What is plyometric training and do I need it?

Why it’s good to include this type of training in your regular schedule.

Plyometric training is a type of exercise that involves quick, powerful movements designed to increase muscle strength and explosiveness. It focuses on building 'fast-twitch' muscle fibers.

We often use jumping, hopping, and bounding movements that elicit fast, powerful muscle contractions. For example: jump squats, box jumps, broad jumps and depth jumps. The movement involves the stretching of a muscle quickly followed by a rapid shortening of that same muscle (stretch-shortening cycle). This builds explosive power.

A few advantages:

Build strength - The high-intensity nature of plyometrics places great overload on the muscles and acts as a strength-building stimulus. They can help increase strength in the legs, hips and glutes.

Improve speed and agility - The quick, jumping movements involved in plyometrics help improve muscular coordination and reactivity. This translates to better speed and agility.

Develop faster muscle contractions - Plyometrics train the muscles to contract in a faster, more powerful way. This helps with athletic performance and reactivity.

Increase fat burning - Plyometrics are a high-calorie burn workout. The intense bursts of effort rev up the metabolism and can help burn more calories and fat.

Reduce injury risk - When done properly, plyometrics can help strengthen tendons and ligaments around the joints and improve proprioception, thus reducing injury risk.

Complement other training - Plyometrics provide training stimulus that complement weightlifting, sports practice, running and more to improve overall fitness.

Feel free to contact me for ideas on integrating these types of exercises into your regular routine. It’s important to learn how to use proper mechanics while preforming this type of exercise in order to prevent injury and get the most out of your training #staygold 👊👊