Can You Boost Your Hang Time?

As he is coming down the court and jumps, scientific laws start to pertain. These laws say that each action has an equal and opposite reaction. What this means in layman's terms is that the player pushes against the floor and the floor exerts a force back. This action/reaction makes the player to leave the floor. When a player pushes harder on the floor, the floor pushes back harder causing the player to be propelled higher.

This action is compounded as a player is running at the same time as he is jumping. His center of gravity will follow a parabolic route throughout this process. A persons "center of mass" is situated close to their midsection. This means that, if the person were to stay in exactly the same position for the extent of the whole jumping act, his/her midsection (and consequently, full body) would go along this path. Frequently though, a player does not stay in the identical position. He will bend and twist.

By raising his knees, he's raising his center of mass relative to his head. He does that on his way up. On the way down, of course, he lowers his legs back down and that, in turn causes the center of mass to come back down. This in effect raises his head in relation to the center of mass. The head does not follow the parabolic path. The head stays at one height.

If you can envisage it then, the head follows a smooth course up and down whereas the person's center of mass does not.

In essence, the player's head is the key to why we believe in hang time.

When one person looks at another, they tend to not look at the middle of their body. Instead, we commonly look at the other person's head. What happens at that second is a bit of an "illusion", but it in reality is happening. The head stays in the same place for an unnaturally extended time because the person changes his center of mass.

Well, if "hang time" is not existent, how is it that one person can remain in the air longer than another person? The REAL solution is because that person JUMPS HIGHER. If you can't improve your hang time then, you have to learn to jump higher!

Related Articles

• You Can Jump Higher By Training Less
• How To Leap Higher - Exercises To Begin With
• The Jump Manual - Program Review
• The Top 5 Things You Need In A Vertical Jump Program
• Four Vital Tips For Individuals Who Are New To Hiking
• Improving Your Vertical Jump - 5 Things Your Coach Probably Doesn't Know
• Can You Increase Your "Hang Time"?
• Four Essential Tips For Individuals Who Are New To The World Of Hiking
• The Jump Manual - Review
• Five Points Your Coach May Not Know About Increasing Your Vertical Jump
• 4 Critical Tips For Those Who Are Novices At Hiking
• Improve Your Vertical Jump By Training Less
• The Jump Manual - Add 10 Inches To Your Vertical Jump!
• How To Increase Your Vertical Leap - 5 Things Your Coach Probably Doesn't Know
• The Top Things To Look For In A Vertical Leap Program
• Improve Your Vertical Jump By Training Less
• Three Drills To Begin With For Vertical Leap Training
• Is There Really Such A Thing As Hang Time?

Resources

• Familytree101