Power4sports

Plyometric Training to Prevent Injuries

I use the steel raised platform boxes for my plyometric exercises routines. I have my athletes do exercises featuring jumping on the boxes and also jumping off of them. ( See the picture of my Daughter Kendra jumping off of one of my Plyometric boxes.

When you jump or simply drop down you need to land with your feet together and for your female bodybuilders you need to make sure you land evenly and in balance. Ladies injure their ACL's 8 times more than males.

For jumping up make sure you bend your knees, come forward, take a deep breath, explode from feet all the way up through your legs, blow your breath out, and launch yourself up to the box.

For Drop jumping from the box to the ground, this involves the athlete dropping to the ground from a raised platform or box, and then immediately jumping up. Do not jump down simply drop to the ground. The drop down gives pre-stretch to the leg muscles, and make sure your jump up immediately when you touch the ground. This is a high-impact form of plyometric training so make sure you have done some sort of jumping or bounding exercises before you attempt these.

I also like step-ups done with each leg using the higher boxes and eventually done holding weights (dumbells in each hand when doing these). Step up and down in a controlled movement - streching the entire leg as you do so keeping your back as straight as possible.