The relationship between Achilles tendon and jumping force

What is the Achilles tendon? The Achilles tendon is a tendon that connects the calcaneus with the soleus and gastrocnemius muscles. It is the thickest and most important tendon in the human body. It is responsible for the flexion and extension of the ankle and determines the jumping and running of the human body. The length is about 15cm.

　　From this we found the first controversy, namely the length of the Achilles tendon.

　　According to the scientific definition, the length of the Achilles tendon is basically about 15CM, which means that this has nothing to do with innateness. Maybe the Achilles tendon of A is 15.6CM, and the Achilles tendon of B is 14.8CM, but there is not much between the two. The actual gap is far from what we usually hear about Kobe 28CM and Jordan 30CM. 

If your calf muscles are more developed or have more fat, then it cannot be directly seen from the naked eye. Observe the length of the Achilles tendon. So why can we have the view of Achilles tendon 28CM and 30CM? I think there are probably two reasons:

• Inferiority complex: Use this kind of data to find excuses for your failures or not working hard
• Misunderstanding the relationship between the Achilles tendon and the tendon: Many friends define the distance from the heel to the calf, that is, the gastrocnemius muscle, as the length of the Achilles tendon, so we found that

It seems that McGrady’s Achilles tendon is indeed very long, but is Achilles tendon really defined this way? Obviously not! Because we confuse the terms Achilles tendon and tendon. The Achilles tendon is a type of tendon. The human body has tendons only where there are muscles, but it does not mean that the human body has Achilles tendons wherever there are muscles. The Achilles tendon determines the running and jumping of the human body, but the tendon does not necessarily determine the jumping and running of the human body. It cannot be said that because the Achilles tendon is a kind of tendon, the length of the tendon is defined as the length of the Achilles tendon. This is obviously incorrect. So why is there such a big misunderstanding about the length of the Achilles tendon? Because many people ignore the soleus muscle. The Achilles tendon starts at the heel and stops at the soleus, and then up is the tendon instead of the Achilles tendon. 

It is impossible to have any 20cm, 30cm, because your muscles are there, and your Achilles tendon is connected to the heel and soleus muscle and gastrocnemius muscle. I don’t deny that some people may have short Achilles tendons, and indeed have congenital development problems. Otherwise, there will be no such surgery as Achilles tendon lengthening, but no one is born with an Achilles tendon that is much longer than 15cm. It grows to 18cm, 20cm. Even the astronomical number of 30CM. So whenever you see this number, you can only smile with a knowing smile.

 

　　The 15CM Achilles tendon is inherently indistinguishable, so is there any way to change or lengthen it the day after tomorrow? This leads to the second misunderstanding, that is, the Achilles tendon can be elongated.

Can the Achilles tendon be elongated?

 

The answer must be no, because we know that the soleus muscle and gastrocnemius muscle, especially the position of the soleus muscle itself, will not be stretched by training or external forces. Therefore, the Achilles tendon that connects to the heel will naturally not lengthen. We think Kobe, McGrady, and Iverson’s Achilles tendons are long. As mentioned above, they are actually the tendons, not your Achilles tendons. In other words, the Achilles tendon cannot be changed, but the tendon can indeed be changed. However, I must reiterate here that the soleus muscle, gastrocnemius muscle and other tendons themselves do not directly determine the movement and jumping of the human body. The movement and jumping of the human body most directly determine the Achilles tendon, which is why the martial arts in martial arts novels must be broken. 

The hamstring, the so-called hamstring is the Achilles tendon. When you see someone disuse martial arts, they pull on the calf. And we can change the tendons through certain training, such as the training of the heel. Many people find that their so-called Achilles tendon length has changed after raising their heels. In fact, this is just an illusion, because the length of your Achilles tendon has not changed. It has become the gastrocnemius of your calf, that is, the calf because of muscle training. Compact and stronger, it naturally causes the calf to improve visually, but as mentioned above, the length of the Achilles tendon is not the distance from the calf to the heel bone, so this improvement is naturally an illusion, a kind of error. In addition, we mentioned in the previous article that the Achilles tendon lengthening surgery can lengthen the Achilles tendon, but many young people should not report it because it is aimed at congenital varus, deformed foot or Achilles tendon contracture People, and the age of this operation is generally low, if you are over 12 years old, then this operation is very complicated and difficult. Therefore, it is possible to change the Achilles tendon, or it is determined by nature. There is no longer the argument that black people are born with longer Achilles tendons than yellow people, because Achilles tendons are difficult to judge with the naked eye. Have you tested it yourself? How do you know that black people are longer than your Achilles tendon?

