Posts Tagged ‘plyometrics’

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Upper And Lower Body Plyometric Exercises

Monday, September 6th, 2010

Plyometrics is one form of exercise that can definitely help you boost your jump. Remember that if you are not doing plyometric exercises correctly, no matter how long you do these, you would still not see any result. If plyometric exercises are done correctly, these can increase a person’s jump in just a few weeks.

Plyometric exercises could be done to both your lower and upper body. It has been proven that upper body plyometrics can raise an athlete’s performance in volleyball, baseball, basketball, softball, tennis, badminton, and others. On the other hand, plyometric exercises in the lower body are used by players in sports like hockey, basketball, baseball, football, sprinting, soccer, track and field, and others.

When it comes to intensity, you must be aware that plyometric exercises also have different intensities. Low intensity plyometrics are some jumps and throws while high intensity plyometrics are depth jumps that are 32 to 48 inches. Bounding exercises are of submaximal intensity while depth jumps of 8 to 20 inches are of moderate intensity.

Furthermore, you must remember to begin from low intensity exercises and gradually progress to high intensity exercises. Also, using weighted vests or ankle weights is not recommended with performing plyometric exercises since these will only lessen the speed and quality of movements because of the additional load. The ideal frequency of doing plyometric exercises is only 3 to 4 times each week and the repetitions must be kept between 75 to 100 only.

When doing plyometric exercises, it is also very important to warm up first. Toe jogging and straight leg jogging are the recommended warm up drills prior to doing plyometrics.

An upper body plyometric exercise is called the squat throw. Start by standing with your feet slightly wider apart and knees bent slightly. Squat to a parallel position while you hold the medicine ball towards your chest. Then, explode and jump as high and as quickly as you possibly can. Remember to shoulder press the ball as you start your jump. At the peak, your arms must be fully extended upwards. Then throw the ball into the air as high as you can. Also, it must be a quick squat, do not spend too much time in the squat position. At the end, catch the ball and repeat the entire exercise.

A lower body plyometric exercise is known as the split squat jump. Start by standing on your feet which are hip-width apart. With your left leg, step back around 2 feet and stand on the ball of your left foot. Your feet must be at a staggered position. Your head and back should be straight and erect in a neutral position. Lower your body by bending at the right hip and knee until your thigh is parallel to the floor. Then, quickly jump vertically. While in the air, switch your foot making your back foot land in front. Always remember that before jumping, ankles must be in full plantar flexion.

To ensure that you benefit the most from your plyometric exercises, rest in between sessions, do the exercises correctly, and ask for supervision.

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Is There An Answer To How Can I Jump Higher?

Thursday, August 19th, 2010

I have been playing volleyball for a long time now. Sadly, because I have not improved my jump, I have become just one of the many mediocre volleyball players. Because of this frustration, it has been years since I started asking the question, “How can I jump higher?” Up to this day, I still have not found the answer to my question.

As the years passed by, more and more new and better players are joining our team. And because my jumping ability is inferior to some of them, I have found myself spending more time on the bench than on the court. I have been becoming more and more frustrated with improving my jump since no kind of exercise seems to work.

In spite of diligently following the workout plan that the coach designed for me, I am still stuck in my jumping ability. I even hired a trainer to supervise my workouts but still no improvement came of it. A few years ago, I even used jumping shoes. These increased my jump to only 2 inches and nothing more. Still, my jumping ability was inferior to most of my teammate’s.

I badly wanted to improve my jump but all the things I knew and tried did not work. I have tried learning everything I can about increasing my jump but all these were ineffective. I needed to stop wasting my time, money, and effort for nothing. But before I finally accepted my fate, I was surfing the Internet when I found the Jump Manual.

Before, I have read some articles about different jump manuals but I never bought one yet. And now I thought that this will be my last chance to increase my jump. This is the reason why I found myself in front of the computer searching for manuals to increase my jump.

