Incorporating Plyometrics Into Your Workouts

Plyometric training is great for athletes, but good for everybody. If I was training someone involved in martial arts or volleyball, plyo workouts would be essential. Sport-specific workouts aside, plyometrics are great for improving speed and strength, and I try to make them a part of most clients’ workouts.

A plyometric exercise, simply put, is to make your muscles contract in a very short amount of time. Most exercises performed in this style are done with little to no load. Body weight is usually sufficient, but as you advance resistance bands, barbells or kettle bells can certainly be used.

Because the idea behind a plyometric workout is to contract your muscle fast, you have to be careful not to train ahead of your fitness level. Warming up is always important, but especially critical when training certain muscle groups in this manner.

Box jumps are a good place to start. It’s as simple as it sounds. Get a plyo box or aerobic stepper and jump onto it. Start with a height that is comfortable and get your footing right. Aerobic steppers are usually adjustable in height, but can tip over. Plyo boxes are very stable and almost impossible to tip over, but they are also usually made of metal with a textured top like similar to sand paper. These are notorious for scraping up shins after misjudged jumps!

After getting comfortable with the box jumps, try lateral box jumps. Use a lower height box and jump laterally onto the box. Then hop down on the other side, and repeat in the opposite direction. Single-leg lateral jumps are another great plyometric exercise you can try. Roll up a towel or lay down a jump rope and stand beside it on one leg. Hop over your rope maintaining control and balance, and then hop back.

Squat jumps are excellent, challenging and exactly what they sound like. Squat down like you were doing a body-weight squat, but instead of raising your body up slowly it will be fast. Using all of the muscles in your legs—from your glutes all the way to your toes—spring into the air. When you land, you want to be loose and already into the lowering part of the motion. You should not land with your legs locked and your feet stomping the ground. Assuming you know how to perform a body weight squat properly and without pain, give these a try.

Try working some of these exercises into your workouts. I do recommend doing a good dynamic warm up before attempting. You should also have a certified trainer present to help you and do an assessment to determine if you should be attempting explosive exercises like these.