|
TOPIC:
PLYOMETRICS
1) What are plyometrics?
2) Why should I care what they are?
3) What are good plyometric exercises for increasing vertical jump?
4) What are good plyometric exercises for increasing speed
5) Are plyometrics
dangerous?
TOPIC: TRAINING
MYTHS
Myth No. 1: I need exercises to work my lower abs and reduce my pot
belly.
Myth No. 2: If I'm not sure the next day, I didn't work out hard
enough.
Myth No. 3: If I can't workout often enough and hard enough, I might
as well not even do it.
Myth No. 4: Strength
training will make me "bulk up".
Myth No. 5: If I eat more protein, I can build big muscles.
1) Q: What are plyometrics?
A: Plyometrics are any exercise where the muscle is contracted
eccentrically then immediately, concentrically. In plain English, the
muscle is stretched (i.e. loaded) before it is contracted. A good
example is push-ups with a clap in-between each push-up. Your muscle
(pectorals in this case) is elongated and loaded by the downward force
of your body, then immediately you must contract the muscle to push
yourself back up.
2) Q: Why do I care?
A: Because plyometrics is one of the best ways if not the best
way to improve power. To justify this answer lets first look at what
is power. Power is similar to strength except you are adding the time
factor. Therefore the relation of strength and speed is what we are
talking about when we talk about power. A person who can perform a
specific resistance movement, such as jumping, bench press etc., the
fastest would be said to have more power in that movement. So what we
are looking at is not just the contraction of the muscle, but how fast
will it contract. It has been shown that a muscle will contract the
fastest when it has been loaded. This is why you should be able to
jump higher if you crouch down then immediately jump up than if you
started in the crouch. So if this is the best way to perform a
powerful movement lets practice these movements. This practice is
called plyometrics and has been shown in study after study to decrease
the time it takes for the muscles to contract, resulting in more
power.
3) Q: What are good plyometric exercises for increasing vertical jump?
A: There are an infinite number of plyometric exercises to
increase vertical leap but here are a few good ones:
-
Two foot ankle hop (low intensity):
Keeping your feet together and
remaining in one place hop up and down using only your ankles and
calves. Concentrate on getting as high as you can and exploding off
the ground as soon as you land.
Rim Jumps (medium intensity) -
Stand under a basketball rim. Jump
up touching the rim (or net or whatever) with alternate hands.
Concentrate on getting as high as you can and exploding off the
ground as soon as you land.
- Box to Box jumps (high intensity)
-
Place two boxes that will support
your weight about 3 feet apart. Standing on one box step (NOT JUMP)
off to the ground and immediately jump back up to the other box.
Turn around and repeat. Obviously the difficulty of this exercise is
increased as the height of the boxes are increased. Once again
concentrate on getting as high as you can and exploding off the
ground as soon as you land (notice a pat tern here?)
In all the above exercises you are
using your body weight and gravity to load the muscle before
contraction. The forces you generate are much larger than could be
safely accomplished using conventional resistance (read weights)
exercises. It is true these forces only exist for a brief amount of
time, but they still stress the muscle which is the point.
Also these exercises can be combined. For example try jumping off a
box before jumping up to the rim.
4) Q: What are good plyometric exercises for increasing speed?
A: While all of the above exercises will also increase your
speed (leg speed), these are many others that just focus more on
movement. Here are some examples:
-
Zig Zags (medium intensity)
Run an elastic cord about a foot
off the ground. While on one foot hop back and forth over the rope.
Repeat with other foot.
- Side to side ankle hops
-
Same as regular ankle hops (see
above) but instead of remaining in place you jump 2 to 3 feet side
to side.
- Sprints
Yes sprints are plyometrics since
the force of your body coming down loads the hamstring.
5) Q: Are plyometrics
dangerous?
A: Since so many exercises could be considered plyometrics, of course
some of them are dangerous. Jump squats are a great example. This is
where you perform a regular squat (with weight) and actually jump at
the top of the motion coming off the ground 1-2 inches. You perform
this exercise with about 1/3rd of your max. weight. This is one of the
best exercises to increase your jumping ability. Unfortunately it is
also a dangerous one.
If you don't have great form, and you cant do at least 50 reps of
regular squats at the weight don't even think about them. Also stay
away if you have a bad back or knees. On the other hand the two foot
ankle hop is very safe, and will offer good benefits. A good general
test to see if you are ready for plyometrics is to stand and jump up
as high as you can. Measure this height (chalk on your fingertips and
a clean wall is a good way to measure). Then jump off a 18 inch box
and jump as high as you can. If you cant reach as high as you could on
the ground you would be better off hitting the weights and coming back
later.
Myth No. 1: I need exercises to work my lower abs and reduce my pot
belly.
First, there is no such thing as 'lower abs.' The six-pack you're
going for is actually one long muscle, called the rectus abdominis,
that extends from below your chest to your pelvis. To work your abs,
you should do exercises to target all four muscles: the rectus
abdominis, internal and external obliques and the transverse abdominis. Second,
doing crunches will not help you get a 'six-pack' if you have a layer
of fat over your abdominal area. In order the see the muscles, you
must reduce your body fat.
Myth No. 2: If I'm not sure the next day, I didn't work out hard
enough.
Many people use muscle soreness as a gauge of how good their workout
is. However, muscle soreness is caused by tiny tears in the muscle
fibers and, while some soreness is expected if you regularly change
your program, being sore for days after your workout most likely means
you overdid it. If you're sore after every workout, you're not
allowing your body time to recover, which is when you experience the
most muscle growth. To prevent soreness, you should
warm up before your workout and stretch before and after. If you
experience soreness, rest for a day or so and then do the same
exercises that caused you to be sore in the first place, but lower the
intensity.
Myth No. 3: If I
can't workout often enough and hard enough, I might as well not even
do it.
The general rule for weight loss is to do cardio 4-5 times a week for
30-45 minutes as well as weight training 2-3 times a week. Some
people simply don't have the time to workout that much and they think,
since they can't do all of that, why do ANY of it? Remember: Any
exercise is better than no exercise, even if it's only a 15-minute
walk. Being physically active ) is proven to reduce stress and make
you healthier. So, even if you can't make it to the gym, you have no
excuse not to do something active each day.
Myth No. 4:
Strength training will make me "bulk up".
Some women avoid weight training because they don't want to bulk up.
However, strength training is a critical element to maintain a healthy
weight and strengthen your body. Wayne Wescott, weight training expert
and PhD, researched the effects of weight training on women and found
that "the average woman who strength trains two to three times a week
for eight weeks gains 1.75 pounds of lean weight...and loses 3.5
pounds of fat...women typically don't gain size from strength
training, because compared to men, women have 10 to 30 times less of
the hormones that cause bulking up."
Myth No. 5: If I
eat more protein, I can build big muscles.
Building muscle mass involves two things: Using enough weight to
challenge muscles beyond their normal levels of resistance and eating
more calories than you burn. With all the hype about high protein
diets lately, it's easy to believe that protein is the best fuel for
building muscle but, according to the American Dietetic Association,
muscles work on calories "which should be predominately carbohydrates.
The remainder of the calories are divided between fat and protein." If
you consume too much protein, you run the risk of creating nutrient
imbalance, kidney strain, or dehydration. Plus, excess protein results
in extra calories that are either burned or stored. For muscle mass,
you should incorporate a healthy eating plan, as well as a workout
that combines cardio exercise as well as consistent weight training.
|
