Plyometrics are essential to improve and condition your speed, power, and explosiveness. But you cannot just jump into doing a plyometrics program. First, being unprepared can lead to an injury. Secondly, you must develop your potential to boost your speed and explosiveness.

How to Prepare for Plyometrics

When delving into plyometrics, the initial step is building a strong foundation. Just as a car requires the appropriate engine to perform optimally, your body and muscles need the proper development to meet the demands of speed and explosiveness. Attempting to achieve plyometrics with an underdeveloped “engine” is like using a four-cylinder engine to race in NASCAR.

Three Motions

When embarking on developing plyometric capabilities, it’s essential to grasp the three distinct phases of motion. They must be adequately trained to synchronize seamlessly.

These phases comprise:

• the eccentric motion (the lowering phase),
• the isometric or aromatization phase (the transitional phase between lowering and ascending) and
• the concentric phase (the upward extension).

Resistance training falls short as it doesn’t individually address all three phases and is not the best way to develop and condition your plyometrics.

Cultivating a fast eccentric and isometric motion facilitates a rapid concentric movement. The concentric result and the plyometric heavily rely on what happens in the first two phases. Contrary to the common belief that slow training equates to slow performance, training slowly in the eccentric phase is exceptionally beneficial.

Slow Eccentric Motion

A slow eccentric motion activates muscle spindles, which are crucial to communicating with Golgi Tendon Organs (GTOs). GTOs control force and will limit your ability to maximize muscle force to protect your muscles from injury. This limitation is common in resistance training, where individuals often struggle to overcome plateaus to enhance their strength quickly.

By engaging in slow eccentric training, you activate muscle spindles, which, in turn, improve communication with GTOs. This enhanced interaction increases force through loaded stretching. As you do it slowly, the time under tension creates adaptation. A substantial boost in strength and force is achieved quickly within a few weeks, as opposed to the gradual progress seen in conventional resistance training.

Prioritizing the slow eccentric phase for the first two weeks and isometric holds for the next two is vital to enhance your plyometric result. This two-phase approach takes about a month and will prepare your muscles and proprioceptors to maximize force for plyometric exercises.

For those seeking a deeper dive into these principles, the science, exercises, and practical implementation, I recommend reading my book “Instant Strength.” It offers a deeper insight and an eight-week training program tailored to this unique methodology.

Slow training is not unproductive; it’s a critical step in building the foundation to transition into speed and explosiveness. This gradual approach is the key to enhancing your performance, progressing from deliberate practice of slow movements to executing them at high speeds.

Plyometric Exercises

Warm-up is Essential

Always start with a proper warm-up to prepare your muscles and joints for the following high-intensity exercises. If you are not warmed up properly, plyometric exercises will feel slow. For instance, do movements like squats if you are going to do vertical jumps.

My Plyometric Warm-up

• Do a few sets of 85% 1RM.
• After 2-3 sets, do 2-3 sets of 40% 1RM for speed.
• Then, do plyometrics.

Basic Starter Plyometric Exercises

Jump Squats

Starting Position- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.

Squatting Phase- Bend your knees and hips fast and lower your body into a squat position. Your knees can go over your toes.

Explosive Phase- From the squat position, push off the ground, propelling your body into the air, and explode upwards as fast as possible without any delay using maximum force.

In-Air Phase- As you reach the peak of your jump, if you are jumping with power, your body should be momentarily suspended in the air.

Landing Phase- Land on your feet, bending your knees to absorb the impact to transition immediately into the next squat repetition.

Repeat- Perform a series of jump squats, aiming for multiple repetitions. When your jump loses height or speed, stop.

When you get good at jump squats, you can add a box to jump off or lift your knees to a tuck position.

Plyometric Push-ups

Starting Position- Start with your hands placed slightly wider than shoulder-width. Maintain a straight line from your head to your heels. Engaging your glutes to keep your body in alignment.

Lowering Phase- Lower your body fast toward the ground in the eccentric motion. It must be fast.

Explosive Phase- From the lowered position, without delay, push your body off the ground as fast as you can with maximum force. Extend your arms explosively, driving your upper body up from the ground.

