What are your favourite plyos for sprinting or jumping and why?
I like hurdle hops best because you can roughly measure how high you are jumping.
I like high box jumps. Just one single box as high as possible. I just like them. They make me get competitive. The only thing that sux about them is when you loose your focus and miss the jump…
And then you bang your shins hahaha that’s happened to me before and it sucks.
These are great for the mental game as well. See Ato’s stuff at HSI about using box jumps in his training.
As for your shins here’s an easy solution. Find a couple of large crash mats (they are usually lying around at tracks or sports centres because of pole vault and high jump). Pile them up until they are too high to jump onto. No jump off of plyo boxes and onto the mats. Varying the height of the plyo boxes to adjust jump height. No more shin worries and it makes going for max jumps a lot safer.
Just be careful you get into a habit of falling forward when you miss a jump (onto the mats not off of them) or it could hurt a little!
What set/rep scheme do you guys use for box jumps?
I jump to a drop off - until i can’t make the box. 20-30s between jumps. If i don’t make it 2 times in a row I quit. I usually make about 5-8 jumps before I fold. I am pretty harsh on myself. There is no point cheating. It’s not that accurate a test but it is fun.
You can also use it to assess the level of fatigue from plyos. E.g. do 6-8 jumps and see if you can still make the box after 2-3 min rest. It is a good alternative if you don’t have a good electronic vertical jump test mat.
True man, definately a mental game.
Thanks for the tip! I’ll keep that in mind.
With boxes and hurdles you have to watch hip height and the amount of tuck used by the athlete. While this is a good display of athleticism, it may not be optimal for teaching proper deceleration and landing mechanics. Keeping it short, just because someone can jump onto a 42" box does not give them a 42" vertical. And with so many other options available for jump training and plyos, I choose not to use them most of the time as a safety precaution. It’s still fun to whip out the 36" box we have and jump onto it off of 1 leg though. I tell some of my athletes sometimes, “we’re gonna do single-leg box jumps like this…”
and their jaws hit the floor (of course I can’t get in a good landing position on that box, but I can get onto it)
This is an important point. These do not replace other forms of jump training. Its just something fun to do once in a while.
I used to jump on a 47 inch box and tuck so much that I got a very bad knee injury after a couple of weeks. An injury that lasted for about a whole season. So I don’t dp such jumps anymore. Just every once in a while. I prefer singles. I prefer single leg hops over distances ( timed ) and I compare. Standing tiples. I do 9.60m in the standing triple jump. Standing long jumps. And thats mostly it.
I don’t mean to be an ass, but could you post a video of that shit. I’m a pretty good Tj’er and I can’t even imagine that.
Hey man. I guess you meant my 9.60 triple jump. But your qute was on Speedkills message. If you want a video on my standing triple jump of 9.60m then I’ll provide one along with a 3 stride then triple and a 5 stride then triple. I do the 3 stride then triple over 12.00m .
I’ll provoide the video in a couple of day time. Which angle do you want?
I do believe I can do better than that cause I’m always consistant with 9.50s. Take care man. I wish that you would gain anything positive from my video. I wish you analyze my motion and tell me whats right, whats wrong, the strong part and the weak part. Take care man.
I was talking about a one leg hop onto a 36 inch box. I use boxes in training like L-L (on box) R-R (on box)…
bounding is fun for me…lol thats why i love triple jump
i hate doing lunge jumps on another note…
Its ok man. I’ll still try to get the video. You told me you’re a good triple jumper and I’d like to know what you think. I just do triple for fun though.
sounds good.
I like hurdle hops, with low hurdles and small knee flexion, just natural ( thinking of rebounding and jumping high with almost straigth leg) I use 3-4 sets of 6 hurdles before sprinting, but not In every training period.
I believe that plyometrics should be done on one leg, as they are more specific for sprint training. I like one-leg box jumps, starting and landing atop the box with the same leg. Gradually increase the height with foam cushions. Watch out for possible falls!
I also like consecutive one-leg stair hops, with a one-leg long jump performed on top.
I find that most dual-leg jumps are damaging for the lower back, with the exception of dual-leg stair jumps where you select a given step level and gradually increase the distance at the bottom of the stairs.
I used to be more of a fan of these, until i realized how many people i have known who have hurt themselves with these exercises. How do you justify this with regards to the risk/reward? (As sprinting is a single-leg plyo).
It is always nice to hear more views on this…
You said it your self! 