I have always been fond of watching basketball games, whether those who are playing are professional or just your regular basketball players. Having to look at players who are extremely strong and move with such agility never fails to amaze its audience. These players who perform exceptionally during games are most often specially trained. These kind of special trainings not only boost their energy while playing their games, but they also develop their basketball skills.
These skills are what the basketball geniuses call “explosiveness”.  Explosiveness in the court includes extraordinary jumping, hopping, pushing and throwing the upper body.  Now, how do they do this?  For pros, that is, but are actually not limited to them, have this certain exercise which helps them develop these skills.  They call this basketball plyometric training.
Basketball plyometric drills work by using the gravity’s force to store energy into the muscles and then release it immediately to the other direction.  During basketball plyometric workouts, the player’s body will not only be trained in improving their ability and skills but also improve their confidence in their performance.  Plyometric drills in basketball, in fact, can help amateur basketball players become pros and the pros become superstars.

Plyometrics for basketball jumping are all about explosive power. Basketball is perhaps the king of sports when it comes to needing many occasions where you can deliver explosive power to succeed. Other sports like the 100 meters or football may also require explosive power but not so frequently and for such a short duration each time as in basketball.

Plyometrics are a series of explosive drills that are particular useful for increasing the height that you can reach. Plyometrics for basketball jumping will not only allow you to touch the rim but also help your overall game — making that difficult pass, executing a great deke or feint and powering to the hoop. Not only will they help with your power but they will also improve your reflexes, coordination and balance.

Plyometrics for basketball jumping work by converting a stored energy (with the help of gravity or weights) and then expending it into movement very quickly. A very important part of plyometrics is the body’s ability to learn this behaviour and develop “muscle memory” — this is not simply about building bigger muscles, in fact, muscle mass gain is not the most important criteria here. Plyometrics are more about delivering a large force in a short space of time.

Although it might sound obvious, the best plyometrics for basketball jumping involve different types of jump. You can try other exercises to build your overall game but jumps are the best if you want to touch the rim or even dunk.

Plyometrics exercise drills that you should do include vertical leaps as high as you can. Also, place a box in front of you or find a large step and jump with explosive power onto this box. Do not jump high off the box back to the ground or you will cause cumulative damage to your knees — just step off the box back to the ground and repeat.

Squat jumps are also very good plyometrics for basketball jumping. Start in the typical squat position with thighs parallel to the ground. If you have never squatted before, remember that the angle of your thighs to your shins should not reduce lower than 90 degrees. From this position, explode upwards into a jump as high as possible and as you land, progress back to the original position. Hold for a second, then repeat.

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Plyometric training has become watered down in North America to such a level that now even basic health clubs have introduced ‘plyometric jumps’ into their general group exercise classes as a means of achieving some measure of ‘high intensity’ training.

Almost without exception, every ‘sport-performance training center’ and youth sporting association in North America both markets and incorporates some degree of plyometric conditioning into the routines of the athletes they manage. More often than not, the trainer or coach prescribes an unintelligible series of jumping exercises and can be seen either holding a clipboard and a stop watch as they count and record the number of jumps or foot contacts a young athlete makes within a certain period of time, or barking out commands to ‘jump higher’. Plyometric training has become such a ‘catch-phrase’ in the vernacular of trainers and coaches that it is often marketed as a sole measure of distinction for a training facility or individual coach/trainer. Do you know how many sporting clubs, for instance, have told me that they would love to have their athletes train at my facility, but their Director of Coaching has a ‘plyometric class’ that he/she hosts every week and that’s all the conditioning they need?

Plyometric training has become watered down in North America to such a level that now even basic health clubs have introduced ‘plyometric jumps’ into their general group exercise classes as a means of achieving some measure of ‘high intensity’ training. Jumping and then abruptly stopping and holding a fixed position, jumping and then jumping again after a cursory pause or being taken through a series of jumping exercises without being taught proper execution of either the jumping or landing phases respectively are simply gross misappropriations of what plyometric training is or how it should be applied.

Originally called the ‘shock method’, this type of training is meant to increase the speed-strength aptitude of a given athlete (speed-strength is the ability to perform a quick movement which is either unloaded or against a minimal external resistance). A key ingredient to shock training is a short amortization phase, which is the time between the conclusion of the eccentric or braking phase of a jump or movement and the commencement of the concentric or acceleration phase (it is also often defined as the time from the beginning of the eccentric action to the beginning of the concentric action). Shock training is based on the creation of very quick eccentric and explosive actions during which stored elastic energy is released from the connective tissues housed within the series elastic components of a given muscle complex. Within the muscle complex, soft tissue is divided into a contractile system and a non-contractile system; the non-contractile system encompasses connective tissue including tendons, ligaments and capsules. This system subdivides again into the parallel elastic component, which includes fascia, and the series elastic component, which includes tendons. Ballistic stretching or fast, reactive motion has a greater impact in the series elastic component, thus its involvement in plyometric or shock training.

