Plyometrics training is key for developing the muscle speed needed to improve explosiveness and athleticism.
Here, ‘muscle speed’ refers to how fast your muscles can contract to produce force.
Here’s a quick breakdown, as well as four great plyometrics exercises to use in your workouts.
For a guide to plyometrics in general, click here.
What’s plyometrics training?
Plyometrics training involves (normally) bodyweight jumps, to train rapid muscle contraction.
The goal isn’t really to break down your muscles, unlike strength training.
With this in mind, use a low number of reps for each set, with sufficient rest.
The focus is maximum force and power on each jump.
Try to involve a variety of jumps. (different directions, some off one foot, some off two feet, etc.)
Here’s a quick breakdown of a few of the exercises we’ll be going through:
Plyometrics exercises:
Exercise #1: STANDING JUMPS
This is as simple as it sounds…
Just jump upwards from a stand-still, exploding upwards as high as you can.
Remember to land safely on both feet, bending your knees to absorb the impact of the landing.
But… if you do want a full standing jump breakdown, just click here!
Exercise #2: POWER SKIPS
For power skips, try to jump as high as you can with each jump in each skip.
Also, swing up the non-jumping leg as you leap to maximise height.
So… skipping… with power
Anyways, here’s a video explanation to make sure you get it down:
Exercise #3: BROAD JUMPS
A broad jump is a pretty simple exercise.
All you do is jump off both feet, as far forward as you can.
Again, be sure to land safely on both feet, bending your knees to absorb the impact of the landing.
Even though you’re focused on jumping forward, not upwards, this will still translate to the muscle speed required to improve vertical jump.
Exercise #4: LATERAL JUMPS
To perform a lateral jump, jump sideways as far as you can off your outside leg. (e.g. use your left leg to jump towards the right)
At first, you can use both legs to land.
But, as you get better learn to land by absorbing the force with the leg you didn’t jump off and remaining on balance.
(after jumping of your left leg land on your right leg)