　　Now that we understand the congenital factors of the Achilles tendon and the factors of acquired changes, let's take a look at the role of the Achilles tendon

The role of Achilles tendon

 

The Achilles tendon is the most basic part that determines the human body’s running and jumping. Even if you have strong thighs and enough hip muscles, if you don’t have the Achilles tendon, then your force cannot be transmitted to the foot. You can even move the most basic. It can't be done. This also explains why many people complain that Liu Xiang should insist on running down during the Olympics, so his results are not satisfactory. But the Achilles tendon injury is like this. Once the Achilles tendon has a problem, it is not something you can insist on. Even if the rest of your muscles and joints are normal, one Achilles tendon can cost an athlete's career. Therefore, the Achilles tendon is fundamental, and the Achilles tendon naturally also plays a role in jumping, because this is not necessarily mutual. You can't jump naturally without the Achilles tendon, but the relationship between how high you jump and the Achilles tendon itself is not necessarily .　　

The significance of Achilles tendon for jumping

 

　　Here we must first understand the concept that the relationship between the Achilles tendon and bounce is different from the relationship between the thigh and the core muscles. The thighs and core muscles are mutually determined. The core muscles are strong, and naturally the thighs must be strong, because if your core muscles are strong and the thighs are weak, you will not be able to support a strong torso, because the quality of the thighs directly determines the knees. Package and protection. Similarly, a strong thigh must have a strong core muscle, because if you want to train a good thigh, you must have sufficient core strength, otherwise the full squat and deadlift will not have a high level. But the Achilles tendon has nothing to do with bounce. If you bounce well, the Achilles tendon must be good, because you must be strong enough to jump high. But the Achilles tendon is good, but the bounce is not necessarily good. This is what we will introduce below:

　　In fact, I don’t know when the concept of Achilles tendon and bounce was introduced or produced. I have known this concept since I first started playing basketball. So I raise my heels every day, but I keep mentioning that I was shot in France. The team's selection of my bounce has not changed qualitatively, or how much better than others. On the contrary, when the team is training, there is basically no need to raise the heel to train, but the jumping has been greatly improved. From this I thought, why is it better not to practice it? What is the connection between it and bounce? Let’s analyze the process of bounce: As we all know, the fundamental source of the body’s bounce force is the thigh muscles, this is beyond doubt . So if you want to jump high, the first step must be that the thigh muscles must have a certain level; secondly, when the thigh is exerting force, the force is directed downwards, and it is transmitted to the ankle and foot surface through the Achilles tendon, if the ankle joint and heel If the strength of the tendon is not enough, it will not be able to withstand the force of the thigh. Naturally, a part of the force will be removed, resulting in a decrease in the force fed back to the ground. Therefore, people who jump well generally have a relatively strong ankle joint; then due to the reaction force, the force is transmitted up to the hips, driving the body off the ground, so the quality of the hips is also the key to determining a *river crab* jump; finally by swinging the arm, Stretching the arms and other actions drives the upper body to extend to the limit to achieve the maximum height. From this point of view, in bounce, the Achilles tendon plays a major role in transmission. The real height of bounce is inseparable from the thighs, hips, and ankle joints. Therefore, we cannot say that the Achilles tendon is good, but the bounce must be good.

　　A diligent friend may find a problem about this. Since the Achilles tendon plays a role in transmission, does the quality of the Achilles tendon have an impact on the jumping speed? The answer is yes, the stronger the Achilles tendon, or the stronger the calf muscle, then you Naturally, the faster the transmission speed of the force, the correspondingly your running and jumping speed will be faster. All sprint athletes, long jumpers, and high jumpers must have very strong Achilles tendons. The strength of the Achilles tendon can be improved through training. Note that what is mentioned here is the strength of the Achilles tendon, not the length.