Of important note with respect to execution and prescription is that if the transfer from braking to acceleration takes longer than 0.2 seconds, than the activity would not fall under the parameters of shock or plyometric training. This is a crucial point considering that many trainers and coaches use ‘plyometric’ training to such an extreme level (i.e. increased number of reps and timed sets or decreased amount of rest between sets) that young athletes are simply not able to produce quick explosive and eccentric actions. Having said that, speed-strength is not being produced or improved. It is exceedingly decisive to remember that when training young athletes, the goal should not be to create as physically difficult a training session as possible. In fact, as with shock or plyometric training, the more physically challenging the exercise or training session is, the less you are actually improving the speed-strength capacity of the athlete – which is the reason you were offering plyometrics to begin with!

Shock or plyometric exercises encompass four phases:

Momentum Phase – the body is in motion due to the kinetic energy drawn from a prior action (such as stepping off of a box during a depth drop).

Contact Instant – the momentum phase is concluded due to contact with a surface (as in the landing after a jump or drop). The body is essentially restricted from moving further.

Amortization Phase – the stored kinetic energy manufactures a stretch reflex and subsequently an eccentric contraction followed by an explosive action.

Rebound Phase – elastic energy is released from connective tissue and an involuntary concentric contraction occurs due to the stretch reflex.

Shock training exercises can be divided into impact and non-impact varieties. With impact-based exercises, the rebound phase is inspired via contact with a surface while with non-impact exercises a recoil action is voluntarily performed. Shock training exercises can also be sub-divided into functional, non-functional and supplementary categories. Functional exercises are those which match a particular movement pattern and direction of motion for a given sport or action within a given sport, while non-functional exercises are more globally-based and do not necessarily work to improve a precise sporting action. Supplementary exercises can also be referred to as preparatory in that they aid in developing adequate muscular and connective tissue strength and movement aptitude.

A very concerning point to ponder when considering how wide spread the use of plyometric training has become in North America is that not every athlete needs or will benefit from plyometric training! Due to the stretch reflexes involved, it is certainly accurate to say that shock training has a positive impact on neuromuscular power production and a far less influence on basic muscular strength or hypertrophy. However, even when traditional western per iodized training methods are followed (which typically indicate ‘power’ training as a final phase), shock exercises should not necessarily be assumed to categorically enhance the sporting prowess of every athlete.

Force = mass x acceleration. With basic resistance or weight training, the mass portion of the equation increases whereas with plyometric or shock training, the acceleration portion of the equation amplifies. More over, shock training exercises incorporate a low level of inertial loading while resistance training involves a high level of inertial loading (inertial loading refers to the action of moving a mass in a short period of time). Although moving a weighty load with a small amount of acceleration or an insubstantial load with a high degree of acceleration can attain the exact same force, the training effect is quite dissimilar. Lower inertia training (shock method) influences the neuromuscular and CNS while high inertia-based training (resistance exercises) directly target muscular strength and hypertrophy.

To determine the specific needs of a given athlete and from which training stimulus they will benefit most (i.e. shock or resistance) one must determine the strength deficit of that athlete. Strength deficit is defined as “the difference between maximum voluntary strength produced in a given action and absolute involuntary strength of which the athlete is capable in the same action.” The strength deficit shows what degree of the maximal strength potential is not used in a given exercise or action. A rudimentary example would be contrasting the height reached in a vertical jump starting from a fixed, knees flexed position (which shows maximum strength) versus one in which the start included a quick recoil phase (which shows absolute strength). If the difference between the two results is minimal (10 – 15%) then shock training to target the neuromuscular system is warranted and would be well received. If the difference is large (greater than 25%), than resistance training to increase strength and hypertrophy is necessary. Unfortunately, ignorant coaches and trainers continue to conduct plyometric classes and training sessions without first assessing their athletes needs. This blind practice serves to both limit potential performance and potentially lead to injury.

This is not to say that appropriate amounts of jump training would not aid in preparing young athletes for their respective sports – after all, jumping and landing are movements involved with virtually every sport. The key, however, is to teach proper elements of jumping and landing as skills with the intent of developing lower leg and hip strength/durability. Known as ‘America’s Youth Fitness Coach’, Brian Grasso spends all his time training young athletes, children with disabilities and those encumbered with body weight concerns.

He has authored two books on the subject and was recently featured in Newsweek magazine for his work in youth fitness and sports training. He has also been named as one of the ‘Top 100 Trainers in America’ by Men’s Health magazine. Brian is the Founder and CEO of the International Youth Conditioning Association and can be contacted through his website – www.DevelopingAthletics.com

The reason for doing plyometrics is build explosive strength in the muscles to permit you to not only jump but to do it with explosive power. The strength of the muscle plus the explosiveness will equal power and rapid acceleration. This explosiveness comes from the enhancement in the elasticity and neuromuscular reflexes. Listed below are some plyometric drills you can do.

Squat Jumps: Begin in the squat position with hands behind the head. Jump upward as high as you can and land into the squat position and instantly jump again. The idea is to land and jump again quickly.

Forward Squat Jump: From the standing position jump up and forward as far as possible and instantly jump forward again keeping the feet on the ground as little as possible.

Single Leg Hop: With right leg in front of the left, push off with right foot into a forward jump. Immediately upon landing jump again off the right foot and repeat. Change to the left foot and repeat.

Box Jumps: Standing in front of a sturdy box, jump up onto it with both feet or do each leg separately. The height of the box depends on how strong you are. Increase the box height as you get stronger.

For more information on how to improve your vertical jump skills go to Plyometrics For Basketball. Tim Archbold’s lifelong interests are fitness training and health.

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Author: Tim Archbold