Plyometric Training

What is Plyometric Training?

Plyometric training, otherwise referred to as ‘plyometrics’ or ‘shock training’, is a training modality that often requires athletes to jump, hop, bound, and/or skip. Plyometrics should not be confused with ‘ballistic’ training, which is ultimately another word for ‘trajectory’ training. Ballistic training involves the trajectory of objects and implements (e.g. barbells and medicine balls), whereas plyometric training uses the previously mentioned movements.

Having said this, it is important to understand in some circumstances there is a degree of crossover, where some movements are considered both ballistic and plyometric. Ultimately the differing factor between the two is that plyometric training typically involves rapid reactive contacts with a surface (e.g. foot contacts during sprinting), whilst ballistic training involves the trajectory of objects/implements.

Plyometric training takes advantage of a rapid cyclical muscle action known as the ‘stretch-shortening cycle (SSC), whereby the muscle undergoes an eccentric contraction, followed by a transitional period prior to the concentric contraction.

Benefits of Plyometric Training

Muscular power and muscular strength are not the same things. Muscular power is determined by the time it takes for muscular strength to convert into speed. A short, fast muscle contraction will produce higher energy than a slower and more powerful contraction. Increasing muscular power by quickly converting muscular strength into speed gives athletes the ability to perform movements that strength alone cannot allow.

Power = mass x speed/distance

Plyometric training improves the athlete’s ability to apply more force, more rapidly. This ability to generate maximal force can be transformed into sport-specific power in sports like martial arts, soccer, tennis, basketball, and athletics. This is achieved through plyometric exercises that repeatedly stimulate the elasticity of muscles with movements that mimic the chosen sport.

• Plyometrics train an athlete to apply a set amount of force in the shortest period of time.
• Plyometrics converts maximal strength into fast, powerful, and explosive movements.
• Plyometric movements, or drills, are applied as sport-specific power by mimicking the movement patterns of the sport, which enables the athlete to run faster, hit harder, throw farther, react quicker, etc.

Why are Plyometric Exercises Important for Injury Prevention?

Plyometrics are often used by athletes to develop power for their chosen sport, and a lot has been written about how to accomplish this, but few people realize how important plyometrics can be in aiding injury prevention.

Essentially, plyometric exercises force the muscle to contract rapidly from a full stretch position.

This is the position in which muscles tend to be at their weakest point. By conditioning the muscle at its weakest point, (full stretch) it is better prepared to handle this type of stress in a real or game environment.

Why are Plyometric Exercises Important for Injury Rehabilitation?

Most injury rehabilitation programs fail to realize that an eccentric muscle contraction can be up to three times more forceful than a concentric muscle contraction.

This is why plyometric exercises are important in the final stage of rehabilitation, to condition the muscles to handle the added strain of eccentric contractions.

Neglecting this final stage of the rehabilitation process can often lead to re-injury because the muscles have not been conditioned to cope with the added force of eccentric muscle contractions.