Notice I did not say plyometrics to increase sprint speed, jump height, throwing distance or anything along the lines of plyometric training increasing performance in something specific? Type in plyometric training into Google, and it won't take long for you to find titles like "Plyometrics to improve explosive power", "5 plyometrics to jump higher", "Plyometrics for sprinters," and so forth. After doing the 5 plyometric exercises to jump higher in the article you read, your days of being able to jump high will magically appear. Okay, I am done with the sarcasm, and now I want to clear the mud regarding plyometric training.
First, let's define plyometric training and its purpose.
Plyometrics are exercises that stimulate the stretch-shortening cycle (SSC) of muscle contraction. The SSC is when a muscle or group of muscles is loaded eccentrically (stretched) and then unloaded through a rapid concentric (shortened) muscle action, resulting in high levels of force generated quickly. The SSC, or what happens during most plyometric exercises, happens in three phases of contractions, working to turn kinetic energy into potential energy and output. The input is the output.
Source: ISSA Strength and Conditioning, Edition 9.0. Frederick C. Hatfield, Jan 2016
The three phases of plyometrics:
1) Loading phase: eccentric or stretch phase. This is where the countermovement happens. So if you watch someone before they jump, they will swing their arms up and then rapidly down toward the ground before taking off. The magnitude of the stretch (the input) will determine the potential energy and enhance the pending concentric muscle contraction (the output).
2) Amortization or transitional phase: this phase is generally brief as it happens between the eccentric and concentric phases. The shorter this phase, the greater the expression of potential energy will be, and the longer it is, the more potential energy will be lost. So if you want to jump high, you would express your full potential if you spent as little time bending through the knees and hips to redirect and jump.
3) Unloading phase: concentric or shortening phase. This is where the full expression of what you created in the first two phases gets expressed—the output. Important to note this phase improves the expression of potential energy with the use of consecutive eccentric phases. The triple broad jump is a perfect example; jumps 1 and 2 are generally shorter than the 3rd final jump as the first two jumps allow the athlete to build up momentum and reuse the potential energy generated by the previous jumps.
Plyometrics to increase nervous system performance
The benefit of consistently training plyometrics is nervous system performance. A muscle fibre can only fire at the rate of speed it is being trained at. This point is the same for a grandmother trying to stay on her feet after slipping on ice as it is for the 5-star football player trying to hurdle a defender. The nervous system must be trained within the speeds and demands of an athlete's particular sport. For the grandmother, her sport is keeping up with her grandkids and maintaining the ability to stay on her feet when navigating the world. For the football player, he must be able to change direction on a dime and accelerate in a variety of directions.
We all have this overprotective mother known as the Golgi tendon organ. This organ is responsible for detecting muscle lengthening and tensioning and will inhibit certain muscles in the body to prevent injury. This overprotective mother lessens its inhibitory mechanism with frequent exposure to various intensities of muscle contractions. If you consistently move slowly or do not vary the speeds at which you move your body and you are in a situation where you need to move fast to run and catch that bus, good luck.
Using plyometrics will help strengthen the signals sent from your muscles to the brain and spinal cord so that you can do what you want to when you want to. So how to safely progress and implement plyometric training.
Three Plyometric training methods
1) Medicine ball training
Regardless of your training history or lack thereof, this is the place to start. A medicine ball is a great tool for developing trunk control and understanding how to utilize torso rotation to express power. This point was perfectly expressed by Charles Poliquin, "You can't fire a canon from a canoe." To demonstrate power, one must have control of their torso. What you can do with a medicine ball is endless, and it is easy to modify a medicine ball exercise for anyone regardless of their physical limitations. Not to mention, it is a lot of fun to throw things as hard as you can with no reservations. I am no therapist, but throwing things hard can be therapeutic.
"You can't fire a canon from a canoe." Charles Poliquin.
The other benefit to training with medicine balls is that it is easy to vary the intensity level. A lot of times, I will get someone to warm up with medicine ball lateral throws into a wall and go for 20 reps per side at 30-50% effort to help get a feel for the movement. Once an understanding is felt during the execution of a medicine ball drill at 30-50% effort, it is time to ramp up the intensity. One way to track progress with medicine ball training is to have a timer handy. Let's say you have 10 medicine ball lateral throws. Get someone to start a timer and see how fast you can do 10 medicine ball lateral throws. Eventually, you will reach a point where it is impossible to go any faster, so I suggest using a heavier medicine ball and see if you can still match the same time you did with the lighter medicine ball.
Another benefit to medicine ball training is how it stresses the upper body. Many training programs include plyometrics for the lower body but come up short in the upper body category. The medicine ball is great for exposing the upper body to moving fast and explosively by utilizing throws. The chest pass is a great example of building horizontal pressing power, and the medicine ball push press is great for building vertical pressing power.
