Junior Ian Johnston swipes through his Instagram reels page. Not for the first time, he sees a self-proclaimed guru deeply engrossed in exercise, engaging in a crazy series of jumps and poses while professing the positive benefits of so-called “plyometrics”. For athletes like Johnston, It’s difficult to avoid influencers deep in these unorthodox exercises.
Plyometrics are a type of exercise revolving around rapid and explosive movements, usually involving squatting, jumping and change of direction. Although invented in the 70s by Russian sports scientists, plyometrics failed to break into mainstream media and training programs until recently.
The most likely explanation for plyometrics becoming increasing involved and accepted in mainstream fitness and sports is due to the rise of exercise types such as crossfit or other High-Intensity-Interval-Training (HIIT) classes. These types of training involve many similar philosophies and movements to plyometrics, such as crossfit’s frog jumps and HIIT’s rapid explosive movements.
These classes, although often focusing less on athletes and more on people trying to get into shape, led to plyometrics becoming more easily accepted and accessible in the fitness world.
Plyometrics present a way for athletes to train their bodies with sport specific exercises, making it far easier for athletes to improve strength in motions that will
Although many athletes are familiar with the extreme leaps and movements commonly shown by plyometric exercises online, most plyometric exercises are much more simple, relying on repeated simple movements that strengthen the muscles engaged. In fact, many beginner-level plyometric exercises are as simple as push ups, squats and two-legged pogo jumps.
Despite the perceived simplicity of these exercises, the positive effects that implementing even basic exercises like these can have is often underestimated. These exercises have been shown repeatedly through studies to significantly improve muscle mass, strength and coordination.
“Plyometric training induces increased muscle maximal strength and neural adaptation and is an effective method for improving lower limb explosive strength,” Lunxin Chen said in his 2023 study from the Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. “…Adolescents at different maturity levels can benefit from plyometric training.”
Going beyond the lab, Paly students commonly report the positive effects of adding plyometrics to their routines. For baseball pitcher Johnston, the effects were not only noticeable, but overwhelmingly positive.
“Not only have I seen an increase in the main muscle groups, but also an increase of strength in smaller muscles that help me with baseball,” Johnston said. “Adding these exercises to my routine have also helped with a lot of arm pain that I have had in the past.”
Additionally, physical therapists and doctors are increasingly recommending plyometrics to their charges as an alternative to traditional gym work and therapy.
Along with this rise, sports injury prevention strategies recommend plyometrics as part of everyday movement and agility training for athletes. For example, the FIFA 11+ Pro Warmup, a standard soccer warmup released by the sport’s governing body for injury prevention, recommends squat jumps and other plyometrics as part of an athlete’s everyday warmup.
However, similar to other training or fitness strategy, it’s important to understand how to properly use plyometrics, as incorrect use can lead to ineffective training or even injury. One of the easiest ways to misuse plyometrics is to engage in exercises that don’t apply to your specific sport.
Tyler Vinson, a physical therapist at local Palo Alto clinic Agile Physical Therapy, has spent years implementing various plyometric workouts into the recovery process for athletes and nonathletes alike. For Vinson, the best plyometric workouts are those done with a specific improvement in mind.
“It’s important that plyometrics are goal or sport-specific,” Vinson said. “For example, plyometrics for a baseball pitcher will look different from a soccer player’s.”
Iverson Lee, a junior point guard for Paly’s basketball team, focuses on plyometrics designed to improve his jumping and lateral agility, two of the most important and common movements in basketball.
“I use box jumps for height and landing drills for improving my jumping,” Lee said. “And I work on lateral bounds to get faster side to side.”
On the other hand, a baseball player such as Paly senior Cormac White would engage in plyometrics focused around throwing, acceleration and agility reaction training meant to improve baseball-specific skills. These exercises could include movements like medicine ball twists to improve rotational strength for throwing, broad jumps for explosive power or cone and ladder drills for improving quick movements and speed.
“There are so many different muscles that need to be trained for baseball that some of the exercises can be a little unorthodox,” White said. “An exercise that I personally enjoy that helps with core stability and movement control is a water bag ‘ghost’ throw.”
Despite the easy-to-assume belief that plyometrics are relatively similar across different sports and using different sports’ exercises would have little-to-no effect on the actual quality of output, this is not the case at all. Since many exercises may look similar, athletes interested in implementing plyometrics into their home workouts will need to be discerning when they are choosing exercises online or from uncertain sources.
Just like anything else, however, plyometrics are not always safe. The questionable decision of attempting to engage in exercises while injured or during recovery could likely result in exacerbation of injuries, making problems worse than they had been before.
“Plyometrics should not be utilized while one is still getting over an acute injury,” Vinson said. “If one persists in completing plyometrics while injured, this could lead to painful bone injuries or early and mid stage tendonitis.”
Despite these positives, many people remain unaware of the benefits plyos can provide, and not all coaches implement them into their team’s training schedules. In fact, a Viking poll found that only 47% percent of Paly athletes reported doing plyometrics during their regular practice schedules, if they did them at all.
This means that a large portion of athletes are missing out on the potential gains and benefits of implementing plyometrics into their training schedules, as well as the ability to reduce the risk of injury that plyometric workouts can bring.
This gap is even more clear in less explosive-focused sports where plyometrics lack obvious aid. One such example is Paly’s water polo team, whose athletes report a lack of jumping and band training as part of their workouts, despite the fact that research has indicated that plyometrics could effectively strengthen athletes.
In fact, multiple Paly student-athletes interviewed for the purpose of this article didn’t know what plyometrics were, highlighting the lack of information that still surrounds plyometrics for Paly students.
“I believe that all athletes can benefit from different types of training, plyometrics included,” Johnston said. “It’s a simple way for athletes to get an upper hand on opponents.”
Plyometrics are not exercises that are reserved solely for high performance athletes. Although non-athletes and students engaged in recreational sports should adjust the intensity, level and duration of their plyometric training according to their skill proficiency, plyometrics can still provide a huge boost to performance, skill and overall fitness in sports and everyday life.
The positives that plyometrics deliver for any athlete looking to up their game make them a powerful tool to have in one’s arsenal. Despite the risks and learning curve necessary to properly utilize plyometrics, the positives they can have on performance and safety are undeniable.
For many Paly athletes, plyometrics are known in passing if not with familiarity, meaning that they may be missing out on reaching their true potential.
Armed with the necessary information on the positives, risks and strategies behind implementation of plyometric training, Paly’s athletes and nonathletes alike can improve their fitness and overall strength.
