Plyometrics for women

Macha

Hi guys,

I've been reading up on plyometrics as I'm getting a bit bored with the 3 weekly trips to the gym. But I have read a few times that you shouldn't start plyometrics until you can squat 1.5 times your body weight...is that really necessary?

As a female, I don't think I'll be able to squat 1.5 times my body weight in a looong time.

ta

siochain

never heard that before about the 1.5, can't see why it would be needed. Why not do a 6 week cycle with a log and see if you benefit from them.

Smellyirishman

siochain wrote: »

never heard that before about the 1.5, can't see why it would be needed.

It's as a base for power, you need a good level of strength to transition into power. That's my understanding anyway, without strength you're not gonna generate much power. That said, I dunno how it varies for a woman and how strict the 1.5BW is in general.

Roper

Basically what smellyirishman said, but I think the 1.5 times bodyweight isn't always the case but is a pretty good marker. Plyo workouts are essentially about increasing power and the more raw strength you have, the more power you're going to be able to generate.

What certainly is true is that plyo is of little benefit to the average person who is training just to keep the weight off. It's far too stressful (or at least should be) and is really for sportspeople who want to increase speed, power, jump etc.

What is it you're after? What's the goal?

bwardrop

What are your training goals? Is it for health / sport / aesthetics / functional strength / etc?

Understanding why you train will allow everyone here to give you more appropriate advice.

thirtyfoot

http://http://www.elitetrack.com/article_files/gambettaplyos.pdf

I find this a good base for understanding basic plyos.

Macha

Well I'll be shallow and say aesthetics. And health & strength. I've just gotten back into doing squats in the last week and I'm at 30kg. Hopefully I'll be back to 40kg by the end of May.

I just want to switch around my gym routine, maybe do an outdoor session with sprints & plyometrics or should the two be combined in the one session?

Roper

You'd be better off sprinting. Plyo is really for development of certain attributes and wouldn't have a huge effect.

cowzerp

I'd agree with roper, plyometrics are not necessary for you, change your weights around, exercises, reps, sets etc.. add in sprints, body weight exercises, and cardio too..

Roper

cowzerp wrote: »

I'd agree with roper

What?

Check your temperature there!

cowzerp

Actually im sick, change my mind, do the opposite to what roper said!

Macha

Well I'm glad I helped bring you two together.

Thanks for the info guys!

Edit: ok well that agreement was short & sweet, lasting all of 10 minutes!

Roper

taconnol wrote: »

Well I'm glad I helped bring you two together.

Thanks for the info guys!

No problem, thanks for the matchmaking.

If you're doing sprints, find an incline and sprint up that. Apparently less chance of injury with the same results.

Macha

Thanks for that as I have a dodgy right knee.

siochain

roper & cowzerp quick question for you both, would the plyo's not help the squat and the sprint times?

I can't get anyway near 1.5 on the squat, could do body weight one time but I'm trying stretch a few more years out of my knees so I tend to mind them, I would have found the plyo’s beneficial with out been able to do 1.5 squat. In both sports I most focused on over the years Rugby and Kickboxing we used plyo’s a lot in off season. I agree its probably not needed for the OP, but I would generally encourage a wide range of exercises.

Would you use them in your classes? For all students?

Roper

siochain wrote: »

roper & cowzerp quick question for you both, would the plyo's not help the squat and the sprint times?

Firstly I'm not a plyo expert, I just use certain things to enhance my own training and the guys I train and plyo happens to be one of the things I'll do.

For the squat, I'm sure plyo would help increase numbers but not with the same results as more traditional assistance exercises would. I think any increase would be incidental as the squat in terms of weight moved for one rep is a strength exercise, whereas plyo is used to increase power.

As for increasing sprint times, yes I'm sure it would increase and sprint coaches use plyometric exercises to do just that. But without having the specific expertise on when and where to put them in a proper programme, I think people may be wasting their time and risking injury without any great gain. Especially for a novice.

In any case, for someone who just wants to use sprinting as a fitness tool or as a conditioning tool for another sport, times etc. aren't really that important, their time is better spent just sprinting.