PPA Jump Training Membership Review Summary
Project Pure Athlete Jump Training Membership
PPA's Remote Training Membership offers specialized jump training programs while providing access to world class vertical jump coaches.
Having personally reviewed every vertical jump training membership on the market, I believe PPA is the clear winner.
4.8
The Good
You get access to 5 different training programs, so you can start with the option that best suits your current needs as an athlete.
Super responsive and helpful in-app coaching from world class jump trainers.
Large focus on getting really strong.
One of the few programs that includes an acceptable amount of upper body training!
The Bad
Could include more information discussing the scientific principles involved in jumping higher.
Exercise demonstrations could be improved slightly.
Recommended For
PPA’s Elite Remote Training Membership offers specialized jump training programs and 1 on 1 form coaching at the most affordable rate on the market.
USE DISCOUNT CODE “JUMPSTRONGER” TO SAVE 10% ON YOUR MEMBERSHIP!
PPA’s Elite Remote Training Membership – Is It Any Good?
Project Pure Athlete have put together one of the most comprehensive vertical jump training memberships with their Elite Remote Training Membership.
Let’s unpack exactly why I think this is such a great option for so many athletes…
How Does PPA’s Jump Training Membership Work? & What To Expect
After signing up for PPA’s membership and downloading the TrainHeroic app, you’ll be given access to 5 different training programs, meaning you can select the best match for wherever you are currently as an athlete.
To summarize each of the programs briefly,
- Power – Base vertical jump program geared towards developing both strength and explosiveness, ideal for the offseason.
- Explode – Advanced vertical jump program designed to maximize explosiveness through lots of extensive plyos and power movements. This program should be done only by advanced athletes or anyone who’s completed the Power program already.
- Relentless – Bodyweight vertical jump training program for anyone who doesn’t have access to a weight room.
- Armour – This program is for people with dodgy knees or mobility issues who deal with pain. Armour is a great starting point for anyone with patellar tendonitis.
- Competitor – This is a low volume in-season program designed to help basketballers and volleyballers continue developing strength and explosiveness throughout their sporting season.
As you can see, there’s something for everyone in the PPA Elite Training Membership!
Let’s take a closer look at each of the programs…
Power Program
PPA’s Power program is the ‘main’ training program that most athletes will start with. It’s an 18 week program designed to be done during the offseason.
The Power program is all about developing a foundation of strength and power. It’s a mixture of heavy lifting, plyometrics, and agility and involves 3 days of lifting, 2 days of jumping, and 1 active recovery day.
It does require access to a weight room and you can expect each workout to last anywhere from 60-80 minutes.
Explode Program
PPA’s Explode program is designed to be performed after you’ve completed the Power program – or if you’re already an experienced athlete with a decent strength foundation.
This program is all about maximizing your springiness through conditioning your tendons to produce force extremely quickly.
It’s a ton of plyometrics and power movements and aims to get you jumping as high as humanly possible.
Explode is a 16 week program during which you’ll be training 4-5 days per week with an additional 1-2 mobility focused recovery days.
Relentless Program
Don’t have access to a weight room? PPA’s Relentless program is their bodyweight program that can be done virtually anywhere and requires no equipment (though a resistance band would help a lot).
Relentless is a 12 week program that involves a lot of jumping and agility as well as strength training. Expect to be training 4 days a week with 1 active recovery/mobility day.
Relentless workouts also tend to be slightly shorter at about 45-60 minutes in length.
Armour Program
It’s extremely difficult to make any meaningful progress on your vertical jump when you’re dealing with pain and mobility issues, so starting out with the Armour program is going to be a smart move for any athlete dealing with these issues.
Armour is a fantastic option for anyone with knee issues (like patella tendinitis), poor ankle mobility, or dodgy hips/lower back.
This 12 week program involves 5 days of training per week with 1 mobility day.
Access to a weight room is required, although there’s also a bodyweight version available.
