I wanted to incorporate box jumps into my workouts but im not to sure on how much volume should be done with these and how to set up the progression.So far the plan was to the box jumps on rest day or another day where im not working my legs.
Any ideas?
plyos are generally low volume, used in spurts. Many ways to use them as well. A basic way to incorporate them is as part of your warm-up leading into squats. that would be done after an active warm-up foam rolling and all that. basically once the juices are flowing and you are loose and warm. Another way would be to use them in between sets of squats, as a contrast. Still another way wpuld.be as.part of.speed dsy if using a westside template or another conjugate style layout. There are many other ways.
regardless, same rules as speed work apply–low reps, stop before fatigue sets in–keep the explosive power going or dont use them…in other words the opposite of crossfit usage.
low impact plyos can be used fairly frequently, depth jumps and impact plyos are veeeery stressful on your system even though they don’t feel like it and should be used only for 2-3 weeks at at time before a significantly long break is taken from them (think old school recommendations on band usage, but with a longer break)
excellent advice above
I do them before my speed work on speed day.
Good stuff
[quote]Aragorn wrote:
low impact plyos can be used fairly frequently, depth jumps and impact plyos are veeeery stressful on your system even though they don’t feel like it and should be used only for 2-3 weeks at at time before a significantly long break is taken from them (think old school recommendations on band usage, but with a longer break)[/quote]
The real issue is activation. See in a maximal lift the muscle gradually (as in over a few tenths of a second) activate up to the level needed for the lift. Heavy lifting is a much CNS (central nervous system) training to get the motor units to recruit as anything else. Now, that said, a good athlete can recruit 40% - 50% of the muscle (untrained people get 25%or less). Explosive work like plyos reflexively recruits a lot more though not 100%. So Plyos can make you turn your motor units on faster.
This sounds good until you realize that while muscle growth takes weeks, ligament/tendon growth takes months, at least. It is possible to get the muscle so strong they start to pull your connective tissue apart (e.g. avulsion fractures). Hence the 2 - 3 week limit on plyo training and if stuff randomly hurts, especially connective tissue, then back way off.
Know of one guy who managed to rip his linea alba because of explosive ab work – yup right straight down the middle of his stomach, his abs pulled it apart. That’s just grisly. He’s going in for surgery soon to get a mesh put in.
So holy sheep sh*t does it work, but plyos are an extreme protocol and not to be trifled with. Lousy plyos (e.g. Crossfit) are just busy work cardio, though you can get hurt pretty good with those too.
– jj
^
I guess that’s why you should keep volume low, keep form very good, and still be feeling fresh after they’ve been completed.
[quote]jj-dude wrote:
Good stuff
[quote]Aragorn wrote:
low impact plyos can be used fairly frequently, depth jumps and impact plyos are veeeery stressful on your system even though they don’t feel like it and should be used only for 2-3 weeks at at time before a significantly long break is taken from them (think old school recommendations on band usage, but with a longer break)[/quote]
The real issue is activation. See in a maximal lift the muscle gradually (as in over a few tenths of a second) activate up to the level needed for the lift. Heavy lifting is a much CNS (central nervous system) training to get the motor units to recruit as anything else. Now, that said, a good athlete can recruit 40% - 50% of the muscle (untrained people get 25%or less). Explosive work like plyos reflexively recruits a lot more though not 100%. So Plyos can make you turn your motor units on faster.
This sounds good until you realize that while muscle growth takes weeks, ligament/tendon growth takes months, at least. It is possible to get the muscle so strong they start to pull your connective tissue apart (e.g. avulsion fractures). Hence the 2 - 3 week limit on plyo training and if stuff randomly hurts, especially connective tissue, then back way off.
Know of one guy who managed to rip his linea alba because of explosive ab work – yup right straight down the middle of his stomach, his abs pulled it apart. That’s just grisly. He’s going in for surgery soon to get a mesh put in.
So holy sheep sh*t does it work, but plyos are an extreme protocol and not to be trifled with. Lousy plyos (e.g. Crossfit) are just busy work cardio, though you can get hurt pretty good with those too.
– jj[/quote]
Yup. Pretty much…but I didn’t want to explain why cuz I was lazy lol. Good post.
do you guys do any upper body plyos?
Box Jumps are not plyometric.
You can do them whenever you want just make sure you have good form.
I would be interested to see what you guys call low reps because If you lose strength or get fatigued from doing 10 box jumps I say you should change your whole lifting program.
[quote]budreiser wrote:
do you guys do any upper body plyos?[/quote]
I do. My favorites are depth plyo push ups, using a bosu ball for plyo push ups, and setting up aerobics steps to the side of you and exploding up on to them from a push up.
The bosu ball one is a little different. but I like it because it’s a bit less stressful and good when my joints are a little beat up and I still want to incorporate some explosive work.