Hey guys I have a question about fitting in plyometrics into my training. I've never really used them and so dont really know a lot about them other than what ive found on google. Ive been on a 5x5 program for a while (with hypertrophy work) but have recently changed to 5/3/1, so now is a good time to change my schedule completely. So im wondering how I fit plyometrics into this. I was thinking of something like this: Compound lift-Strength Plyometric-Explosive High rep lift-endurance HIIT/LISS/Class 3-4 times a week Would this be an effective training schedule in your opinion and if not what would you change. I have no idea about how many plyos need to be done in one session or if I need to assign a day for purely plyometrics. Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.
in my experience, from the looks of what you want, that may be a good training style if you're a novice, because beginners require the least amount of specificity, but otherwise I think that your training would be all over the place. There wouldn't be enough stimulus to actually progress at any specific goal, whether it's max strength, explosive strength, or strength-endurance or even aerobic endurance. BUT. if you just want to be fit, healthy and have fun, that would be a pretty cool training program. EDIT: I'll wait for your reply and add in more thoughts that I have. Strength training might seem simple, but it actually has a lot of different traits, characteristics, and components to it.
Would that be the order of your workout each time? It might be a little tricky depending on the volume. I would definitely do plyos before the compounds though. Real plyos are meant to be kept short and sweet. Meaning few reps/sets and with as much effort and explosiveness as you can. As soon as you fatigue, the quality of the stretch reflex will suffer and so will the results. Another thing, it's very important to have an overall strong body and good base before doing plyos. Could you perhaps lay out a template of what your training would look like on a given day?
Thanks for the replies guys. I have been strength training for around a year and a half but have experience in weight lifting (hypertrophy) since 16. I wanted to change my program from just strength and a bit of bodybuilding to a more kickboxing/mma program. So in terms of the plyometrics and high rep lifting I am pretty Much completely new. I have just taken a pt session focusing solely on plyos and the guy gave me high rep ranges. I too have read that they are usually low rep exercises so I'm a bit of a loss with that too. How would I incorporate all aspects of the physical training I need and not burnout for the specfic work (kickboxing, maybe juijtisu in the future). Here's what I orginally planned: Monday chest Bench press 5/3/1 program Clapping push ups Medicine ball throw straight on Dumbell bench 20-25 reps 2/3 sets Run Tuesday back Deadlift 5/3/1 program Kettlebell swing Row 20-25 reps 2/3 sets Kickboxing or bag work Thurdays legs Squats 5/3/1 program Jumping switch lunges Explosive split lunges Maybe high rep leg press if not too tired Padwork Friday shoulders Standing press 5/3/1 Side on medicine ball throw Oblique twists Dumbell press 20-25 reps 2/3 sets Kickboxing class Sorry for long post. That was a rough copy as I do not know if this would tax me or do nothing at all. If you know of an existing program thats decent with my goals In mind please let me know
I was worried like Sano that you might do your lifting first before your plyos. I don't think those are true plyos in your workout. And that's fine. True plyos will have a stretch shortening cycle. Some trainers call things "plyometrics" but they aren't true plyometrics. And people think they are doing them when they aren't getting that stretch shortening cycle.
3-4x/wk for someone who already fit seems reasonable to me, assuming decent recovery methods: Ploys Strength lift Hypertrophy lift Conditioning(LISS, practicing a sport, etc.)
So if they aren't true plyos will they not develop my explosiveness as id like them to? I wouldn't do them if that was the case. As I said im completely new to plyos and don't really know where to start
It's still a good workout that will help your explosiveness. The medicine ball throws, the jumps and everything you have listed that is an explosive exercise will benefit. I didn't want you to take that the wrong way. I'm just talking in strict definition of the word plyometrics. Those jumping lunges might be. I haven't ever done them.
You don't need to and shouldn't do plyos all the time. You stop responding quite quickly and it's easy to injure yourself. If you are doing 5/3/1, why not do them during deload week? On squat or DL days do box jumps, depth jumps or bounding. On bench or overhead days, do medicine ball throws or some other upper body stuff. Edit- on your main lifting days you could do speed variants of the main exercise at 40-50%, 6 sets of 2, something like that. That is not plyometric, it's just speed work, it should be very do-able, and should help your speed/power. The rest of the stuff, I would cut back. If you are training lots of different things, better to focus on the most important stuff and do it whole-heartedly.