Competitor Program
PPA’s Competitor program is an in-season vertical jump training program aimed at basketballers and volleyballers.
This 18 week program is designed to run alongside your regular sporting season and will see you develop strength and explosiveness while helping you perfect your jump technique.
Most vertical jump programs will conflict with your regular season and can often lead to overtraining if they’re not carefully modified…
Competitor is an extremely well designed, low volume program that gives you just enough stimulus to avoid burning out and continue growing as an athlete during the season.
You’re lifting only twice a week on Competitor while doing 1 jump technique session per week and some mobility stuff too.
Workouts are shorter at 45-60 minutes in length and require access to a weight room.
What Does PPA’s Vertical Jump Training Look Like?
Having combed through each of the above programs, I’ve become a huge fan of the way PPA approaches training…
- Lots Of Complex Training – PPA likes to use complex training and will often group 3-4 exercises together to be performed consecutively. This not only creates an effective stimulus, but makes the workouts super quick and efficient.
- Upper Body Training Included – In all of the PPA programs, you can expect a balance between lower and upper body training. This is one of the only products on the market that actually has an adequate amount of upper body work baked into the program!
- Heavy Core Focus – Almost every movement in the PPA programs have a heavy focus on core engagement. You’re really encouraged to focus on maintaining stability throughout the trunk in every exercise.
- Great Focus On Heavy Lifting – PPA really emphasizes the importance of getting really strong, much more so than other programs like Vert Code Elite. Expect to be doing heavy compound lifts that will really move the needle in your overall strength development.
- No BS Exercises – Many jump programs include excessive amounts of faffing around with ineffective movements that aren’t really doing a whole lot… PPA’s programs are jam packed with tough exercises that will challenge you. Expect to work hard in these programs!
In-App Coaching
As part of the Elite Training Membership, you get access to 1 on 1 advice and coaching from the Jump Guys.
Any questions you have about the program or training and someone from the PPA team will usually be pretty quick to reply.
This means you can send form videos of your lifts as well as get advice on how you can improve your jump mechanics.
Programs Are Delivered By The TrainHeroic App
Project Pure Athlete, like so many others, deliver their programs via the TrainHeroic app.
This app is super easy to get started with and displays everything you need to know about your training program in a really intuitive manner.
TrainHeroic is fantastic because it allows you to track your sets, reps, weights, and durations, so you can see your progress over time.
You can conveniently check the exercise demonstrations from within the app with just a tap of the screen!
Do I Need Equipment For The PPA Jump Training Membership?
Access to a full weight room is definitely recommended for the PPA Jump Training Membership, although you can get started with the Relentless program which doesn’t require any access to equipment.
What I Liked About The PPA Jump Training Membership
After signing up for every vertical jump training membership on the current market, these are the reasons why I was most impressed with PPA’s service.
Something For Every Athlete
When you’re investing in a vertical jump training membership, what you really want is customization: something that’s a perfect fit for you as an athlete.
PPA don’t just give you access to a single program, but you get to choose from 5 different programs, so you can get something that’s hyper-relevant to your individual needs as an athlete.
If you’re struggling with really bad jumper’s knee, it makes no sense to get a run-of-the-mill jump program, as your priority should be getting your knees healthy before you think about jumping higher.
PPA’s Armour program is perfect.
If you’re about to start your rep basketball season, a standard jump program is going to be far too much volume and you’ll end up overtraining/not seeing any progress.
PPA’s Competitor program is perfect.
Maybe you’re an extremely advanced athlete with years of training under your belt already… Most jump programs simply aren’t going to challenge you enough.
PPA’s Explode program will.
The only other service which offers this degree of customization is THP Strength, who offer fairly basic tailored programs but for more than twice the cost of the PPA Training Membership!
Large Focus On Getting REALLY Strong
I’m a huge fan of lifting heavy and developing large amounts of strength and PPA’s workouts incorporate more heavy lifting than virtually any other program on the market.
