Plyometric Training

What Are Plyometrics?

Strength and speed are both components of fitness that are found in virtually every athletic movement. The combination of the two, strength and speed, is power. For years both coaches and athletes have sought after improved power in order to enhance their performance. For centuries, jumping, bounding, and hopping exercises have been used in many different ways in order to enhance the athletic performance.
In recent years though, this method of training for power or explosiveness has been called “plyometrics”. Plyometrics come from the Soviet Union, mainly the late Professor Yuri Verkhoshansky, which dominated track and field during the 1970’s. It eventually made its way to the States and thus coined the name “plyometrics”.

Muscle Mechanism

The maximum amount of force that a muscle can produce is achieved during a rapid eccentric contraction. However, it should be understood that rarely does a muscle perform only one type of contraction in isolation during athletic movements. When a concentric contraction occurs immediately after an eccentric contraction, the force generated will be dramatically increased.

If a muscle is stretched (lengthened), the majority of the energy required to stretch it is lost as heat, but some of the energy is stored by the elastic components of the muscles. This stored energy is only available to the muscle during a succeeding contraction. It is important to note that this boost of energy is lost if the eccentric contraction is not immediately followed by a concentric contraction. To truly express this greater force, the muscle must be able to contract within the shortest amount of time possible. This process is known as the stretch shortening cycle and is the underlying mechanism of plyometric training.

Choose the Method to Fit the Sport

The rule of any condition protocol is specificity. This means that the movements that you train during training should be as similar as possible to the movement you encounter during competition. That is not to say that one should always train specific to their sport as that would yield marginal results. The plan (periodization) should begin with General Physical Preparation (GPP) and after time move onto Specific Physical Preparation (SPP).

Conditioning for Plyometrics

Extreme forces, up to ten times your body weight, are put on the musculoskeletal system during plyometric activities. Due to this it is vital that an athlete have a great base of general strength and endurance. The general consensus is that one should have a 1.5x bod yweight squat or greater; this is only for true, intense plyometrics such as depth jumps and bounds. It is fine for an athlete to use low level reactive exercises before they have met the criteria.
It is a must that no athlete partakes in intense plyometrics before they have progressed through low-level exercises and proper strength training; doing so could result in severe injuries to the body. Once an athlete has progressed naturally through the beginning stages, they will be fine with the more intense exercises. You must think of it as learning in school; do you think that the teachers would place you in calculus before you have ever even seen a basic arithmetic equation? No, you first must progress through the levels beforehand and eventually work up to the tougher equations.

Young Athletes

Many experts suggest that moderate jumps can be introduced into the training of young athletes. Although plyometrics have usually already been introduced to the children as they are just children having fun. Have you ever watched your child at the playground; they jump from boxes, sprint, etc., plyometrics are a natural human movement. However, one must place great care on prescribing any training procedures to preadolescent children. Due to the relatively immature bone structure, the extremely high forces exerted during plyometrics should be avoided.

Summary

Plyometric training has been used very successfully by many athletes as a method of training to enhance their power. In order to truly reap the benefits of the training, the stretch-shortening cycle must be invoked. This requires very careful attention to detail of the technique that is being demonstrated during the drill. In addition to this, the ground contact time must be as short as possible. The challenge is to you as a coach or athlete to use the best exercise that is specific enough the event and involves the correct muscular pattern. Doing what I have outlined in this article is sure to help you get this most out of you plyometric training.