KUSA - In 1988, a former University of Florida wide receiver wanted a training system that would help athletes with vertical jump and explosiveness.  At the time nothing existed, so Michael Wehrell developed the VertiMax. 

Baltimore Raven's running back Ray Rice trained on the VertiMax for five years and like it so much, he bought in to the company in October 2012. Rice believes the VertiMax has greatly impacted his performance on the football field.

Currently, CU, Air Force and five high schools in Colorado use the VertiMax in their training regimens.

The VertiMax isn't just for football and professional athletes.  It is a great tool for basketball (the Nuggets have one in their training room) and swimming (Missy Franklin used one prior to the London Olympics). 

Missy's trainer, Loren Landow talked about the VertiMax on 9News 8 a.m. and one of his coaches from Steadman Hawkins demonstrated a few moves.  To watch the demo, check out the video player above.  To find out more about Loren's training, visit LorenLandowPerformance.com

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