In-Air Phase- As you push up, lift your hands off the ground, and your body should briefly hover in the air. Bring your hands off the ground so your body loses contact with the floor momentarily.

Landing Phase- After the explosive phase, be conscious of your hands returning to the ground in the starting position. As you land, immediately do the next repetition.

Repeat- Perform several repetitions and stop when the pushup starts to slow down. The plyometric response is diminished.

You can do Depth Plyometrics off a Box when you get good at them.

To improve plyometrics, use the training methods below to boost your plyometric results.

Complex Training

Complex training is a secret that can elevate your plyometrics to a higher level, but it’s crucial to undergo proper training to prepare for it. The theory behind complex training is that the prior heavy or explosive strength exercise can “potentiate” the neuromuscular system, leading to improved performance in the subsequent plyometric exercise. This can result in better power output and, consequently, more significant gains in plyometric ability.

Complex training is a training method that combines resistance or strength exercises with plyometric exercises in a structured manner. The idea behind complex training is to take advantage of post-activation potentiation (PAP). In this physiological phenomenon, a heavy or explosive resistance exercise can enhance the subsequent explosive performance in a related movement.

Complex training allows you to work on strength and plyometrics in a single workout, which can be a time-efficient way to improve your overall athletic performance.

Sample Complex Training Protocol

Strength Exercise

Perform heavy strength exercises such as squats, deadlifts, or bench press. Use a load that allows for 1-5 repetitions of the exercise.

Plyometric Exercise

Immediately following the strength exercise, perform a plyometric exercise, such as box jumps, squat jumps, or depth jumps. Aim for 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps.

Sample Program

• Bench or Dumbbell Presses- Only do five reps of 85% 1RM. Most people make the mistake of trying to do as many reps as possible until they fail. If you do this, you will lose the plyometric response. “Stimulate, don’t annihilate.” Lee Haney
• Rest for about 30 seconds to 2 minutes and do Plyometric Pushups.

Here are some other combinations. The exercises must match movements.

• Squats – Jump Squats
• Push Press- Shoulder Presses
• Pull-ups- Med ball Slams
• Deadlifts- Kettlebell Swings

Once you’ve mastered complex training, you can progress to plyometric conditioning through contrast training. This approach assists in sustaining and enhancing your plyometric conditioning and explosiveness. Both complex and contrast training should focus on sport-specific movements that align with your sport.

Contrast Training

Contrast training is a specialized and advanced method designed to improve athletic performance, especially in sports requiring strength, power, speed, and agility. It involves a series of exercises and contrasts that aim to enhance various aspects of an athlete’s physical explosive capabilities.

This training method typically consists of four main components:

1. Maximal Strength Exercise: This phase typically begins with a heavy compound lift, such as a squat, deadlift, or bench press, performed for low repetitions and high intensity. The goal is to recruit maximum muscles and stimulate and supercharge the central nervous system.

2. Explosive Strength Exercise: Athletes perform an explosive, plyometric exercise following the strength exercise. The goal is to transfer the neural activation from the strength exercise to the explosive.

3. Weighted Plyometric Movement: Do a weighted movement at about 50 percent 1RM for 5-8 reps. This is the phase where you use explosive power in a fatigued state.

4. Overspeed-Assisted Plyometric: Perform an assisted plyometric to stay explosive and fast in a fatigued state. For example, using a resistance band to help you do a pull-up jump or running downhill. A movement that allows you to maintain speed with assistance.

Lower Body Sample Routine

• Squats
• Vertical Jumps
• Vertical Jumps with lightweight
• Jump Squats using a resistance Band to help you Jump up.

Upper Body Sample Routine

• Bench Press
• Plyometric Pushup
• Pushups- Dumbbell Press
• Plyometric Pushup with Resistance Band Assistance

This shift from heavy lifting to fast, explosive movements enhances your neuromuscular adaptations, leading to increased performance. But you need to prepare your strength before you start contrast training. You cannot just jump into it. You will not see the results without prior training.

The path to greater speed and explosiveness involves a well-structured journey from foundational slow training to advanced plyometrics. This systematic progression enables your body to adapt and synchronize, paving the way for your desired dynamic and explosive athletic performance.