Plyometrics: Why Should They be in Your Gym Program?

Plyometric training is when we use exercises to make muscles exert a large amount of force in a short amount of time to improve our power output.

Plyometric exercises like jumping, hopping and landing causes the nervous system to develop reflexes to sudden high-stretch loads, improving the rate and scale of motor unit activation.

Key components of plyometric training are:

Focus on rapid movement between phases of muscle contraction (fast movement)

Typically body weight or light weights only (light weight)

These types of movements produce greater power than concentric only movements as more force is released in the plyometric action. This is because it allows the muscle-tendon complex to store more elastic energy which must be released. If we do these movements slowly, we lose this elastic energy (as heat) and therefore it is not efficient.

Research suggests that stretch-shorten cycle exercises should be implemented at the beginning of a training session (or on a separate day by themselves). This reduces the chance of poor technique due to fatigue and allows the athlete to maximize the velocity of movement. 

Examples of plyometric exercises

-       Drop jump

-       Box jump

-       Hopping

-       Lateral hop/skater

-       Split squat jump

Overall evidence based practice suggests the use of plyometrics with traditional strength training for best performance of an athlete.