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Plyometrics – Helping Increase Your Speed
But for many people achieving speed increases can be difficult. There is only so far sprint training or improving technique can get you. The reason for this is fast twitch muscle fibres... most training sessions are ill suited to increasing the fast twitch fibres that increase speed over short distances. Plyometrics Plyometrics are designed specifically to increase instant power bursts, and it is explosive power that gives you initial speed burst, but it has to be a certain type of power. Plyometrics takes careful care to mimic what will be happening in sport so that it is directly translated, which is very different from a lot of speed training. In sports you will rarely be starting in a sprinting start position and, more importantly, you will always be using muscles to turn slightly. Also different to using weight sessions and the like you will very rarely have your foot on the floor for any length of time – you will be in constant movement. And it is this that plyometrics trains. Exercises Plyometric exercises make use of the strength and elasticity of muscles to get them working in concert for the maximum power output. The idea is that because muscles work in pairs, contracting and expanding in concert, working to train them together will increase their effectiveness – rather than training them in isolation. The concept is, mostly, to store and redirect power from one muscle to another, allowing the muscles to redirect power from one muscle to another as efficiently as possible, giving an instant 'explosion' of power. A typical plyometric exercise is the step and jump. Why? Because it redirects power form the step into the jump. Try a static jump if you are having trouble understanding. Stand next to a wall, bend you knees then jump as high as possible and mark that spot. Then stand away from the wall, step forward and jump – 99% of people will jump higher with a step. Why? Because the muscles are able to redirect the energy used in stepping forward, the momentum and stored power in contracted muscles, to power itself into a higher jump – the contracted muscles releasing will provide more spring than static ones. This goes double in speed on a sports field where you are able to use the power of muscles that have contracted whilst running one direction to power an explosive burst of speed in another – perhaps to reach a shot or to wrong foot a defence. A number of techniques can be used in plyometric training. Resistance training helps improve muscle power – running with a sled tied behind your back for instance. Short bursts of sprints stepping in and out of cones laid out at angles to each other can help you practice angle and direction changes whilst holding a weight and doing static jumps onto a stationary, raised, object, never allowing more than a split moment touching the ground or the object, will increase power in the legs and team work between muscles. There are far more plyometric exercises to get through than that but now you see the importance of this training style to your speed, both over a straight line and, more importantly, in changes of direction on a sports pitch you can now look into finding the right exercises for yourself that will suit your own sport. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com With a lifelong passion for health, I enjoy sharing my personal experiences with diet and exercise. I also enjoy reviewing products, enjoy my latest reviews on Buy Shower Curtains and Croscill Shower Curtains. |
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