hi guys. im jus wondering when you guys do plyometric drills eg step ups, jumps, do the part below your knees feel weak/ sore/ tender? I do, n im afraid tht it may injure my knees. Hence i only do such exercises once a week on grass. Is the effect of jumping drills the same if i do on grass as compared to on concrete/road surfaces? Thank you !
Plyometrics are used to strengthen muscle imbalances in athletes. Everyone has muscles that are dominate and those that need improvement. Creating balance in the mechanics of the body by strengthening weakness results in a more efficient machine. Simply running only reinforces the imbalance and results in long term wear and tear leading to injury and a short career. Working on fine tuning the whole mechanism leads to a life of running without injury into all ages. Run safe.
train nervous wrote:
It would be interesting to see how many people have used some form of explosive training and realized a related performance gain.
Once I added resistance, explosive, and cross training(bike/pool/stairs) to my program I noticed something amazing.... The last third of my races. I still felt tired, my heart was still beating like crazy, but now I could make or respond to moves, I could always kick hard off slow OR fast paces, I was now a contender when the racing began. Not a world beater here(just a mid major college runner), but I was now able to close in 60-62 off of a 14:20 5k pace, or close in 54-55 off a 3:50's 1500 pace. Before I added non running exercises to my training I could just maintain race pace, or drop 1 or 2 seconds on the last lap. So is it worth it to add an extra 30-45 minutes of this stuff everyday? Well, depends on whether you want to be able to respond when the bell lap rings.
TrainerTroy wrote:
Plyometrics are used to strengthen muscle imbalances in athletes. Everyone has muscles that are dominate and those that need improvement. Creating balance in the mechanics of the body by strengthening weakness results in a more efficient machine. Simply running only reinforces the imbalance and results in long term wear and tear leading to injury and a short career. Working on fine tuning the whole mechanism leads to a life of running without injury into all ages. Run safe.
Bingo. THIS is why I started to include plyos into my routine. I don't do them for a specific result in racing. I do them because they help me hit areas that I dont normally work by running. That can't be bad thing.