How Many Sets And Reps For Plyometrics?

I am 20 and I will be playing football for a division 3 college this spring. I need to get back in to shape for speed and quickness. I found a plyometrics workout on Bodybuilding.com. It includes: Squat jump, single leg tuck, split squats, lateral hops, standing long jump, and double leg hops. The problem is that it doesnt give a number of sets or reps for each excersize. How many sets of each should I do and how many reps?

Well, first we should say that it is plyometric training. Many times athletes and coaches believe that plyometrics are the answer to all their training problems. Truth is, real plyometric training is very good, however, many Western coaches do not understand how to utilize this system properly.

There is a well known story of Soviet coaches toying with their Western counterparts in how to implement plyometrics. They would demonstrate jumping off of boxes of ourtageous heights (note: they never actually did this in their real training). The Western coaches came back with a false idea of how plyometrics are actually performed. In addition, the Western coaches did not get to see the years of preparation that these athletes participated in to be able to perform plyometrics without a high risk of injury.

Exercises like bounds and skips are not really considered to be plyometric training. This is more of a form of prepatory work for true plyometric training. In addition, your strength training must address both needs for maximal strength and strength-speed. Light general phyical preparation work in the form of bounds, skips, and basic jumps can be done for a high number of repetitions and a few sets. They can be determined by a set amount of time, or number of jumps.

These exercises can be done early in the workout as a form of warming-up. Many track and field athletes use a variety of bounding and skipping drills before their higher intensity training. I would recommend that you do this type of work in either a circuit fashion or with abbreviated rest intervals as the work is very sub-maximal.

There is no set answer to your question as volume and intensity should be changed through the training year. You would almost be better off implementing sprinting rather than plyometrics if you do not know how to use it properly.

AAPJosh@aol.com

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