An Overview of Plyometrics
Like I said, plyometrics is all about move- ment. There are a million ways to incor- porate plyometrics and a million ways to design a program to use it, but it's all based on some simple guidelines. Plyo- metrics are simple, compound move- ments of explosive energy. You might do vertical jumps, box jumps or even throw- ing and catching a medicine ball. The goal is to stretch and then contract the muscle in an explosive movement, rest for a very short period of maybe ten to twenty seconds and then do it again.
If this sounds like an aerobic workout, it is to an extent, but that's only peripheral to the main point. Plyometrics stimulates the brain to fire off motor neurons more rapidly and recruit more muscle fibers in preparation for your next jump or throw. In essence, your brain says, "Get ready, he's gonna do that crap again." This increased communication between your brain and your muscle fibers also improves your neuromuscular coordination, but in recruiting more muscle fibers and involving more motor neurons, you're doing incred- ible things for your explosiveness and for muscle gain.
Taking Advantage of the Stretch·Shortening Cycle
A lot of the best research on plyometrics is focused on what's called the stretch-shortening cycle. Basically, when your muscle is in the stretched position of an explosive move such as a vertical jump, the muscles and tendons store energy to prepare for the next contraction or explosive move. That's the "get ready" command I just mentioned. The result is that when you take that second (or third or fourth) jump, you'll have much more power than you would have if you just jumped up without stretching that muscle first.
That storage of energy doesn't last long, so you have to move fast between reps in plyometric training. If you remain in the stretched position for too long, it'll just dissipate as body heat.
For this reason, rest periods must be very short. Try this yourself; have a friend eyeball your height on a cold vertical jump, then rest a full 30-45 seconds and jump again. This time, rest only ten seconds before you jump. That third jump is going to be higher than the second.
How to Incorporate Plyometrics
As I said, there are several ways to work plyometrics into your program. One of the best ways is to do lower-body plyometrics in between regular upper body sets and vice versa. The rest period for your regular sets is just enough time to get in a set of plyometric moves. Some guys prefer to focus solely on plyometrics on given days, maybe two to four days a week for a few weeks.
Regardless of how you choose to incorporate plyometrics and which moves you decide to utilize, there are certain guidelines you need to follow.
Form is just as important with plyometrics as it is with any other exercise. Not only is proper form a safety mea- sure, but proper form and posture will also ensure that you're giving your core a good workout. If you think about movements like side stepping, throwing, catch- ing and jumping, they all require help from your abs and back in order to have enough power to complete the move and enough stability to complete it safely.
Don't let that happen. Keep your focus, and demand proper form from yourself on every