Speed and strength are important for athletes, whether they are professional or recreational. To develop both speed and strength, many athletes train with plyometrics. Plyometrics refers to exercises that use the muscle for fast and forceful movements; typically, what you would see in jumping and hopping. Plyometrics works by loading and stretching a muscle with a lengthening action, and then immediately contracting and shortening the muscle in what is called a concentric action. For example, if you were to jump off and back onto a step, the jump off would be the lengthening action and the quick jump back up is the shortening action.
The key to plyometrics is lowering your center of gravity quickly enough that you gain some explosive movement when you jump upward. Plyometrics are useful for sports like soccer and basketball, and they help with track and field-type sports where leaps and jumps are important. But aside from more formal athletics, plyometrics will add intensity to any workout - if you include plyometrics like tuck jumps in your workout, it will power up those muscles and use them in ways that you might not otherwise. It helps increase your endurance and power, and mixing it up and challenging yourself always burns more calories. You don't need quite the same exercises as a basketball player or an Olympic athlete, so supplementing a weight training or cardio session with some low or moderate intensity jumping will help you gradually ease into plyometrics.
Speed and strength are important for athletes, whether they are professional or recreational. To develop both speed and strength, many athletes train with plyometrics. Plyometrics refers to exercises that use the muscle for fast and forceful movements; typically, what you would see in jumping and hopping. Plyometrics works by loading and stretching a muscle with a lengthening action, and then immediately contracting and shortening the muscle in what is called a concentric action. For example, if you were to jump off and back onto a step, the jump off would be the lengthening action and the quick jump back up is the shortening action.
The key to plyometrics is lowering your center of gravity quickly enough that you gain some explosive movement when you jump upward. Plyometrics are useful for sports like soccer and basketball, and they help with track and field-type sports where leaps and jumps are important. But aside from more formal athletics, plyometrics will add intensity to any workout - if you include plyometrics like tuck jumps in your workout, it will power up those muscles and use them in ways that you might not otherwise. It helps increase your endurance and power, and mixing it up and challenging yourself always burns more calories. You don't need quite the same exercises as a basketball player or an Olympic athlete, so supplementing a weight training or cardio session with some low or moderate intensity jumping will help you gradually ease into plyometrics.