Plyometric Training – Programme Design

The ability to produce large power outputs and rapid rate of force development is paramount in sports. 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.

Course Aims & Objectives

1  – Introduce coaches to the history of plyometric training and the pioneering work first presented by Yuri Verkhoshansky (1928-2010)

2 – Explain the neuromuscular mechanisms within the stretch shortening cycle by which plyometric occurs.

3 – Explain the importance of identifying and replicating the biomechanical demands of the athlete’s chosen sport.

4 – Clarify the different types of plyometric classifications including concentric dominance, tendon compliance and tendon stiffness based plyometrics.

5 – 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.

6 – Identify the pre-requisites to plyometric training are also detailed, ensuring coaches understand the required physical and movement qualities within their athletes before embarking on a demanding plyometric training intervention.

7 – Identify which specific plyometric exercises are best suited to each movement category and how plyometric can be progressed effectively.

8 – Describe how plyometric training can be periodised within a linear, undulating and concurrent periodised model.