One important note; start light. I mean REALLY light. Many of the medicine ball drills I do are with a 4-8lbs medicine ball. The goal of medicine ball training is to move fast, and the heavier the medicine ball, the slower you will go. Keep scrolling to see 5 medicine ball exercises I recommend implementing into your plyometric training.
2) Hops
Notice I said hops and not jumps. This is low-hanging fruit for all of us bipeds, regardless of what you want to do with your body. Hops are another form of plyometric exercise that provides an endless amount of variation and can be modified to work around many physical limitations. Especially for those returning from a lower-body injury, hopping is integral to returning to full strength. Another benefit to hops is they can be done nearly anywhere, in a big space or a small space, inside or outside and so forth. All you need is you and the desire to hop around like you did as a child.
Hops are more about attaining the ability to sustain a low-intensity level plyometric or stretch-shortening cycle. There are many benefits to training low-intensity plyometrics or extensive plyometrics via hop training. One benefit, in particular, is the fact that extensive hops can be done every day without much strain on the overall system or interference with higher-intensity training.
A second benefit is the positive impact it has on the lower leg. Every time you go to hop, there is a coordinated reflex that happens or should happen at the lower leg, mostly between the foot, ankle, muscles of the calves and at the knee. By stimulating the lower leg with hops, we can see a benefit for the health of the feet, ankles and knees. Not to mention, if someone cannot coordinate 10-30 seconds of hops, I do not understand how they could possibly jog 5 kilometres or even walk 10,000 steps without some discomfort. So if you are signing up for your first endurance run, I suggest you start with some hops. For those that like to move fast, hops are a great way to build up the movement qualities and conditioning needed to run fast and jump high.
The third benefit is the variability. How you can hop is endless. Two legs vs one leg, forward vs backward, back and forth, side to side, vertically vs horizontally, laterally, rhythmically, with shoes vs no shoes etc. So yes, there are many ways to skin a potato when it comes to hops, but let me leave you with 5 hop variations I practice at least once a week.
3) Jumps
Alright, this plyometric training blog can't be without jumps. I mean, plyometric exercise is also known as jump training in many circles. The hops are more extensive, and for our purposes, we will use jumps as the intensive plyometric exercise. This is where we will improve the performance of the nervous system, and with the foundation gained from the first two plyometric methods, we can now get the most out of our jump training. I am not saying you can't jump without doing medicine ball training or hop training, but I do believe the qualities that can be gained from those two methods will lend themselves to jump training.
Below is a chart of a basic progression to your jump training. I broke it down into the direction of movement/jump and the ground contact times. Let me explain quickly what I mean by direction of movement. When you jump onto a 20-inch box, you need to jump up or vertically. When a 12-inch box is 4 feet in front of you, to jump onto it, you are going to need to jump horizontally to land on something that is 4 feet away. Jumping laterally is quite simple; means jumping to your side. So we have forward, backward and lateral jumps. When you have a jump sequence that involves jumping in two or more directions, you now enter the multidirectional category.
The other way I categorized the various jumps is by putting them into either a slow ground contact or a fast ground contact. Slow ground contact means you are going through a slow amortization phase/long time on the ground. Fast means you are trying to utilize a fast amortization phase/shortest amount of time on the ground to produce all the potential energy.
Some will find their bodies are best suited for slower ground contacts vs faster ground contacts but getting into the reasons for that is a whole other topic. I suggest you spread your jump training out throughout your training week. So hit the slow ground contact work early in the week and, 3 or 4 days later, hit the fast ground contact work. You can do all directions in one day, and I suggest you hit the jumps before any weight training.
General recommendations for sets and reps: START SMALL. I would start with both vertical categories for 4 weeks. Start day 1 with 2 sets of 3 reps for slow contact jumps, and day 2 is 2 sets of 3 reps for fast ground contact day. Every week add 1 set. After 4 weeks, move to the horizontal category and follow the same sets and reps progression. Essentially this table is a 16-week jump training program. On your days off, you will do the medicine ball work and/or hops. This way, the intensities will vary, allowing you to recover from high-output days. These recommendations are mostly for someone in an offseason from a sport or for the general gymgoer who wants the ability to move explosively. Important to remember if you don't use it, you lose it.
Direction of movement -one direction to multidirectional | Jump (slow ground contact) | Jump (fast ground contact) |
Vertical | ||
Horizontal | ||
Lateral | ||
Multidirectional |
Wrap-Up: There are so many ways to utilize plyometrics in your training, and in no way am I claiming this blog contains the best-ever plyometric routine for increasing performance. Still, there is one thing I can confidently tell you. In the design of this plyometric routine, I am considering humans of all ages and training history. Contained here builds important qualities for everyone regardless of occupation, athlete status or age. The intention behind this plyometric routine is to increase performance for being human. Our ability to absorb forces is vital to staying on our feet and not injuring ourselves by falling uncontrollably to the ground. Improve your ability to absorb forces and better manage gravity with the elements contained within this blog.
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