I recently came across this article in the Los Angeles Times:
It discusses “water plyometrics” and offers it as a low joint stress alternative to ordinary plyos. It asserts that this method provides all or most of the benefits without the wear and tear which in the case of professional athletes is best reserved for the field of competition.
I am suspicious that it is just another gimmick, but numerous high profile athletes seem to endorse it (they do endorse loads of junk though). Even if it is not just another gimmick I wonder about the translation to non-professional athletes. Should we be so cautious about protecting our joints and only stress them during our primary sport or activity.
Has anyone ever tried water plyometrics? Anybody have any thoughts in general?
This is not something new. Athletes have been using this for years, it hasn’t made its way to the average person because of the equipment required.
Yes people should protect their joints. Thats why they say restrict plyometrics to once a week. Musclularly you can do plyometrics probably 3 or 4 times, but your joints can’t. Once they start giving you problems its a whole lot more work trying to get rid of them.
if you have time and access to do a plyometric water workout then by golly gee do it, but otherwise just becareful and don’t worry about it.
While letting a stress fracture in my leg heal I did 2 water workouts a week for 3 weeks. I wasn’t allowed to do any running or jumping during this time and when I was cleared after 6 full weeks of non contact stuff I was still able to jump an inch higher than I could before I got injured, which still wasn’t very high but it was a pleasant surprise.
I know their is a vertical program that apparently utilizes water workouts. The thing is like 300 bucks though and claims to be able to double your vertical.
but why wouldn’t water plyo work? yeah, it is harder to determine the resistance but it still does the same thing - high speed, low resistance movements, tho unlike with weights, you get a full range of resistance that increases with speed (kind of like bands) instead of getting the “starting” strength do half of the work.
running in the water feels great, so i’d definitely give water plyos a try…what kind of exercises should an athlete be doing in the water tho? same as on land, like tuck jumps and squat jumps etcc.?
[quote]ftballfreak880 wrote:
running in the water feels great, so i’d definitely give water plyos a try…what kind of exercises should an athlete be doing in the water tho? same as on land, like tuck jumps and squat jumps etcc.?[/quote]
I was running the length of the pool along with sliding, carioca, backpedaling then doing push offs from the side, squat jumps for time and tuck jumps for time. The last few workouts I started bounding. All that stuff seemed to work well and I remember it being more difficult then I thought it would be.
Athletes have been water training for yrs. Ali, Gene Coleman use to have Nolan Ryan run in the pool to get over his hamstring pulls, Greg Jefferies use to swing a bat in the pool I read once. Eric Dickerson use to do water drills, plyos, etc.
I’ve been doing it for yrs. & it’s a great way to train. I use it more for recovery after hard workouts.
P.S. Anyone know what the hell happend to Greg Jefferies the baseball player. He was the shit I recall. And, I remember him with the Mets, that’s it. Anyone??
P.S. Anyone know what the hell happend to Greg Jefferies the baseball player. He was the shit I recall. And, I remember him with the Mets, that’s it. Anyone??[/quote]
He probably retired by now. He had a long productive career. Last I heard he was involved in some Flight Attendant harassment scandal.
He was arguably a better high school baseball player and definitely a better all around athlete than Barry Bonds. Both went to the same high school, 3 years apart. Jefferies was a dominate running back as a Sophomore.