During my search, I found out that there are really so many jump manuals available today both in print and online. And so, my next problem was how to pick the right one. I started with a list of the different jump manuals that I found and listed down their respective features. The one which had the most appealing features was the Jump Manual.

The principle that Jump Manual believes in is the ability of plyometrics to increase any person’s jump. Since this was the first time that I read about plyometrics, I researched about it and discovered that it has been in existence since 1960’s. How come my personal trainer and my coach never cited plyometrics to me? Furthermore, I learned that plyometrics can surely improve the strength and quickness of an athlete which are needed to improve power as well. What made the Jump Manual even more appealing is that it was more than the plyometric exercises only. Additional features include DVD, iPod videos, access to an online forum, one-month coaching, workout charts, nutritional program, and many more. I also looked at user testimonials and found so many users who said that this is truly the best manual.

Therefore, I decided to purchase the Jump Manual and find out if this will answer my question, “How can I jump higher?”. Indeed, Jump Manual is the best because I am now the team’s best spiker.

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Increased Vertical Jumping At Last!

Thursday, August 19th, 2010

Playing basketball is one of my hobbies. I started playing way back in 5th grade and am still looking forward to playing until I graduate in college. But I had one problem: I did not have an extraordinary vertical jumping.

I was just an average basketball player because I can not jump very high. For many years, I have done exercises to improve my jump but nothing seemed to work. I did weight training but it seemed that the muscles just kept weighing me down instead of propelling me up into the air. No matter how many squats or leaps I did, my jumping was still on average.

And just last year, I already thought that I would remain average until the day that I read an article on plyometrics. As I was surfing the Internet, I saw an article which talked about the benefits of plyometrics and how this can increase any person’s jump. In addition to that, the website contained testimonials from various athletes who said that plyometrics helped them in increasing their jumps. I was a bit skeptical in the beginning so I decided to look for more testimonials. Indeed, I only found few testimonials saying that their jumps were not improved by plyometrics. Therefore, I decided to give plyometrics a try. And since this is all new to me, I needed a manual or a mentor. I first looked for a mentor but can not find one. And so, I started looking for a manual instead.

I read lots of information about the various manuals that are now available and one of these is the Jump Manual. To really gauge the quality and effectiveness of the Jump Manual, I looked for various user reviews on the Internet. And because I only found very few negative user reviews on the Jump Manual, I took a closer look at the benefits and features of the product.

I surely liked the different features of the Jump Manual: training video, iPod videos, nutritional program, free coaching for one month, money-back guarantee, individualized workout charts, and progress charts. The features of the Jump Manual make it a complete package on proper exercise and diet for any person who wants to improve his jump.

And the videos were a lot of help because I got to watch how to do the exercises. Therefore, if I wanted to be sure that I completely understood the manual, all I had to do was watch the videos. And being able to download the videos straight into my iPod, I can watch these wherever and whenever.

Also, my purchase of the Jump Manual enabled me to find an online coach who taught me free of charge for one month. I learned so much more from the online coach so I decided to extend my subscription after the free one-month offer was finished.

And in only 3 weeks, my vertical jumping has already improved in ways which I never imagined. What I was trying to accomplish for so many years, I was able to achieve in just a few weeks. Thanks to the Jump Manual for helping me become the basketball player that I always dreamed of becoming.

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Are Plyometrics Exercises Effective In Increasing Your Jump?

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

Do you still want to increase your jump but your workouts have not been doing that? Have you tried plyometrics exercises? If not, learn from this article how and why plyometrics can definitely help you in increasing your jump.

Plyometrics is a type of exercise that has been around since 1960’s. And today, plyometrics exercises are becoming more and more famous because a lot of athletes have found it very effective. Through the exercises, you can combine strength and quickness in order to get enough force to jump as high as you possibly can. Plyometrics can help you do that because the exercises will train your muscles to produce as much force as it can in quick movements.

