Plyometric Fitness Training
Why so Many Celebrities Incorporate Plyometric Training in their Exercise Routine?
Recently you hear many celebrities and athletes talk about Plyometric training. So what is Plyometric training?
Plyometric fitness training is an exercise program of explosive movements designed to develop greater muscular power. Specific exercises that involve any kind of jumping, skipping, hopping or leaping movement can be categorized as plyometric fitness training.
Plyometric fitness training is designed to increase your reactive strength and is a great way to connect force and explosive power. It rapidly builds speed and power, the more reactive strength you have, the faster you can react from one motion to doing another motion.
Plyometric training has long been a staple of athletes who need to work on their explosive strength. Plyocity defines it as “exercises that enable a muscle to reach maximum strength in as short a time as possible. This speed-strength ability is known as power.” With athletes, plyometric training involves intense exercises specifically designed for their particular sports such as jumping off a platform and rebounding off the floor onto a higher platform. Most of us don’t need exercises of that level of difficulty, but it’s possibly to incorporate basic plyometric-type moves into your workout to add more intensity and challenge. Designed and safe for fitness trainers, quick and healthy weight loss programs, beneficial and fun activity for children and adolescents and well conditioned athletes.
Before you get started Plyometric Training
Is very advanced and intense! If you’re a beginner, don’t mess with it until you’ve been exercising consistently for at least 3 months. It should be added VERY slowly and in VERY short intervals – beginning with 10-30 seconds and slowly working your way up to 1 minute. In between, walk in place until you recover. Should only be done about once a week. It’s easy to injure yourself with this type of training, so be cautious.
Safety Considerations for Plyometric Training
The most important aspect of a safe and effective plyometric fitness program is developing a safe landing technique. The key to proper landing is to avoid any twisting or sideways motion at the knee. It is important to recognize that these are high risk exercises and if performed incorrectly or performed without a solid base of training, plyometrics can increase the risk of injury. All fitness exercises are high impact. When you land, make sure your knees are bent to take the stress off your joints. Obviously, the lower you squat and the higher you jump, the harder the exercises will be. Plyometric training isn’t necessary to challenge yourself. Again, being cautious and doing basic exercises at first can help you ease your way into plyometric training.
Sport Specific Plyometric training program
When beginning a Plyometric training program it is important to keep in mind the specific sport you are involved in and what exactly you require of your body. There is little point training for a bigger muscular body if you are preparing for a marathon. It is a long way to carry that extra bulk!
Stretching before your Plyometric training program
Stretching is an important aspect of all training programs and especially important prior to Plyometric training. It helps in many ways but mostly by preparing and resetting the muscle fibres before and after training. It increases blood flow to the help in warming up the muscle and also to aid the removal of lactate afterwards. It ensures you get the best from your Plyometric training and also prevents injury.
Rest and recovery after Plyometric training program
Rest is vital within a Plyometric training program. The most common mistake made by both experienced and beginners is lack of recovery/rest. There is no doubt that it is easy to get swept away with the desire to get fit and hooked by the endorphins produced during training but resting once a week can in fact make your body stronger and give you a much needed metal break.
Equipment for your Plyometric training program
While specific equipment is not essential it can certainly help during Plyometric training. Use of soft mats and flooring can reduce the impact forces especially on your joints. Some foot wear is designed particularly for high impact training and can again help improve your training and limit injury. Plyometric boxes can also be used to systematically progress your intensity particularly during jump training.
Sample Exercises Plyometric training program
The exercises below are just a few exercises you can incorporate into your own workouts. Tips for doing these exercises:
Add them at the end of your usual workouts,
Sprinkle them throughout your workout,
Alternate each exercise with recovery periods on those days when you don’t have a lot of time but want a challenging workout ,
Do them 1-2 times for anywhere from 10 seconds to a minute and always recover with a few minutes of walking or light cardio before you repeat them. You can repeat them more often or for longer intervals to progress.
Make sure you get a nice long warm up in before you start.
All exercises are high impact. When you land, make sure your knees are bent to take the stress off your joints.
If you use a step, begin with the platform at it’s lowest level (progress by adding risers). Stand in front of the step, brace your abs, bend your knees and jump onto the step with both feet. Step down and repeat for 10 se
conds to 1 minute.
On a staircase, simply hop up the stairs, landing with both feet on each step. Each time you leap, brace your abs, bend your knees and use your arms to help you keep your balance.
If you can’t land with both feet simultaneously, stagger your landing and work your way up to both feet.
Side-to-Side Lateral Jump
Begin by placing a small object (such as a piece of tape) on the floor. Stand on one side of the object and bend your knees into a slight squat. In an explosive movement, jump over the object, landing with knees bent into a squat. Continue jumping from side to side for 10 seconds to one minute.
Plyometric Jumps
Stand with feet together. Bend your knees into a squat and then jump up as high as you can. Land with knees bent (to protect your joints) and immediately go into a squat and repeat the squat/jump for 10 seconds to 1 minute. Raise your arms as you jump to add more intensity.
There are several ways to incorporate plyometric exercising into a daily routine. Since plyometrics mostly involves enhancing the act of jumping, you could start off small by maybe climbing up onto that trampoline in your backyard or maybe pulling out that long jump rope you haven’t touched in ages. Once you have built up a little endurance, or if you’re an athlete and require something a little more intense, the most effective form of plyometric training involves jumping up to a platform and jumping back down from it in a short amount of time. This can be intensified or even toned down by increasing or decreasing the height that you jump and the time you take to do so.
In conclusion, plyometric exercise could easily burn twenty pounds in a short amount of time. This form of exercise is easy and effective as long as you conduct the exercises in a safe manner.Remember, plyometric training is an advanced activity and most of us don’t need to do too much of it to reach our goals (once a week is enough). Easing in a few plyometric exercises is a great way, however, to raise your heart rate quickly and to improve your stamina, strength and muscle endurance.
