The ability to produce large power outputs and rapid rate of force development is paramount in sport. Plyometric training is an effective form of power-based training, improving an athlete’s ability to rapidly store and recoil elastic energy within the musculotendinous unit, perform explosive movements and run with greater running economy.
However, several factors need to be considered when implementing plyometric training including exercise selection, plyometric pre-requisites, plyometric progressions, and ensuring the biomechanical demands of the sport are replicated.
Therefore, the aim of this short bite-sized course is to provide coaches with a greater level of clarity on the correct periodisation and programming of plyometric training. Over four modules, the concepts of plyometric exercise selection, plyometric training categories including concentric dominant, tendon compliance and tendon stiffness plyometrics, a meso-cycle design, micro-cycle design, the periodisation of plyometrics using a linear and undulating model are all explained, with working examples provided in real world coaching practice. Plyometric training to improve horizontal, vertical, multi-directional and throwing / striking performance are all explored.
Suggested Pre-requisite:
- CIMSPA: L3 PT
Aims and objectives of course:
- Introduce coaches to the history of plyometric training and the pioneering work first presented by Yuri Verkhoshansky (1928-2010)
- Explain the neuromuscular mechanisms within the stretch shortening cycle by which plyometric occurs.
- Explain the importance of identifying and replicating the biomechanical demands of the athletes chosen sport.
- Clarify the different types of plyometric classifications including concentric dominance, tendon compliance and tendon stiffness based plyometrics.
- Explain the many ways in which plyometric training can be progressed within a periodised model is also explored, including low to high ground reaction force magnitude progressions, bilateral to unilateral progressions, and the relevant research findings on optimal plyometric training doses.
- Identify the pre-requisites to plyometric training are also detailed, ensuring coaches understand the required physical and movement qualities required within their athletes before embarking on a demanding plyometric training intervention.
- Identify which specific plyometric exercises are best suited to each movement categories and how plyometric can be progressed effectively.
- Describe how plyometric training can be periodised within a linear, undulating and concurrent periodised model.
Author Bio
Thomas Stringwell is the founder of Your Gym Sports Performance Ltd, an education provider that specialises within the fields of strength and conditioning and sports science. He’s an accredited strength and conditioning coach with the UKSCA and currently provides performance consultancy services across a range of sports including rugby union, rugby league, soccer, handball, boxing, mixed martial arts, BMX supercross, strength sports and Youth Athletic Development.
He holds an MSc in Sports Biomechanics (Loughborough University), a 1st class honours degree in Sport and Exercise Science (Manchester Metropolitan University) and a Certificate in Education teaching degree (Huddersfield University), with future ambitions of completing a PhD within the field of motor learning, constraints-based learning and non-linear pedagogy.
He has a real passion for education and coach development, having both coached and taught within the fields of strength and conditioning and health and fitness for over a decade. He’s a lifelong strength sport enthusiast, having competed both in Olympic Weightlifting and Powerlifting at a national level, with a genuine drive to support and educate coaches throughout our industry.
Your Gym Sports Performance prides itself on educational excellence, providing evidence-based education to aspiring sports and fitness professionals, whilst supporting practitioners throughout their coaching journey. Our Strength and Conditioning educational pathway enables sports and fitness practitioners to progress within their professional arena, providing coaches with the necessary skill set to apply performance training within their current practice. We aim to inspire and motivate coaches to develop as professionals, creating a lifelong learning experience that assists practitioners beyond the completion of their course, whilst raising the standard of sports performance education within the health and fitness sector.
