Plyometrics - Generating Explosiveness and Power

What is Plyometric Training?

You have probably heard of plyometrics before but very few of us utilize this form of training. Plyometrics is a form of training that utilizes short, intense bursts which helps generate explosive power that can lead to increased speed and jumping ability. Overall, it helps you improve your overall athletic ability! This is very important if you are an athlete trying to take your game to the next level but it is also important if you are looking to improve overall power and force production. A lot of people associate plyometric training with jumping because this is typically what you see most people doing in the gym. However, plyometrics can be any type of short explosive burst of exercise that can include skipping, jumping, sprinting, medicine ball tosses, explosive push-ups, the list goes on.

Why is Plyometric Training Important?

As I said previously, plyometrics are important for improving explosiveness, speed and jumping ability an is a tremendous training tool for athletes. Whether you are trying to dunk a basketball, improve your 100 meter or 40 yard dash time, become more explosive on the offensive or defensive line, plyometrics is absolutely crucial! When we engage in plyometric training, we are focusing on training the fast twitch muscle fibers in the body which are important for producing short, powerful bursts of energy. In order to target these muscle fibers we need to focus on the quality of the movement rather than the quantity and work at high intensities and working our way to high velocity movement.

How to Include Plyometric Training in Your Workout?

When performing plyometric training you should first ask yourself, "what is it that I am trying to achieve with this training? This can be sport-specific such as improving your vertical in order to dunk or make more plays for the ball in football or it can be simply you want to be able to run faster or improve your power output.

First, if your goals are sport-specific your plyometric exercises should be relevant to the goal you are trying to achieve. For example, if you are trying to improve your two-foot vertical jump then you should movements that are similar in your training such as squat jumps while focusing on high intensity, good quality repetitions and keep the volume low to start. If your goals are more generalized, such as looking to improve overall athleticism and fitness then you could be less specific and add a variety of throws, jumps and sprints.

When adding these exercises to your routine, I suggest incorporating plyometric exercises at the start of your routine after your warm-up as they require a lot of energy and quality is very important to make gains in this area. It is also important to start off with a low amount of repetitions and to slowly increasing the volume of plyometric exercises steadily over several weeks. For example, lets say we want to add box jumps to our routine. First I would only add 2 sets of 10 to my routine for a total of 20 plyometric repetitions. If box jumps are something I really want to work on I would increase the sets over time or if I wanted to add a different plyometric such as sprints I would add 2 sets of 100 meter sprints after a week or two of the jumps. Over time you can build up how much plyometrics you do but it should be planned and start slow and focus on quality.

5 Plyometric Exercises for Your Routine