I'd like to start by welcoming everyone to the Q & A interview with vert guru Kelly Baggett.

What I will be endeavouring to do today is try to get Kelly to shed some light onto the ever popular subject of increasing vertical leap.

Welcome Kelly. I'd like to start the questions off, for those readers who don't know you...

Q. Who is Kelly Baggett, and how did he did he get into the vert scene?

My family owned a gymnastics, martial arts, and fitness center so I've been around sport most of life. I also played a ton of sports.
I've been working in the fitness and sports training business for the majority of the last 14 years and started doing some writing a few years ago.  One of the first things I wanted to write about was vertical jump development and that was solely due to the fact that I saw how much misinformation there was out there.

Q. Why is your program so popular & what makes it work?

It's based on research and established training principles taken from the science used in developing athletes from various sports.  The scientific field and the real world are both loaded with information on vertical jump yet the  "Vertical Jump Development" industry seems to be based mostly on various hype and gimmicks.

There are plenty of established training principles utilized by athletes in various other mainstream and olympic sports. There are athletes who make consistent gains in explosiveness and vert. without even trying to (football players, track and field athletes, throwers, and olympic lifters). Unfortunately, most vert programs don't incorporate that info. and most trainees are unaware of that information.

For some reason there aren't many legitimate strength and performance coaches in the industry...mostly people just trying to make money.

The average linebacker in the NFL carries 240 pounds plus of scale weight and has about a 38 inch vertical.  The average NBA basketball player has a vertical jump of about 30 inches.   How much attention do you think the linebackers paid to their vertical jump in comparison to the basketball players? Do you see something wrong with that picture?

Despite not paying any attention to it and despite often not being exactly "lightweight",  the average sprinter, thrower, and olympic lifter all have better vertical jumps and improve their vertical jumps more then the average vert trainee.

Perhaps if the average vertical optimist borrowed some training methodology from them the might get better results wouldn't they? That's what I've tried to do.

Q. How did you personally get your vert to what it is today?

By creating the same qualities that some people have naturally. Developing and maintaining my movement efficiency, mobility, keeping my body lean, and most importantly, developing a hardcore take no prisoners attitude when it came to increasing the bar weight from about 180 to 400 pounds on my maximum squat. It's really that simple. Now, not everyone needs to do the exact same things I did, but the principles are the same.  Movement efficiency, mobility, leanness, and strength.  Get all those balanced and you can't help but increase vert.

Q. We've read articles from KellyB which go along the lines of knocking commercial programs, stating they are rubbish and people should only do customized programs. Does Vertical Bible fall under the same class, or does something make it
different than the majority of commercial programs out there?

Well like I kind've described a bove, a one size fits all approach isn't optimal either. Some people need a bigger engine and some people need to get more out of the engine they have.  My book includes about 20 different programs and a means of testing to determine which program best suits an individual.

Q. We see Vertical Bible really as not a 'program' competiting against other
'programs' but a system? Would you agree?

You can call it a system, a guide, a manual or whatever, but I wouldn't call it "A" program. It does include many different programs based on the training principles, but not any single program contained in the book is ideal for everyone.

Q. What is the most common mistake you see when it comes to training for
vertical leap?

People do too much of the wrong thing. People do too much jumping, not enough strength training.  Too much volume overall. Too much overanalyzation.

Q. Do users of your program hit a plateaus, or can they continue to use it
every year with continues gains?

If they follow the principals they'll continue to gain long term. The idea is to take the guesswork out of the process and teach people to be able to identify EXACTLY what they need to do to improve.

Q. Should people take supplements while using your program?

They don't have to. You could give me 2 twin brothers.  Put one of them on $300 per month on supplements and the other with no supplements whatsoever.  Put them both on the exact same routine.  After 3 months there probably wouldn't be any differences whatsoever.

Q. What kind of athletes does the Vertical BIble work for and what gains can
they expect?

It'll work for any athlete.  As for gains, the truth is, (and this is true for any training routine or system), how much people gain is variable because genetics are variable.  I don't promise "X" number of inches or whatever. Anybody who promises a certain number is playing off of hype.

Q. Some programs give a quick brief outline about training, and then include
their program....all up just over 10 pages. Is Vertical Bible also light on
information?

No, if anything it's probably too much information.  About 150 pages of everything you'd want to know about jumping.

Q. Any chance of a 'VJB 2' around the corner?

It's doubtful.  Although I might come out with a video as that would probably be useful for a lot of people.  There are some things like getting the body right and identifying muscular and mobility imbalances that can really only be properly seen and demonstrated on video.

Thanks for your time Kelly, we enjoyed you dropping by.