Every athlete always strives to become better in his or her chosen sport. If you are an athelete, you may want to be able to jump higher, throw farther, hit harder, or run faster. And you definitely train to achieve that. In this article, you will learn about the basics of plyometrics and how it can definitely bring you to the top.
Do you know what plyometrics is all about? If you have done plyometrics before, you already know how it could improve your overall performance as an athlete. Plyometrics is a form of exercise training which aims to produce powerful movements in the shortest possible time. For athletes, they must always improve their power, agility, strength, and speed. And plyometrics can really improve all of these.
Plyometrics has three phases: eccentric muscle action or pre-stretch, amortization, and muscle contraction. In the eccentric muscle action phase, also called pre-stretch phase, production and storage of elastic energy occurs.
The time in between the end of the stretch and before the concentric muscle action is the amortization stage. Simply put, this is the time between stretching and contraction of the muscle. Always remember that the force of muscle contraction that is produced will be more powerful if the amortization phase is shorter. And remember that a muscle can produce a greater amount of force if it stores elastic energy while lengthened and loaded before the contraction. Furthermore, elastic energy dissipates fast that makes it very important for the concentric muscle action to follow the eccentric muscle action really fast. Muscle contraction is the third phase of plyometric movements. These three stages of plyometric movements are collectively called the stretch-shortening cycle.
In the previously-mentioned stages, the plyometric movements are able to affect the muscle-tendon component. Aside from the muscle-tendon component, plyometric movements can also affect the neurological component.
The plyometric movements can also increase the excitatory response of golgi tendon organs which makes them unlikely to limit the production of force when the tension of the muscle is already increased. This creates greater contraction force than any other type of exercise can do. And therefore, training ability is also increased.
Instead of producing lots of small contractions, plyometric movements can teach neurons to contract in one powerful surge. And this will result to a stronger and faster contraction that allows quick and forceful movements. According to studies, the efficiency of neuromuscular connections found between the brain and the muscles is enhanced by repeatedly doing plyometric movements.
On the other hand, it is not advisable to perform plyometric movements without any supervision and exceedingly since these can also lead to different injuries. According to studies, repetitions should only be limited to 75 to 100. Also, plyometrics training should only be done three to four times a week. So many athletes have already proven how plyometric movements have helped them in becoming the best that they could ever be in their chosen sport.