Many programs are extremely conservative when it comes to prescribing heavy lifts, but PPA understand that getting under a heavy barbell is how you’re actually going to develop elite level power.
While strength training is a priority, athletes are encouraged to select weights ‘intuitively’ as opposed to doing stuff like ‘82% of 1RM with an RPE 8‘ which adds completely unnecessary complexity.
Expect Tough Workouts & Challenging Exercises
I’m a huge fan of PPA’s exercise selection…
Whether we’re talking about lifting in the gym or doing plyometrics outside, every prescribed movement feels as though it’s really moving the needle in a meaningful way…
I’ve seen so many vertical jump programs packed full of superfluous exercises, unnecessary submaximal training, and a general lack of specificity, but PPA don’t have any of this nonsense.
When you start a PPA workout, expect to do some serious work!
Most programs see you training 4 days per week, broken down into 2 upper body and 2 lower body days, split once again into bilateral and unilateral training focuses.
PPA also use tons of complex training, so your workouts are usually very efficient and won’t contain much in the way of boring bits!
Coaches Are Super Responsive & Helpful
One aspect that really set PPA apart from other vertical jump training memberships was their genuine concern for the growth of their athletes.
I had a question about one of the programs, so I posted in the chat section on the training app. I promptly received a minute-long private video message from Coach Chase answering my question.
You definitely won’t get this level of service from PJF’s Vert Code Elite and I’ve also not seen THP Strength ever reply to an athlete’s question with more than a sentence or two!
One of the primary reasons for getting a membership as opposed to a stand-alone jump program is that you actually have access to all-important form coaching…
1 On 1 Form Coaching
If you’re new to lifting and want some feedback on your squat form or even just want some advice on your jump mechanics, you can post your videos in the chat and receive 1 on 1 feedback on how you can improve.
Small things like this can make a world of difference when it comes to training and are the main reason a jump training membership is the superior choice to a one-off jump training program.
PPA’s Training Includes Upper Body Work!
Each of PPA’s training programs are comprehensive, full body training systems designed primarily to improve your lower body explosiveness, but also to develop your upper body.
Most jump programs completely omit upper body training, but PPA understand that 10-15% of your vertical jump is contributed from your upper body.
Other jump training programs like Vert Code Elite require you to come up with your own upper body training and figure out how to integrate it into the existing program…
Vert Shock, on the other hand, is purely plyometrics based and doesn’t include any lower body strength training at all!
PPA workouts take care of everything so you’ll end up being a balanced and complete athlete.
What I Disliked About The PPA Jump Training Membership
There isn’t much I wasn’t a fan of in the PPA Jump Training Membership, but there’s definitely a few areas that could be improved…
No Theoretical Intro To Jump Training
All you really get when you sign up to the PPA membership is access to the training program and a chat feature which allows you to contact coaches…
I’d really like to see some sort of additional educational material which goes into detail explaining some of the scientific principles involved in vertical jump training.
Other programs like Jump Manual as well as OTA’s Elite Vertical Academy do a really good job of explaining why we’re doing the movements we are, as well as what concepts you need to grasp to really understand jump training.
This could be as simple as a PDF or relatively short video series and would be a great way to educate athletes on what they’re about to do in the training programs.
Exercise Demonstrations Could Be Improved
While each exercise has an easily accessible video demonstration so you can see how to perform the movement, they’re usually muted and aren’t accompanied by any verbal instructions, cues, or tips.
Slightly longer exercise demos where coaches share some key things to keep in mind to get the most out of each movement would be ideal.
Who Created The PPA Jump Training Membership?
Project Pure Athlete’s Jump Training Membership is run in partnership by ‘The Jump Guys’, who are known as Coach Tyler Ray (Ty) and Coach Chase Skinkis.
Coach Ty, the founder of PPA, is well regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts when it comes to vertical jump training as well as biomechanical analysis and optimization.
He’s coached countless athletes (including @kingdac’s Guinness World Record vertical jump) with their jump mechanics and is one of the most knowledgeable people on Earth when it comes to vertical jump training.
