Plyometric workout

fitbethlin

Anyone have an idea for a short plyometric workout? I'd like to incorporate some plyo moves once a week after a restorative yoga session. Last year, I did some box jumps once a week and after six weeks or so, I saw a distinct difference in my snowboarding. I'd love to have an actual plan rather than just "do some box jumps."

Cherimoose

Plyometrics tend to be advanced exercises, with a higher risk of injury than other exercises.. so a routine really should be customized to your abilities. What exercises do you currently do? And why do you want to add plyometrics? What is your goal?

fitbethlin

I'm pretty comfortable in the gym - doing a good combination of cardio (bike/treadmill/rowing), lifting with dumbells, HIIT, and some yoga. Plyometrics gave me a lot more control on the mountain last year, and I'd like to get back to it to improve my snowboarding performance now and my surfing performance for those rare vacations to surf spots. I'm thinking about the following because I can do most of them in a hotel gym while I'm on the road:

4 Squat Thrust to Surfing PopUp
Explosive Pushups
Box jumps on bench

if alone: MB slam
OR
if not alone: MB scoop toss ( load MB between legs and toss for height)

AllanMisner

I don’t have or know of any set plyo programs, but I’m a big fan of squat jumps. Unlike box jumps, you focus on getting a deep body weight squat, followed by an explosive burst up to a jump, landing with soft knees in the starting position for another squat. The move can also be adapted to include a jump to the side, front and/or back to more directly address your snowboarding.

Sam_I_Am77

Plyometrics are great because they help teach you to generate power. Additionally, intelligent use of Plyo in-conjunction with resistance training can actually help prevent things like non-contact ACL injuries. Basically when you land you have to stabilize all of the force of that landing and it actually helps strengthen the supporting muscles. I chose Plyo as a topic for a research paper a couple semesters ago and it's a very interesting training modality.

With that being said, you don't have to do a ton of Plyo work, just a little and you should do it-conjunction with a well constructed resistance training plan. I wish I was on my home PC so I could look at one piece of research for you that discusses "time-to-stabilization" for various Plyo exercises. Box Jumps are good and aren't bad for your knees, but DON'T hop down, step down or let yourself down somehow. Plyo work in this sense is not like CrossFit or BootCamp, it's not done for time but rather good quality reps in-which you generate power and stabilize the landing. Squat Jumps like mentioned above are good. I also like standing Broad Jumps which are also good for the application of improving running speed; I would imagine there to be some carryover into snowboarding. Depth Jumps or Depth Jumps into a Broad Jump are very good BUT, the stabilization is harder on your body and is something that you should do only after you've improved your overall strength & balance.

If the gym you go to has a trainer with a CPT or PES from NASM, the will know how to integrate Plyo into a resistance training plan for you.

fitbethlin

Thanks guys! I'm going to switch out squat jumps for the box jumps. It's probably more reliable anyway since hotel gym equipment is .... sketchy at best. I wish I knew something other than explosive pushups for the upper body, but I can't seem to find much that doesn't involve throwing around a medicine ball. (And that's not realistic in a hotel gym either.)

I don't do CrossFit or BootCamp. I have never gone to a box or a boot camp that didn't send me to a PT with an injury after a session or two. I prefer doing big heavy lifts like the 5-3-1 program or Starting Strength, but I don't have access to facilities to do those any more.

Cherimoose

I second the suggestion to work with a qualified personal trainer. Especially since you're so easily injured from things like bootcamp. There's a good chance that is due to form issues and/or muscle imbalances. The trainer will be able to diagnose & correct those.

By the way, it's not wise to do plyometrics right after yoga. Your muscles & connective tissue will be in a relaxed state, which isn't conducive to high impact exercise. Could cause injuries, and certainly reduced power. I'd wait a few hours.

fitbethlin wrote: »

I wish I knew something other than explosive pushups for the upper body,

I'm not sure why you need much else, since your sports don't involve a lot of upper body speed/power. Upper body strength can easily be maintained with non-plyo exercises (body weight rows, dips, resistance bands, etc).

Sam_I_Am77

Cherimoose wrote: »

I second the suggestion to work with a qualified personal trainer. Especially since you're so easily injured from things like bootcamp. There's a good chance that is due to form issues and/or muscle imbalances. The trainer will be able to diagnose & correct those.

By the way, it's not wise to do plyometrics right after yoga. Your muscles & connective tissue will be in a relaxed state, which isn't conducive to high impact exercise. Could cause injuries, and certainly reduced power. I'd wait a few hours.

fitbethlin wrote: »

I wish I knew something other than explosive pushups for the upper body,

I'm not sure why you need much else, since your sports don't involve a lot of upper body speed/power. Upper body strength can easily be maintained with non-plyo exercises (body weight rows, dips, resistance bands, etc).

Yeah I don't know why you would need plyo-push-ups to be honest. Plyo work is really about generating power, it is not a display of strength; strength and power are not the same. The only time I would really worry about upper-body ballistic work is if I had a "throwing" athlete (baseball, quarterback) and then I would incorporate some kind of medicine ball throws.

Hotel gym's are sketchy, so your best bet is probably a squat jump or broad jump. If a hotel gym even has jumping platforms they may not be high enough to really force you into max force output or possibly so high that they're just beyond your vertical jump ability. The squat jump or broad jump could be done in your hotel room if needed.

Re-reading... With the Squat Jump I disagree with the deep squat into a jump. Plyo work is fast, just like swinging a baseball bat, golf club, etc. You don't want to have a long delay between moving down into position and jumping back up because that transition time between going down and jumping-up (amoritization period) causes you to lose energy for the jump.

Here's the start of a Squat Jump from the NASM instructional site:

Notice how she's roughly at a 45-degree angle, not a full squat like you would as a strength exercise?

fitbethlin

Cherimoose wrote: »

I'm not sure why you need much else, since your sports don't involve a lot of upper body speed/power. Upper body strength can easily be maintained with non-plyo exercises (body weight rows, dips, resistance bands, etc).

Upper body speed and power is a pretty important component of surfing. Surfing is 90% paddling and getting up the speed to catch a wave after you're out in the line up is not easy after the endurance paddle it takes to get out there!

Sam_I_Am77

fitbethlin wrote: »

Cherimoose wrote: »

I'm not sure why you need much else, since your sports don't involve a lot of upper body speed/power. Upper body strength can easily be maintained with non-plyo exercises (body weight rows, dips, resistance bands, etc).

Upper body speed and power is a pretty important component of surfing. Surfing is 90% paddling and getting up the speed to catch a wave after you're out in the line up is not easy after the endurance paddle it takes to get out there!

That's understandable. Plyo-Push-ups aren't going to help you build upper body strength-endurance which is what the above indicates as being a requirement. You might make a case that doing a plyo-push-up to go from lying on the board to getting on your feet would call for plyo push-ups to help. If that's the case, then I would suggest you simply do some exercise where you lie on the floor and hop to your feet just as you would on a board, do like 2 to 3 sets of 8 reps.

If you need upper body strength endurance, then do something like...


a1. DB Bench Press: 8-12 reps
a2. Push-ups: 12-20 reps (*modified if necessary)
*this is a super-set, do one then the other*

b1. Lat Pulldowns: 8-12 reps
b2. DB Rows on a Stability Ball: 12-20 reps
*this is a super-set, do one then the other*

Many ways to do it, the above is just a strength-endurance specific approach.