Besides training your muscles, training your neurons is also possible with plyometrics. With the help of plyometrics, the neurons become adept in contracting in just one powerful surge. When your neurons are trained for that, these could enable you to jump very high using only one strong yet quick contraction. In addition, the neuromuscular connections between the muscles and brain are made more efficient by repeated performance of plyometric exercises.

And so, are you now a believer in the potential of plyometrics to increase a jump? If so, before you start the plyometrics exercises, you have to remember some important things.

First, if this will be your first time to try plyometrics exercises, try looking for a mentor or coach who can supervise you. You will need the coach or mentor to teach you about the right way to execute the exercises and show you the right exercises to do. If you cannot find a coach or mentor, you can look for an online coach or mentor. Since the mentor or coach has the knowledge and expertise with regards to plyometrics, he could give you valuable advice and information on this topic.

Second, if finding a coach proves to be futile, a plyometrics manual is another good substitute. But before you actually purchase a manual, make a background research first. Look for background information about the product as well as user testimonials. There are many manuals which are available online and in bookstores. Be patient in doing your research so that you will get to buy the best manual there is.

Furthermore, you must compare the manuals which you will find. You will find manuals that have added features or benefits like iPod videos, training DVDs, access to a forum, free online coaching, nutritional information, and others. Always remember that in looking for a manual, you have to focus on the features and not the price. Another good feature is the money-back guarantee. In fact, a lot of online manuals have this money-back guarantee which will surely save you money if the manual is ineffective for you.

And third, always remember that plyometrics exercises also need discipline. And if you are an athlete, you are very much aware that discipline is a valuable ingredient for your success.

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Sample Exercises For Plyometric Training

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

Athletes train to continuously improve their performance. If you love playing a certain sport, you will definitely strive to always get better at it by doing training exercises. And one of these different training exercises is plyometric training.

It has been shown that plyometric training can improve the agility, speed, power, and strength of an athlete. Through plyometrics, athletes are able to train their muscles to produce a lot of force in the quickest time possible. Because of plyometric training, athletes in volleyball, track, and field, basketball, baseball, and others have improved their performance. When doing plyometric training, you must be aware of three important things: how to do them correctly, frequency, and intensity. you must be aware of the importance of these factors to ensure that your plyometric training will be effective.

There are different exercises that you must do in your plyometric training. And it is not important to just merely perform these exercises. Proper execution of each exercise is what of utmost importance. Improper execution of the various plyometric exercises leads to two things: injuries and lack of results.

Aside from properly executing the plyometric exercises, it is also important to know how often you must do these. You cannot do plyometric exercises every day in the hopes that this will hasten your improvement. You must remember to give time for your muscles to rest or you would just strain them too much. With plyometric exercises, these should be done three to four times a week. With regards to repetitions, these should not be more than between 75 to 100.

Another important thing that you must be aware of is the intensity of different plyometric exercises. Before doing plyometrics, it is important to warm-up first with an exercise like toe jogging. Plus, you must always start from low intensity exercises and progress slowly to moderate and high intensity ones. Remember that you must never begin with exercises that are of high or moderate intensity especially if you have no previous training. You will only be hurting yourself if you begin with high intensity exercises.

Now you know the importance of these three factors in plyometric training and you must remember these as you do exercises like the ones cited below.

One example of a plyometric exercise is Bounding with Rings which starts with a jog in order to get forward momentum. After a few feet of jogging, you must push off using he left foot and your right leg must be in front. While doing that, swing your left arm forward and with your right foot, land on the first ring to the left. You must repeat all these with the other arm and leg and the second ring to your right is the spot where you should land.

Another plyometric exercise is called the Overhead Throws. Start with knees slightly bent and one foot in front. Pull the medicine ball behind your head and forcefully throw it towards the wall. As the ball bounces off the wall, catch it. Repeat everything based on prescribed repetitions.

If you want to enhance your athletic performance, look into doing plyometric training since this has been proven effective in different kinds of sports.

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