Vertical jump performance is important for basketball players and other athletes. There are a couple of ways to develop this ability, and a study published in The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness suggests some approaches might be better suited to different age groups.

Researchers divided 59 male basketball players into 3 age groups and assigned subjects from each group to 16-week training programs. Some performed hang cleans and also jumped rope. Others practiced half squats and speed ladder training.

Compared to measurements taken before the program began, subjects aged 18 and older improved vertical jump performance with either of these different workouts, but subjects under the age of 17 only improved with the half squat protocol.

A pre-conditioning exercise can provide performance improvements for athletes in certain competitive situations. The effect is known as post-activation potentiation. Can caffeine enhance this improvement? A study published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition put the world’s most popular stimulant to the test.

Researchers had 12 professional male soccer players perform plyometric exercises and sled pulls an hour after consuming 5 mg of caffeine per kilogram of body weight. On another occasion, they received a placebo. Caffeine improved countermovement jump performance 5.07%, 5.75% and 5.40% one, three and five minutes after the pre-conditioning exercise. Jump height only increased at the 3-minute mark (4.95%) with placebo.