Your points about my query were very well made. Very grateful for the effort you put in to share your experience. Maybe you ought to brand your method of specific coaching. Catchy name suggestions, anyone ?
Many thanks, it can be difficult to get across what you want to, as there's always (and should be) room for debate and people will have divergent views. Well, a name??? Yes, lots of US coaches package their systems and creations... got to come up with an acronym for SPEED or POWER or similar. Thoughts on a postcard of those of a certain generation say.
As you say it depends why you are doing them. As I see it you either use them to strengthen the lower leg for sprinting in which case you land on the forefoot or to develop activeness to improve jumping in which case you do them as you would jump. Basically flatfooted. I believe that the flatfooted action produces a quicker ground contact as there is less spongey amortisation in the doot and ankle. There is more shock through the whole body but you need to learn to deal with this as a jumper. I will note that it is virtually impossible to produce ground contacts under 0.10s apparently so drop jumps on the forefoot are only strengthening the action for sprinting. If used for this the volumes need to be monitored closely as we have had issues with shin splints when doing too much in the past. I actually wonder whether they are needed if you are doing sprint drills on your forefoot anyway.
Richard, thanks for your response and it is a bit horses for courses as you say... and yes the forefoot contact transfers to the sprint contact... with the drop jumps we don't seem to have had much shin pain, if any over the years of using them. There could be a value in the greater development of the ankle stiffness when employing them, especially with low drops, with quite straight legs, where the Achilles and then the calfs produce the power initially (release elastic energy). Often the ankle joint get overlooked in favour of attention on the knee and then hip muscles. I guess I'm keen on developing greater stiffness across all the leg muscle's joints and see drop jumps of value as they can perhaps emphasis the ankle reaction... long jump take-off is an interesting one, we can save that for another day!
Hi John. I love your videos and think you're doing a great job. I have one question is that when I am doing "plyometric" movements aimed at force production with minimal ground product time, my glutes and hamstrings are activated/contracted very little and it becomes mostly a calf/soleus/gastrocnemius/quadricep based movement. For example when a seated jump to a vertical jump to a jump over a hurdle is performed, most of the stress is on the glutes, ie my calves are sore way more than my glutes. Another example is a drop jump off a 4-10 cm platform where most of the action is felt in the ankles and the action is nearly like jumping rope, however I assume that is not your purpose. To sum it up, most of these plyometric that you suggest seem aimed at actions based on the knee/ankle flexion rather than hip flexion. How would hip and hamstring strength be developed through your athletes? Am I doing these wrong or is that what your goal/purpose is? What's your rationale behind this because the hips can produce much greater force than the knees and quads? Thanks so much.
This a is a good question ... I think it may reflect the way I do the videos rather than missing out on the hips extensors and flexors. The sprint drills we do, do focus on these areas as will bounds, for example.... I'm very keen on developing, for example with the long jumpers a very stiff leg at a minimum degree of knee flexion as will impact on LJ take-off and high end speed. A sort of carbon fibre leg that has great reactivity through stored elastic energy return. The ankle is often the weakest link compared to the knee and ankle and working on it's stiffness can enhance the generally already developed stiffness in the knee and hip (but you are right in that these exercises can be a little like jumping rope). (Do note too that the minimal flexion at the knee is assisting the higher angle of reaction desired). So, the long jumpers will do deeper knee bend plyos, such as bounds but to a lesser level and often with few contacts compared to the triple jumpers... they'll all be working on greater stiffness and eccentric capacity in and out of the weights rooms (as you may have seen in the relevant videos). It's odd as y/day I was listening to the latest SIMPLIFASTER podcast which focussed via Cal Dietz on the ankle and as I indicated earlier, it was being pointed out that it's neglected and can be a weak link. I think I may be able to answer your question additionally in a video as there is a lot more that could be referenced and I'd end up writing an essay. Hope this initially helps at least.
John Shepherd track & field coach - author & editor Warning: all my opinions are simply opinions. The hip muscles are not muscles that do much work eccentrically ( ie stay "stiff") . They generate power while the leg is in the air and and then transfer it into the ground through the knees and ankle ( which is why they require much greater eccentric strength in order to stay "stiff" ) So the glutes do not really have a "plyometric" role to play.
Hello, just wanted to say how much I love your content and tell you how awesome your page is. I have one question for you. What is the ideal drop height for altitude drops/freeze drops/depth drops? The Shock Method noted that the ideal height for depth jumps is ~2.5 feet, but I am curious as to how you integrate altitude drops into your training. Thank you!
By shock method you are referring to the work of Verkhoshansky I believe. I have read some of his research but I can't recall a specific recommendation for eccentric/block drops (there may well be one in the literature somewhere). We therefore vary the height and use the ability of the athlete to withstand the landing forces with minimal knee bend at the 'test'. If they drop and their knees need to pass below a few degrees of flexion to control the impact then the drop is too great for their current level of strength. It's a bit like weight training - we are trying to maximise the amount of force that can be generated in the shortest time span (in the case of the drop jumps with the landing time) with the greatest force... we also do single leg landings using lower drop heights. Hope that helps. In terms of integration, we include these block drop jumps once or twice a week and usually with plyometrics, so there may be four exercises - plyo from a medium drop height, from a v low height and perhaps some straight leg jumps and then the eccentric efforts. We continue to include this type of work/combination all training year around. I hope this helps and thank you for your kind words.
On a given day, if you do plyometrics, how long will it take the body to recover until you want to do the same amount(or more) of plyometric work? ie. Is it a good idea to do plyometrics everyday, or is it too hard on the muscles and joints?
It depends on what you are used to and the mix of the plyos used. We train together as a group 3-4 times a week and everyone of those sessions will invariably contain plyometrics. Remember that jumping technique and sprinting is also high end plyometric. Certain plyos are less intense that others (straight leg jumps and skips for example, compared to run-on bounds from a low platform) and I switch the intensities to hopefully allow for the athletes to be able to do them without too much overload. Thinking about it we've only had minimal soreness from our plyo work - but this is because the athletes are used to this type of exercise and the training programme that I use. If you were to hit a load of plyos on a random basis then you would be sore, but if you build up gradually, develop the robustness and familiarity and strengthen with other exercises, weights and balance work continually overtime, then soreness will be kept to a minimum and you should be able to train regularly with plyos. So long story short, I would use them 3-4 times a week in reasonable quantities. Perhaps try to leave a day in between initially and to use a less is more approach. If progressed this way you will develop robustness and derive the benefits. Hope this helps.
