Plyometrics Intro

In his own experience, weight training and skill refinement are the ways to see fast imrovements in your vertical jump. After that, plyometrics comes into the equation.
Plyometrics came about in the 70's after Russian high jump coaches started experimenting with different training techniques to get an edge.
The goal of plyometric training is to increase the amount of explosive power a muscle can exert by fooling its fibres to react to a higher reflex potential than what they would without training.To put it a bit more simply, think of a ruber band being stretched and released. Now imagine the band is your quadricep (the muscles above your knee and below your waist). Plyometric training increases the force which the band can be stretched by, (crouching down for a jump stretches the quadricep) and therefore contracted by too (jumping contracts the quadricep).
So how we do it? The most effective way to train this stretch reflex is by jumping. How convenient and fun! Plyometrics is really any activity that involves jumping, because it stretches the muscles a bit. But All the Real effective overload plyometrics involve jumping off somewhere higher than your measured vertical jump, landing, and then jumping up again.

Plyometrics Intro

In my own experience, weight training and skill refinement are the ways to see fast imrovements in your vertical jump. After that, plyometrics comes into the equation.

Plyometrics came about in the 70's after Russian high jump coaches started experimenting with different training techniques to get an edge.

The goal of plyometric training is to increase the amount of explosive power a muscle can exert by fooling its fibres to react to a higher reflex potential than what they would without training.
To put it a bit more simply, think of a ruber band being stretched and released. Now imagine the band is your quadricep (the muscles above your knee and below your waist). Plyometric training icreases the force which the band can be stretched by, (crouching down for a jump stretches the quadricep) and therefore contracted by too (jumping contracts the quadricep).

So how we do it? The most effective way to train this stretch reflex is by jumping. How convenient and fun! Plyometrics is really any activity that involves jumping, because it stretches the muscles a bit. But All the Real effective overload plyometrics involve jumping off somewhere higher than your measured vertical jump, landing, and then jumping up again.