viitasalo compared the 1-legged drop jump (ODJ) and high jump and reported that because the 2 jumps had different contact times, ODJ was not suited for high jump training (2). When compared to high jump and ODJ, LSJ and ORRJ share more similarities: there is a signicant correlation in contact time between LSJ and ORRJ, whereas both high jump and LSJ are 1-legged jumping movements with an approach run; the contact time for LSJ is longer; and the contact time for a rebound jump is signicantly shorter when compared to a drop jump (22). Additionally, in the subject with the shortest ORRJtc, the difference between ORRJtc and LSJtc was small (17 ms). These ndings suggest that ORRJ is the most effective technique that can improve both contact time and jumping height for LSJ. Furthermore, in vertical jump, the maximum exion angles for the knee and hip joints for a 1-legged takeoff phase are greater when compared to a 2-legged takeoff phase (20), thus suggesting that the maximum exion angles for the knee and hip joints

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for ORRJ are greater when compared to TRRJ. Hence, TRRJ with slight knee bending movements is suited for strengthening the stiffness of the ankle joint (22) and compared to TRRJ, ORRJ is a movement that more fully involves the knee and hip joint muscles. In the future, it will be necessary to shorten the contact time and improve the jumping height in LSJ and further analyze the relationship of LSJ to ORRJ as a training technique.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
The results conrmed that LSJindex is useful for assessing the jumping ability of basketball players using a running 1-legged vertical jump. The LSJ ability consists of 2 independent factors: contact time and jumping height. Therefore, when improving LSJ, it is necessary to train to improve these 2 factors. ORRJ was shown to be an effective basic jump technique in improving both contact time and jumping height in LSJ. These ndings are useful for evaluating ability to perform running 1-legged vertical jumps in basketball and examining training techniques to improve ability to perform running 1-legged vertical jumps in basketball.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge funding support from the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya. We would also like to thank the athletes from the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya for participating in this project.

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