150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week is recommended. But the part of this advice that people often overlook is that we should do muscle-strengthening exercises twice a week.
When we think of muscle-strengthening exercises, we often imagine people lifting weights in the gym. But there are actually many ways we can strengthen our muscles that don’t include going to the gym. For example, carrying food shopping bags out of the car or even walking uphill may help us build strength.
One of the ways athletes often improve their strength and performance is through a method called plyometric training. This includes any exercise that uses jumping, jumping, or skipping. The goal of plyometric training is to train muscles, tendons, and the nervous system to make better use of their elastic energy. This allows athletes to perform faster and more powerful movements that require less muscular effort to perform. So if a runner does plyometric training, they may find it easier to reach and maintain their top speed during races.
But while we might think plyometric training is the type of exercise only athletes need to do, it can actually have health benefits for everyone—whether you’re a beginner or an avid exerciser.
Whole body benefits
The “explosiveness” — which helps athletes jump higher or run a little faster — isn’t the only benefit of plyometrics.
Studies have shown that plyometric exercises improve strength, muscle size, and muscle speed, along with improved coordination. All of these changes can lead to better athletic performance – from jumping, sprinting, strength, and even endurance.
And not only athletes will benefit from plyometric training. Research shows that older adults who do plyometric exercises (such as vertical hops) are better able to jump and climb stairs than those who do resistance exercises or just walk. It has also been shown to improve posture and bone health and reduce body fat in the elderly.
In teens, jumping rope (a form of plyometric training) has been shown to improve strength, flexibility, and bone density. For adults, it can help improve everything from jumping and running ability to lowering body strength. It may even improve cardiovascular fitness and flexibility in men and bone density in women.
Since plyometric exercises help improve coordination, they are also commonly used to help people avoid and recover from injuries.
what do you know
While pressure gauge training can be very beneficial, it also runs the risk of causing injuries if the exercises are performed incorrectly.
In the past, it was suggested that people not perform plyometric exercises if they could not squat one and a half times their body weight – along with being able to balance on one leg in a half-squat position for 30 seconds. This may be appropriate for more advanced types of plyometric training such as drop jumps (where a platform falls on one or both legs, and quickly jumps back on impact) and roll (running with a long, jumping stride). But there are many different types of plyometric exercises, which even beginners can do.
For example, activities like jumping are less intense – so they have less impact on our muscles and bones than other types of plyometric exercises (like jogging). Many people are probably already doing plyometric exercises without realizing.
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The risk of injury increases with plyometric exercises with more pressure on the landing – so avoid exercises such as tumbling jumps and twisting until you get more power. But if plyometric training is done in a way that suits your ability, it has a low risk of injury.
If you want to give plyometric training a try, there are some moves you must master to lower your risk of injury.
First, learn how to land properly. When you land, you should be on a full foot with your ankles, knees, and hips bent to absorb the force. You can work on this simply by poising on one leg, then jumping up a bit and landing on both. To advance, try balancing on one leg but go down on the opposite leg when you jump.
Once you learn to land, it is important to learn to jump. Choose something at an appropriate height that you feel comfortable jumping to – such as a small step – and practice jumping and using landing techniques to absorb the impact properly.
When you’ve mastered landing and jumping, you can progress to jumping right away repeatedly, like jumping. Start with two feet at a time and progress to alternating one leg. As you become more confident and efficient, you can then begin to progress in the height of the repetitive jumps in places – eg squat jumps (perform squats as usual, but explode into a jump at the top of the movement) and fold jumps (similar) to the squat jump, but put your legs in Your chest is at the top of your jump). To advance this further, try jumping forward or sideways. Remember that the main goal of manometry training is to be flexible. That’s why it’s important to aim to be “springy” in all of your jumps.
The most demanding plyometrics are known as shock jumps or depth jumps. This involves dropping a bench or box (usually more than 30 cm) off the ground and making an instant jump. These jumps will have a high landing force and should only be done when you have mastered all the other techniques and can do them with confidence.
Plyometric training is a cost-effective and time-saving form of exercise that can improve your health and fitness. If you want to give plyometric training a try, try doing plyometric exercises one to three times a week.
