LA fitness news

The Power of Plyometrics

March 01st, 2010

In the summer of 1968 Bob Beamon leapt 29ft 2½ inches to win long jump gold in the Mexico Olympics. What made the jump special is that Beamon broke the existing world record by 21¾ inches – that’s nearly two feet! Click the video to the right to see the jump.

Beamon’s record stood for 23 years until Mike Powell broke it in 1991. Explosive power is obviously essential for athletic events like long jump but it is actually pretty important for most sports. How do you develop explosive power? Let’s use long jump as an example, try this: squat down, hold the squat for 3 seconds and then leap forward as far as you can. Now repeat this but jump forward immediately after you have squatted. The second jump will be further – all to do with energy amortisation.

Plyometric training improves performance by using drills that mimic the movement you want to work on. So if you are involved in a sport that involves vertical jumping, long jumping, sprinting or maybe cycling, plyometric training could be for you. Talk to one of our coaches for advice.