Coach Ty is also extremely well known for his biomechanical breakdowns of elite jumpers which I’ve personally learned so much from as an athlete.
The second half of the Jump Guys, Coach Chase, started as a student of the earlier PPA training programs and doubled his vertical from 24″ to 48″ by implementing the PPA methodology.
He’s since become a professional dunker and joined forces with Ty to coach other athletes in developing their own elite vertical jumps.
Coach Chase is the head coach for the PPA Jump Training Membership, so you can expect to be interacting with him at some point via the app.
How Does The PPA Jump Training Membership Compare To Other Vertical Jump Programs?
As far as jump training memberships go, PPA’s Elite Training Membership is on the slightly more expensive side, but I think it’s significantly higher value than almost all memberships on the market.
Other vertical jump training memberships include the following,
- THP Strength’s Training Membership – $100/month
- PPA’s Elite Training Membership – $49/month
- PJF Performance’ Vert Code Elite – $27.50/month
- Nathanael Morton’s Standard Membership – $20/month
Having reviewed each of these memberships, I can say that PPA’s Jump Training Membership delivers significantly more in the way of program customization as well as 1 on 1 coaching than the competition.
Only THP Strength rivals PPA when it comes to program customization, yet PPA are significantly more affordable.
PPA do a great job of responding to athletes’ questions and offer form coaching as part of their service, which isn’t included in other memberships.
I have to say that PPA’s jump training is my current top pick when it comes to vertical jump training memberships.
If you’re looking for a more comprehensive theoretical intro to jump training, consider going for Jump Manual or OTA’s EVA as these programs do a better job when it comes to the education side of things.
Who Should Sign Up For PPA’s Elite Remote Training Membership?
PPA’s Jump Training Membership is a fantastic option for athletes of all shapes, sizes, and experience levels. Since you get access to 5 programs, you’ll be able to find something that’ll perfectly cater to your individual needs as an athlete.
PPA’s membership is also a great option for athletes who want to perfect their form in the gym and master the technique of jumping.
Having access to world class jump coaches who can provide you with feedback on your form and technique is what really separates PPA from the rest.
Although PPA is great for any athlete of any experience level, I think it’s one of the best programs for advanced athletes who have a lot of experience lifting.
PPA really prioritize strength training with no shortage of heavy lifting. The PPA workouts are quite challenging and I feel as though experienced athletes will get better results doing this program compared to similar ones.
PPA’s Other Vertical Jump Programs
If you’re not so keen on signing up for the membership, PPA also offer a couple of other programs you should definitely take a look at…
Project: Vertical Program
Project: Vertical is PPA’s standalone vertical jump training program.
It runs for 12 weeks and after personally reviewing it, I can say it’s very well designed and will produce exceptional results.
It’s also the best budget vertical jump program at just $39!
Missing Link Program
Coach Ty is world famous for his ability to fix athletes’ vertical jump technique by breaking down their biomechanical inefficiencies…
Mastering the mechanics of jumping is the quickest way to add instant inches to your vertical jump.
The Missing Link program is a 12 week ‘jump technique’ program designed to be run in conjunction with any other jump program you might be doing.
I highly recommend all jumpers get this program.
There’s some absolute gold in there that you simply won’t get in any other vertical jump program.
What’s The Verdict?
If you’re a serious athlete looking to make serious inroads on your vertical jump, I don’t think there’s a better option on the market than PPA’s Remote Jump Training Membership.
Being able to select the perfect option from 5 extremely well designed programs, while having access to 2 world class vertical jump trainers, is going to turbo charge your vertical jump progress.
Having reviewed every single jump training membership/program on today’s market, I believe PPA deliver a product that is superior to the competition, period.
Still not sold? Check out my full roundup of the best vertical jump training programs for 2024.
USE DISCOUNT CODE “JUMPSTRONGER” TO SAVE 10% ON YOUR MEMBERSHIP!
