The Role of Plyometrics

Plyometrics involve explosive fast movements. The common movements are quick jumps, hops, skips, and throws. These movements generate large forces quickly and require your body to quickly contract and relax. It is incredibly important to include these in your training, regardless of your sport. They aim to improve your speed, power, force generation, and decrease injury. By adding them into your training, they can go a long way towards helping you reach your goals. If you have never done them before there are some easy ways to incorporate them into your program. Here is the role of plyometrics.

Injury prevention

Performing plyometrics can help reduce the risk of injury. The fast and forceful movements can help your muscles and tendons increase their ability to absorb and then produce force. It creates stiffer tendons, which are an athletic bonus. If your muscles and tendons are able to absorb force more efficiently they will have a reduced risk of injury. Injuries such as shin splints and tendinopathies can be reduced by a program of plyometrics.

Athletic improvements

As plyometrics are fast and powerful movements, they are going to make you better at performing fast and powerful movements. Every sport will include these movements. Sports specific movements will translate across to sports. Plyometrics make use of the stretch shortening cycle, which is the stretch/release of the muscles during a powerful movement. Making use of the stretch shortening cycle will make your muscles able to contract faster and harder without wasting more energy.

Risks

Plyometrics involve large amounts of force generation and therefore there are risks. Since the movements are fast and explosive there is the risk of muscle strains and tendon injuries if you overload your body with too much training. If you’ve never done plyometrics before it’s wise to start off will small movements only a couple times a week. Things like skipping or short jumps can be a good way to start. Once you’ve built up some tolerance you can increase the intensity and the amount of training that you do. You will notice the improvements quickly and they can be maintained for a long time.

If you have any questions about plyometrics and would like to discuss implementing them into your training contact one of our sports physio professionals today. Our physio and exercise physiology experts are always happy to help answer your questions. Call 07 3352 5116, email admin@pivotalmotion.com.au or book online today.

Updated 28/11/2022