02/01/2021
Why Should Athletes Perform Plyometrics?
Plyometrics are not just key for majority of athletes but even the general population. As we age, our power output starts to decline linearly at a rate of nearly 15% per decade past 40. This can be detrimental especially to the elderly population as they may not have the ability to react to a fall. Since plyometric training help us to produce more force through both metabolic and neural adaptations it’s key that they are utilized to help delay the loss of power output.
We know that bone density is something that decreases with age, especially amongst females. Plyometrics have been shown to help both increase bone density and maintain it at older ages.
Athletes should be performing plyometrics to help improve force output, ground contact times, overall speed and jump height. In most sports speed kills, and to get faster you need to “teach” the muscle to contract quicker. When performing plyometrics such as depth jumps the muscle and tissues are put under immense amount force, couple that with extremely fast velocities and we adapt to be able to withstand and produce higher amounts of force. This leads to a hockey player getting to a puck faster, or a volleyball player jumping higher. Additionally, most athletes believe that plyos are reserved for power sports like sprinting or football. However a study done by lundstrome et al. 2015 showed that plyometric training in marathon runners improved running economy and decreased run times.
