Learn what plyometrics can do for your speed and agility. This article will teach you what benefits you can receive. I’m going to talk about: plyometrics — exactly what it is and what it is supposed to do, the general benefits you can get from it and finally, ways in which this sort of training can be used for the purposes of speed and agility.
Just tell what plyometrics are already!
Plyometrics are a type of exercise originally used in the Soviet Union and adopted due to its high training effect. The goal of these exercises is to better link speed to strength resulting in an increase in power output.The objective is to be able to use more of your strength — faster — thus producing more power.A sport that can benefit from plyometric training is basketball; here, great benefits can be obtained quickly in a running vertical jump for height.
The foundation of plyometric training is simple:
– increase your bodies ability to absorb and store force;- teach you how to release that force — creating a movement which has a lot of power behind it.
Plyometrics can be implemented in any sport that involves one or more of these actions: kicking, lifting, jumping or throwing. Here are some examples: baseball, football, basketball, soccer, power lifting, disk throwing.
Plyomentrics can also Influence Speed and Agility
Plyometric drills are meant to train your muscles and tendons to absorb high amounts of force and teach your nervous system how to control and stabilize that force. These aspects directly influence speed and agility allowing you to make very quick gains — such gains are even more powerfull in the case of athletes or other people who already have well conditioned muscle and tendons.
To put it another way, the quickest benefits to speed and agility that stem from the incorporation of plyometrics are due to the conditioning of the nervous system. This fact makes the following guidelines even more important:
perform only when rested
concentrate on what you are doing — perform each rep with the same dilligence
remember to keep your rep number under 20 — this is regardless of the drill you are using* keep the set number low (no more than 3 sets regarding the exercise)
Drill this into your head: Train HARDER, not looonger.
Gains in the long term will rely on body composition — this is why a focus on nutrition and avoidance of injury are critical with regards to plyometrics. The structure of your muscles and tendons will be modified.You should be aware that practiced over a longer period of time, the results of plyometric training will make your muscles and tendons and make them have more spring.
Plyometric movement works like this:
* first the body absorbs and stabilizes the force from a negative (eccentric) contraction
* as it does this, it loads up your muscles and tendons with force (think of it like a compressing a spring)
* the spring unloads and the body (for legs) or an object (for arms) is propelled with astounding speed
Here’s an example,when you cock back your arm to throw a rock the natural thing you do is to first cock your arm backwards. The effect of this is that the muscles of your arm and shoulder muscles lock, forcing your tendons to stretch thus storing a lot of force in those tendons and essentially turning them into loaded springs. When you throw, the stored force is released, allowing the rock to be accelerated at a rate which is higher than your normal rate of force development.
The reason plyometric training was so big when it came out in the 70 ’s is that it allowed athletes to specifically train their muscles and tendons to be more spring-like. You naturally use plyometric movements but before plyometric training came out there was no clear cut way to train for this. That is why it was thought for so long that jumping for height for example was an innate ability.
As I said before, the more you use this type of training the more you will also develop an inherent springiness in your muscles and tendons. Coupled with an increased nervous system learning on how to corectly perform the movement at higher speeds, you can expect to see massive improvements in your speed and agility.To further support this process you should also learn about:role of protein in speed and agility training
The question is: how do I adapt the principles of plyometric training to my speed and agility training? The answer is, and you aren’t going to like it, by tailoring your plyometric training to the specific speed and agility requirements of the sport that you are practicing. This is a long discussion and goes way beyond the scope of this article. For more tips click here Speed and Agility Training
This article has discussed:
* what plyometrics are
* how plyometrics work
* the role of plyometrics as part of your speed and agility training
* the benefits you can expect when introducing plyometric drills into yours speed and agility training
You should also check out this awesome exercise for speed and agility training improving coordination












