Why is Plyometrics so Misunderstood and Misapplied? Part 2 It is also easy to find statements to the effect that running, is a plyometric event. They also consider other skills such as throwing, swinging a golf club/bat, jumping and skipping as plyometric events. They do not back up this statement with facts because most likely they could not find any substantiation in the literature. Each of these skills may include a plyometric action but the skill itself cannot be considered plyometric. For example in running it is only the landing and takeoff that is plyometric — but only in the best sprinters. The other leg actions are not and should not be considered plyometric. You can however, do some plyometric type exercises to enhance some of these actions such as the knee drive. See Explosive Running or Explosive Plyometrics for details. In response to questions related to finding a good book on plyometrics several authors recommend the book Jumping into Plyometrics. This is a good book but not for true plyometrics since it contains mostly jump exercises. In fact this book, which was one of the first to be published for the mass market, may have been responsible for many people believing that plyometrics is simply doing jump exercises. This book is also recommended for sports specific plyometric training on several sites. This too is a fallacy because plyometrics is not specific to any sport. Plyometrics is used only to develop an explosive joint action that is used to improve execution of a particular skill. Thus it is important for all sports that require this particular skill. For example, running is involved in a multitude of sports; how then can an exercise specific to improving the pushoff in running be specific to a sport. It can only be specific to improving the pushoff in running. Some sites recommend supplementary equipment such as jump soles for use in plyometric training. Such equipment can be used effectively but they are certainly not necessary. Many times this equipment causes injury because of the extreme stretching that takes place. The misinformation on plyometrics is compounded many times over when it comes to the exercises and their descriptions that are given by the various pseudo-experts. It is possible to fill up many pages with examples of these non-plyometric exercises masquerading as true plyometrics. For example, there are several that recommend double leg jumping or bounding. In the directions you are told to go into a deep swipe and jump forward as far as possible keep the landing short and then leap out again. In the accompanying video the athlete executes the leap well. Upon landing he stops and then initiates a new jump. This automatically eliminates it as a plyometric exercise. Some recommend the front chop it which they swing a medicine ball up-and-down from between the legs to overhead. This has nothing to do with an explosive action since there is no loading or release. Almost all sites recommend doing multiple jumps of 50 to 100 or more or jumps last thing 90 or more seconds. These are jump exercises, not plyometric exercises. A true plyometric exercise should be done for a maximum of about 10 reps at last no more than 10 seconds for execution of the number of reps specified. Going above 10 seconds brings in a different energy system and doing more than 10 reps is not possible have done explosively. This is why they are truly jump exercises when they exceed 10 repetitions.
Posted on: Tue, 24 Sep 2013 20:40:46 +0000