Have you seen what they can do? It’s an amazing, jaw-dropping combination of vertical jumps, dance, martial arts, and entertaining acrobatics. You can tell every time they step onto the stage, they have been trained to increase vertical leap to reach gravity defying heights.

You might be able to catch their show with its incredible vertical leap/dance routines no matter where you are living. Because of their success, they have been able to travel to many parts of the world like India, Guam, Guatemala, Washington DC, and wherever the U.S. troops are stationed.

One thing must be said about this dance group – if it were not for their fantastic vertical leap skills, they would just be another good dance group living in Los Angeles. It’s the vertical leap that they do that sets them apart. With their vertical leap and the use of martial arts weapons, they have the power to make people stop and stare. It has become their bread and butter – and kudos to them for putting together a concept that combines physical fitness, vertical jump training, dance steps, and martial arts.

The martial arts they adopted comes from different countries: this means they don’t just use Taekwondo, the Korean martial arts; they have also added the styles and orientation of Wushu, which is a form of Chinese martial arts with full body contact. This kind of martial arts is generally used for exhibition purposes today, but generations ago, it was what the Chinese military used as part of their defense. As you can see, vertical jump training and the drive to increase vertical skills are centuries old, something that was practiced when there were no guns, cannons, and grenades.

This dance group also uses capoeira which is an African/Brazilian form of martial arts dance. It originated from African slaves who were brought to Brazil, and then while in Brazil, it developed further when the Africans slowly began to add some Brazilian flavor to it. Capoeira is a game, fighting-style, although it should have a bit of history in it. With Sideswipe, they incorporate a story, usually about love, romance, and fight between two men for the love of one woman. It’s a story as old as time, and one we all love to see … if the good guy wins. With Sideswipe, they’re all good guys, so no worries about who wins – pure entertainment!

Listed below are some tips that will assist you to increase your vertical jump.

• It is highly recommended that you reduce the time needed for ground contact during each repetition. It effectively enhances your reactive strength and achieves the optimal results.

• Take gradual steps and start on low reps.

• Strength development is best achieved through squats. Take the necessary precaution by making sure that you can squat 1.5 times your body weight at minimum before you get involved with plyometric training. Plyometrics is very risky and it is best to meet the requirements first, esp. with strength.

• Do not impose too much training on your body because it might lead to major physical problems. Your nervous system takes up most, if not all, of the impact brought by plyometrics. This implies that the body can be subjected to more stress compared to conventional exercises. This is also the main reason why you over train. The nervous system needs one day to fully recover, so the ideal number of plyometric training per week is three.

Contrary to some beliefs, too much vertical jump training is not going to do you any good at all. Continuous workouts will harm your muscles instead of adding improvement. The main reason for this is that muscular speed and strength will definitely increase along workouts and not during training. If you do not have any respect for a minimum downtime of 24 hours, the muscles will not have room for revitalizing and improvement.

Also, remember to put a good diet as your health priority. Lots of athletes found a considerable effect on performance due to changes on how they eat, and incorporating food supplements daily.