Plyometrics anyone?

Have you heard the word and wondered what it meant? Plyometric exercises are movements that are explosive and designed to increase speed and power. This is something that every runner desires, especially in shorter distance races, when one does not have a long time to increase speed. Plyometrics were developed by Russian scientists during the Cold War. A system of exercises called "Jump Training" used repetitive jumping in order to increase of speed and explosiveness of Russian track and field athletes. Dr. Verkhoshansky developed this type of jumping and published his studies on this new form of training in 1964.

Runners and any athlete who wants to mix up their routines to avoid staleness would do well do add plyometric exercises. There are benefits to the muscles, tendons, and the nervous system and when these are improved through the plyometric exercises, one can run faster, jump higher, and hit harder. A word of advice, if you haven't worked out in a while it is a good idea to work on strength and flexibility with cardio, weight training, and stretching before embarking on the plyometric exercises. Once you feel like you have gained strength and can run twenty to thirty minutes or so without stopping or getting winded, then you are probably ready to do some "jump training."