Articles - Strength, Muscle & Athletics
By Brian Copeland
Plyometric exercise has been the sexy hard-core strength and athletic tool sought out by many fitness enthusiasts for decades now. Plyometrics became popular in the west due to the Soviet Union's (and later other easter-block European nations) total domination in the Olympics when it came to strength, power and speed sports. The Soviets were desperate to prove that communism was far superior to capitalism and they were hell-bound to prove it through superior athletic performance; that was basically their only ticket since we all know how it worked out for their economy... 4 hours in line for toilet paper anyone?
Today you can see plyometrics used on TV's The Biggest Loser and in countless fitness products. But all of this hype around plyometrics raises the question, is this the right tool to accomplish the goal I am after?
Plyometric exercise is defined as an explosive movement that first has an rapid eccentric load followed by an isometric contraction that reuses that energy to create a concentric contraction that is typically greater than the voluntary muscular contraction of said muscle groups.
Ok now in English Mr. Spock... If you were to jump as high as you could, would you A: slowly descend into a partial squat, relax and wait for a moment and then drive up as fast as you could or B: rapidly do a knee-dip and then drive up as quickly as possible? Of course you would do B.
Plyometric leaping or jumping over obstacles
Another example is throwing a ball. You can get a lot more power, speed and distance on the ball if you first throw your arm back rapidly and then use the stretch reflex to throw the ball. If you were to slowly pull your arm back, wait and relax and now try to throw the ball wouldn't go very far.
Plyometrics take advantage of the stretch reflex in your nervous system. The stretch reflex is a survival reflex that is intended to protect your joints. For instance; when you go to throw that ball and you rapidly pull your arm back at high speed your brain thinks that you are about to move your shoulder joint past a safe range of motion, to the point where it will be injured. Clearly your nervous system will try to protect that joint, it does so by creating an involuntary (pre-cognitive) contraction of your muscles that is typically much higher than you could voluntarily contract. The contraction only lasts for a split second so it is ideal to use in sports such as baseball with throwing a ball or swinging a bat or in gymnastics for springing movements, etc.
If you jump off of a box and land and then jump again as quickly as you can you are creating that same stretch reflex that creates more force in your muscles. Clapping pushups are another example of a plyometric activity.
Plyometric exercise due to its loading on connective tissues is potentially very dangerous, especially for people with poor movement patterns... which is most of you unless you have been trained by an S-Phase Z-Health Athletic Movement Specialist.
For instance think about this; when walking each foot step lands with roughly 3 times your bodyweight... go ahead and do the math I'll give you a second. For me at 200 lbs that means every single step I take I put 600 lbs of force into just one step. That force travels via kinetic energy into my heel, through the 38 to 55 some joints in the foot, up the ankle, knee, hip, pelvis, spine, shoulders, neck, etc.
As a side note, the average sedentary person takes 3,000 steps per day, at my body weight that equals 1,800,000 lbs of load per day!!!
Now I want you to imagine instead of a gentle walk you are jumping up and down from a box. What might be the increase in load there? It sure is more than 3 times body weight... running can be 9 to 12 times body weight so jumping on and off a box is at least that high. 200 lbs becomes 2,400 lbs or more!
Now you can see why so many high school, college and pro athletes as well as weekend warriors get ACL or meniscus tears in their knees!
Now for the record, your body is designed to take these levels of force without problem, but only if you have good movement patterns and you know how to safely absorb those forces. This is the difference between lifelong athletes and short-career athletes who are forced to quit due to injury.
Please assume you have bad movement patterns because I promise you that 99.999% of people don't even know what good movement patterns are.
Within the plyometric arena we have maximal and sub-maximal plyometrics. Maximal would be considered exercises with extreme loads such as jumping off of a 3 foot high box and then landing and jumping again. Sub-maximal plyometrics might be jump rope.
Actually, you do sub-maximal plyometrics every day whether you "exercise" or not. Remember that walking increases load by 3 times bodyweight? A martial artists throwing punches is doing sub-maximal plyometrics. A family throwing a Frisbee at the park are doing sub-maximal plyometrics.
Clearly there is a lot of room for intensity in sub-maximal plyometrics.
I would argue, as would a number of the smartest athletic and performance coaches I know, that maximal plyometrics should only be used by elite high-level athletes who compete in a particular sport that would have direct benefit... an Olympic high jumper for instance.
I would then also argue that those seeking fitness should stay the hell away from maximal plyometrics!
Let me say that again...
Maximal plyometrics should NOT be used for fitness goals!
The risk of injury is too high, it is doubtful that you have a coach watching your form, it is doubtful that you have taken a smart and progressive approach to movement quality and a slow gradual increase in plyometric tolerance.
And frankly, the benefits from maximal plyometrics do not come in the form of fat loss or muscle size which are what most fitness enthusiasts are interested in. The gains from maximal plyos come in the form of neurological adaptations that improve explosiveness in movement.
There are much safer ways to do plyometrics... sub-maximal plyometrics!
Once again jumping rope, short jogs or sprints, clapping pushups, punching a heavy bag, Z-Health dynamic joint mobility done at sports speed absolutely are sub-maximal plyometrics.
The benefits from sub-maximal plyometrics are far better than from maximal plyometrics.
Sub-Maximal Plyometrics give you:
- Thicker tougher connective tissues in your joints
- Decrease risk for joint injuries
- Stronger tendons, ligaments and joint capsules
- If done with perfect form, build amazing athletic movement patterns
- Increase strength, power and explosiveness by reducing neurological inhibitions
- Can be a fun and cognitively challenging addition to your fitness program
Do to the high level of skill and still potential risk of injury, sub-max. plyos should always be done while you are fresh, aware and mentally engaged. Do a warm-up for all of your body, get a light sweat going, do some R-Phase and I-Phase dynamic joint mobility to prepare your joints and nervous system and now do some sub-max. plyos.
I would recommend no more than 3-5 minutes of sub-max. plyometrics as they demand your full mental focus on form. When you start to get mentally or physically fatigued then move onto strength or endurance training. Sub-max. plyometrics should be viewed as skill-based exercise... well actually all exercise should be viewed as skill-based but that is for another article.
If you do sub-max. plyos several times per week you should make sure to vary up the joints used, so don't do clapping pushups 3 days in a row but clapping pushups on Monday and some sprints on Tuesday will probably be fine.
A final note on maximal plyometrics. If after reading this you decide to still do maximal plyometrics... well don't say I didn't warn you. If you somehow think that you are the Golden Child and were born with perfect movement mechanics and won't eventually get injured and for some reason will get good benefits from max. plyos then, well... this is America and for now at least, this is a free country so knock yourself out.
To quote Professor Yuri Verkhoshansky, the father of modern plyometrics from the late Soviet Union, when asked about plyometrics he said, "don't pick up a tool you don't know how to use."
For those of you who are willing to put in the hard work and earn amazing movement mechanics and sports skills I highly recommend working your way through the R-Phase and I-Phase programs from Z-Health and get the S-Phase DVD... It is freaking AWESOME if sports and athletics is your where you get your kicks. From sprinting mechanics to field footwork to make you faster on your feet to vision work that helps you catch, throw and be where you need to be on the field when it counts... you can't find a better product that the S-Phase.
Since beginning S-Phase I have found a new appreciation for going to the park and throwing balls, Frisbees, etc. It is just plain fun and a great way to get in-shape too!
Get the S-Phase DVD here
Brian
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