Plyometric exercises how many reps

So think: squat jumps, bounds 1 leg take off, opposite 1 leg landing , hops 1 leg take-off, same 1 leg landing , and med ball throws. While plyos are definitely paramount for athletes, anyone can benefit from an improved ability to coordinate high speed movements.

More Videos. Examples: Depth jumps Reactive jumps. Remember — Listen to your Body! No Tag. No responses yet. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. About Us. Our Services. Privacy Policy. Recovery between plyometric workouts is essential in injury and overtraining prevention.

Allow two to four days of recovery between each workout, and never perform drills for the same muscle area two days in a row. A sample plyometric workout for an intermediate athlete should begin with a thorough warm-up for at least five minutes of jogging, skipping or lunging drills.

Complete three sets of 10 repetitions, resting one to two minutes between each set for lower-body exercises such as squat jumps, split jumps and box jumps. Upper-body exercises might include medicine ball chest passes, two-hand overhead throws and clap pushups. Heather Hitchcock has been writing professionally since She has contributed material through various online publications. Plyometric programs are generally developed and progressed consistent with movement complexity, skill-level or mastery, the plane of movement, exercise progression choice, but most importantly, volume and intensity.

The number of foot contacts determines volume e. The plyometric activity's intensity is primarily related to variables such as the amount of acceleration due to gravity placed on the body, the amount of impact, whether the pattern is bilateral or unilateral, and what complexity is built into the pattern.

Important to note that while early texts were proponents of higher volume contacts seen in table 4, 5 , more current texts tend to favor reduced volume contacts 1, 3, 6, 7 and place greater emphasis on intensity of patterns as well as the specificity to the sport of the patterns to reflect gameplay.

Historically, much of the research done strictly on plyometric training and outcomes has been done to exclude other training modes i. Thus much of the recommendations based on research have often been higher in volume as it has not factored in other mixed modes of training.

An integrated strength and conditioning program should encompass, there is simply not enough time to perform high volumes of plyometric and power work if everything is to be addressed in a 60 - 90 minute session with sessions per week.

Volumes should be kept lower to optimize rest and intensity efforts as it is for loaded power and strength efforts i.

Regardless, training good form with inexperienced individuals or allowing adequate dynamic warm-up with more experienced individuals to reinforce good mechanics are critical to success and avoiding injury. When designing plyometric programs, as long as the volumes and intensities align with the OPT recommendations, planning can allow for jump and power training days per week to maximize learning, progress, and address all planes vectors necessary for integrated performance enhancement.

Use lower-intensity drills e. Some simple mantras to remember are that you must "Load before you can explode" and "train slow, move slow, train fast, move fast, but if you can't do it slowly, you can't do it fast. From a standing position, using a dowel or light bar and maintaining good spinal orientation as the body hinges and lowers i.

This movement, versus a more quad-dominant lowering position, reduces knee and hip shearing forces while also loading eccentrically the gluteus maximus to facilitate more powerful unloading concentric contraction during the triple extension phase ankle, knee, and hip. Keeping it simple, since the priority is force absorption to reduce impact and joint wear and tear, the cues keep it quiet and keep it soft.

A standard error is the "heel slap. This increases impact forces. If this cannot be controlled, the pattern's intensity should be reduced until the athlete can master the ability to quietly land on the fall of the foot and maintain a credit card space underneath the heel. It is key to potentiating power and is often misunderstood by athletes.

Arms need to be loaded back in hyperextension early and released into flexion with maximal effort. Getting athletes to keep these priority segments aligned in the sagittal plane allowing for hip- shoulder-width foot placement based on jumps has been shown to decrease injury and improve force production due to less lost energy or force leaks.

Introduce more dynamic movements, which will begin to vary planes and directions and increase gravity acceleration and impact forces. This is what most consider "true plyometrics," wherein the emphasis is on switching from a landing eccentric to a take-off concentric as rapidly as possible. The focus of this phase is to move the full spectrum of velocities, planes, directions, and sport-related patterns to fully integrate the weight room to the playing field 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8. In closing, while plyometrics can be fun, take the needed time to prepare the body physiologically.

Develop your systematic plan to advance individuals towards higher-intensity drills once they demonstrate technique mastery and adequately tolerate jump-landing forces. Boyle, M. New Functional Training for Sports, 2nd ed.