Here at LMVM, it’s all about getting the highest rate of return on what you put into your health. When it comes to exercising, we’ve been inundated with so much faux-bodybuilder mythology that we think we should be doing nothing but body part splits in the gym for hours upon hours every week.
This is total B.S. Even though there are enormous benefits to throwing some serious weight around with exercises such as squats, deadlifts, and presses, you can get a killer workout without even getting in your car to go off to the gym with plyometrics exercises.
Plyometrics Primer
Most people think that power is the same thing as strength. While strength is the measure of how much weight you can move, power measures how quickly you can move that weight. By focusing on building power, you are effectively doing both strength and speed training in a single workout!
Plyometrics are a family of bodyweight exercises that really build explosive power by doing fast, repeated movements. (No equipment necessary!) Here’s a list of some excellent plyometrics exercises to get you started today.
Box Jumps
The classic plyometric. You’ll need some kind of sturdy platform or bench, ideally around 18” to 20” high. Just do the best you can with what you have. Jump onto and off the object as quickly as you can without losing your balance. Plyometrics boxes are ridiculously expensive, but if you are the DIY type, here’s an excellent article on how to make your own plyometrics box.
Lateral Jumps
With lateral jumps, you jump from side to side over an object on the ground as quickly as possible. Go ahead and improvise with the object. It could be a heavy book or anything else that could withstand your body weight should you miss your mark and land on it. Or you could go the minimalist route like this video and just forego the object altogether
Vertical Jumps
As you might have guessed, vertical plyometrics consist of jumping up and down as fast as you can. You can make this more challenging by doing an air squat when you hit the ground or tucking your knees up when you are in midair.
Depth Jumps
With depth jumps, you will be jumping off of an object and onto the floor, immediately jumping again. You can simply do this last jump in place, or you can jump up onto another object like you were doing a box jump.
Bounding
Bounding is the plyometrics version of running. Push off as hard as you can to get as much height and distance with each step, lifting the other knee up as far as you can.
Clap Push Up
The name says it all. When doing push ups, push yourself up off the floor with enough force that you can clap your hands and get them back on the floor underneath you. Now keep doing them, you badass!
And hey, if Jack Black can do ’em, you probably can too!
Getting some effective exercise into your life does not need to entail hopping in your car for a 10 minute drive to a packed gym that eats up more and more of your money every week. Add these excellent power-building exercises to your routine and you’ll see phenomenal results in much less time!
Let me know if you have any other good plyometrics exercises to share!
I'm a science geek, food lover, and wannabe surfer.
{ 10 comments }
Great rundown, man. I especially love bounding, as it makes me feel like a kid, yet works great for power.
-Drew
I avoid jumping its too hard! .. hah not really it’s so challenging the exercises you mention here of the pylometrics is a “game changer” for your body guaranteed.
Darrin,
I love plyometrics. I think one important point is to keep reps low, just like strength training. Doing 100 vertical jumps is not nearly as effective as doing 10 vertical jumps with maximum effort. You can only explode upward with maximum effort so many times.
Dave
@Drew:
One of the great things about exercising is you get to feel like a kid again! Sprinting, jumping rope, bounding, who can’t have some fun with that?
@Raymond:
You definitely want to be careful to stop before your form gets sloppy, especially with box jumps, where an errant step could end up injuring you.
@Dave:
Yep. Go all out until you are fatigued, not exhausted. That’s where the real leverage exists in these types of exercises!
These are some awesome exercises! I’m a HUGE plyometrics/explosive training fan. Burpees and split jumps are some other great ones – oh burpees… I love to hate them and hate to love em 🙂
@Craig,
Ah yes, the burpee. I didn’t include them because I could (and eventually will) write an entire post on ’em!
Great post on plyometrics! It has really helped me from an athletic standpoint as I play basketball. My vertical leap increased very well. I was actually going to do a post on it soon but u beat me to it! lol my favourites out of this lot would probably be box jumps and depth jumps.
Michael
@Michael:
Hey, don’t let me steal your thunder! You should do your own post anyways. Everyone has their own perspective and I’m sure you’d write a great post. 🙂
Burpees are really brutal! The first time I did them I was dead, they really had their way with me! I haven’t done much Plyometrics, though. I am going to have to give this stuff a try. This could be done while training outside, too, which is cool. I will add this in to my routine at some point.
As an athlete, power is really essential. I remember when my coach told us to develop our power as well as our strength and agility since it will improve our game that is why our coach introduce us to plyometrics training. At first, plyometric is really difficult to execute and gives us muscle pain but after we saw the results and since it helps us improve the strength and agility of our leg muscle we decided to continue doing the program.
Comments on this entry are closed.