Instead of being my normal negative self here are some great tips I learned from a few jumps coaches years ago. Not doing plyometrics in HS, my personal experience needed some mentoring. The question why are we learning plyometrics from strength coaches that are not good at strength and conditioning? I will say that more athletes are likely to get hurt doing plyos than lifting in the weightroom, so it’s best to be educated and patient when teaching them. For those wishing for some great plyometrics resources PM and I will share a few book titles.With all of the articles online here are some random tips I have learned from over the years:(1) Progressions are about safety and not sexy: Spend 3 times the efforts teaching and 1 part training.
(2) Teach double leg jumping up and down in place first in slower motion. This means do submaximal jumps with two legs up and down teaching arm action and leg angles. Back Squats help teach this action and double leg jumps help with back squats. This is the cornerstone to a good plyometric programs.
(3) Speed Squats with a vest and a double arm uppercut in reps of 15 are great ways to teach synchronization of arms. The hands should finish at both knee and hip termination and when you get into full extension.
(4) Box Jumps are overrated. The key is how much you displace your center of mass now how high your feet are. Efforts to decrease stress on the joints from a lower landing height just reinforces a poor ratio of concentric and eccentric abilities. Most injuries occur because of eccentric strength. This is why deadlifts are poor choices for a primary lift.
(5) Plyometrics can help teach olympic lifts indirectly without loosing training time. Learn to throw a medicine ball and how to control your feet to land at different widths. This will help with catching the olympic lifts and get the necessary repetitions in. Repetition is not sexy and is ofter hard to get athletes to repeat the same workout but that’s why it’s called producing athletes vs capturing athletes (read inheriting talent).
(6) With safe volumes plyometrics are great ways to reduce injuries with many athletes.
(7) The worst athlete you have is the evidence of your coaching. Youtubes of studs show that in time people will get lucky. The lowest talent is the sign of the coaching and the talent levels is the sign of the program (recruiting, culture, environment).
(8) Stiffness jumps are key for those that are strong but slow. Start with single leg pragmatic work and build into more athlete movements.
(9) Big contrasts to relaxing and contracting are vital to top sprinting. Plyos can enhance those that struggle with keeping the on/off button from toggling at high speeds.
(10) Plyometrics are great ways to teach rhythm so have reasons of why you choose various spacing and hurdle heights. In an old thread the discussion of parabolic flight paths seemed to be a bit of a stretch. Now I am convinced that you must do the dirty work an experiment what what looks right.