MuscleDog.com - Connecting you to a better body!

How often do you guys believe plyos should be used for sports training in the off season? I Am talking for the normal sports such as basketball, football, wrestling, track, golf, etc. HAha ok, just kidding about golf.
 
But seriously, do you guys think they should be utilized  as much as weight training? Less? More?

we use plyometrics a couple times a week during our regular programming, but definitely less than regular weightlifting. plyometrics can be great for various different goals, including increasing quickness, burst and explosiveness, but it is a different type of strength than bigger heavier lifts and training will give you. for example, when we do the training for our combine guys, plyometrics help with their vertical jump, but we typically don’t do much plyo stuff for their bench. for their bench we just look to make them stupid strong so that the weight feels like a toothpick to them, which allows them to do far more reps. this is achieved by using regular heavy weight training, not plyometrics. 

That makes a lot of sense that you guys use a lot of plyos for the vertical - but not for the bench. That is really interesting too. I suppose the vertical is sucha  short and explosive movement (The dipping of the jump) that plyos would help mimmick that movement and contraction of those muscles.
-
Whereas with the bench press I suppose if you have a max of 315 - trying to rep 225 might be pretty dang hard as it is about 72% of your 1RM. However, if you could bench 365 then 225 would only be 62% of your 1RM meaning you could bust out a LOT more reps.
-
Would you guys do any Time Under Tension (TUT) principles for the bench before the combine?

the bench press is such a time intensive combine test that we are kind of forced to do TUT work. we do test their max reps a couple times a week to see where they are at, but also to get as much TUT as possible. we don’t focus on TUT since we are doing max reps in the 1-5 range, but it is important to work on the conditioning aspect as well since their work set during the test could be nearly a minute long. can you imagine benching for an entire minute?

Ha! No kidding. Man, it is so funny with the whole combine experience. I am so amazed and always follow the results pretty closely. The reason I follow the training for the bench press (combine) so closely is because in high school I Was in a similar contest. It was with 185. I had the opportunity to do max reps with it for a contest (nationwide high school contest, kinda cool). I had like a month to prepare for it. I figured, ya know what, lets just dive right in! So, I started repping out 185 1x per week (and just regular sets of 8-12 on the other day). For 3 straight weeks I did 32, 35, then 34 reps.
-
For the actual contest I squeaked out 36. But, I was so shocked because I decided to think about it logically. It was NOT that it was too heavy at rep 36. It was just that the lactic acid build up was TOO much for me in my chest and triceps at rep 36. I mean it felt the exact same every time. So, I decided after the contest (for a month) to see if I could improve it. I did 215 for max reps the week after the contest…and…Guess what? 34 reps!!!!! Hahahaahha. Seriously. 2 weeks later I did 165 pounds - guess what, 39 reps!
-
The weight did not matter! It was simply the amount of time the barbell was in my hand. I was pretty shocked because it went against everything I thought I knew. I love doing those type of experiments.

In my experience if you do anything where you need to move or move something at fast rate (pretty much any sport) plyos and jumps need to be involved in your training. The ability level and volume of them depends on the athlete but I think if programmed right they are a key to success on the field.

 
Tom,
 
with this being said do you believe Weightlifters should do plyometrics from time to time? Have you done them in the past? I assume you have done them pretty extensively with your athletic background (track too). But, do you think weightlifters should do them? I know the Chinese include a lot of plyos in their training…

Jared, my thoughts on this are very. As a thrower we did them A LOT in college, sometimes they would replace our dynamic lifts entirely. But I also watched a buddy blow out his knee on a depth jump and have heard of other similar injuries. I got kid of spooked and haven’t hit them as hard since. I guess you can throw your back out lacing a shoe and sneezing so I will go with user error on that kind of thing I guess. As for lifting, I don’t know if Glenn has ever included them in his program, or if he ever plans on it. I would be interested to research the chinese methods and see exactly how they incorporate them into their program.

I am with you 100%. Did you used to do SAQ (Speed, Agility, Quickness) type stuff in high school? AKA plyometrics hahA? we used to do them 2x/week religiously. I believe in them full heartedly as well. Although, I have never done depth jumps - and have head a lot of mixed reviews and research on them. I know my college (UNI) has done tons of research on the effect of someones bodyweight when doing depth jumps…The volume you can handle, possibly injuries, etc. So, I have always stayed away from them 100%.
 
Cones, ladders, hops, jump rope, bounds, leaps, anything - I love it and believe in it for all sports.

I am actually going to start doing a lot more plyometrics. I am going to start with 2x/week, and, probably up them to 3x/week over time. For one, it is summer time and I need to get my bodyfat percentage down. For 2, I want to get a lot faster and quicker, so, that is a great way to do it! 3., I think it would help a bit with recovery (From squats and such). 4., It would be a great morning workout prior to lifting! Probably like tuesday, thursdays to start.

 I actually busted up my shins in high school doing plyos without proper coaching. We didn’t do them often but when we did soemone always got hurt. In college we did them alot more and actually got soem decent coaching in performing them right. We did them about 3x a week in college and I really enjoyed doing them.

Another great thing about plyometrics is
that they burn a ton fo calories! I swear I burn more calories when I do 20
minutes of intense plyometric work than when I go run for 45 minutes. I can
recover a lot faster too because it is a lot less foot contacts, yet, more
explosive so I am using more energy. I absolutely love it for that reason too.

I just went out and did some dynamic warm up stuff, followed by some light jogging, then sprints! Omgsh. Well, I jump roped afterwards as well. I am so sore today haha! I have no ide3a how I am going to snatch and clean and jerk today lol. I will see what I have though. It was totally worth it!

I just went out and did some dynamic warm up stuff, followed by some light jogging, then sprints! Omgsh. Well, I jump roped afterwards as well. I am so sore today haha! I have no ide3a how I am going to snatch and clean and jerk today lol. I will see what I have though. It was totally worth it!

I just went out and did some dynamic warm up stuff, followed by some light jogging, then sprints! Omgsh. Well, I jump roped afterwards as well. I am so sore today haha! I have no ide3a how I am going to snatch and clean and jerk today lol. I will see what I have though. It was totally worth it!

You are right on the energy output and burnign calories. I would much rather do a plyo circuit than cardio any day. As for you being sore, now you got me worried because I haven’t done them in so long. I worry how sore I would be.

I did them again today before my 8 hour shift, then, trained in the afternoon. Wow, I was spent. I did some jogging, a dynamic warm up, then 8 40 yard sprints, followed by some light jogging again and stretching. Gotta get that beach bod baby ;)

 
Just curious, why have you been incorporating so many plyometrics into your training now? Well, I should say so many sprints? I know you say it is beach season haha, but, do you se eother benefits from them?