Effective Plyometric Exercises And Their Benefits

Written by Gouher Munshi Updated on November 19, 2023

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Plyometric exercises are good for promoting muscle power. These are bodyweight exercises and do not need equipment or weights. Plyos take the regular bodyweight exercises to the next level by adding a powerful jump, which stimulates the muscles with the increased force for a short interval of time. It will raise muscle speed with time.

Do 3-sets of 3-5 reps two times a week can make you fast flexible like an athlete. Therefore, if you are training to become fit, you must include Plyos in your exercise routine. Here are the best complete body plyometric exercises to burn calories to enhance fitness levels.

Squat Jumps

Squat jumps are also named Plyo squats. Warm-up your glutes, quads, and calves with 10-reps of regular wide squats at a normal pace. Then, perform 10-reps of squat jumps. This exercise target quads, glutes, core, and hamstrings.

How to do it?

Keep feet at shoulder width and stand straight, turn back shoulders, abs tight, and belly button squeezed into the spine.
Flex knees and squat till thighs are levels with the ground.
Ensure knees are on ankles, and hip is pushed out.
Applying force with legs, push yourself up into a jump, and level your body.
Land gently into the squat position. It is one rep and performs 2-sets of 10-reps.

Sumo Squat Jumps

This workout is a modification of the pile squat or sumo squat. It targets the inner thighs with glutes, outer thighs, and abs. Warm-up using 10-reps of a regular pile squat and hold the last rep for 10-seconds. Then, perform 10-reps of sumo squat jumps. This workout target calves, adductors, hamstrings, hip flexors, quads, core, and glutes.

How to do it?

Keep heels at shoulder width and stand upright, keep toes pointed, shoulder turned back, and core retained.
Flexed knees and lower the body. Go as low as much as possible and hold the stretch in the inner thighs.
Bent elbows and get arms near to shoulders.
Press yourself upward into a jump, straighten your legs, and land softly into the sump squat. It is your one-rep and does 2-sets of 12 reps.

Power Skipping

This exercise can be performed with rope or without any rope. A variety of power skipping is raised knee cross jumps.

It targets quads, calves, lower abs, glutes, hamstrings, wrist extensors, shoulders, and wrist flexors.

How to do it?

If you are doing the skipping rope, then perform jump as high as possible and fast in 20-30 seconds.
If you are performing power skipping sans the jumping rope, stand straight, and let abs tight and shoulders pushed back.
Point your hands as if you are holding a rope. Jump high and fast for 20-30 seconds.
Let hands moving in a circular motion like moving rope.
For high knee cross jumps, increase knees as high as possible, alternating the legs at a fast pace.
Perform 2-sets of 20-reps.

Box Jumps

Box jumps are revised versions of squat jumps. It requires jumping on a box and squat, thereby targeting various muscles in the body. It targets quads, glutes, abductors, hamstrings, calves, core, shoulders, and obliques.

How to do it?

Stand in the front direction of the box, platform, or stair, with back straight, abs tight, and shoulders rolled back.
Jump and land gently on the box. Push hips outward, bent knees, and get into a squat pose.
Make sure to keep back level, and weight on heels.
Stand up and jump back to the floor.
Do 2-sets of 7-reps.

Plyometric Box Dips

Plyometric box dips are like regular triceps dips. But in this, the height of the box is higher than stairs, sofa, or gym bench. It targets on shoulders, biceps, triceps, lats, calves, glutes, and hamstrings.

How to do it?

Keep a plyometric exercise box at your back.
Flex knees and keep palms over the edge of the box and keep palms over the edges of the box by keeping fingers forward direction.
Take one step ahead and keep feet away from the box. Your leg should be completely stretched on heels. See forward, and it is your beginning position.
Bent elbows and decrease your torso.
Flex knees gently and lower hips as close to the ground as possible.
Push your hips upward and go back to the beginning position.
Do 2-sets of 10-reps.

Tuck Jumps

Tuck jumps are one of the increased calorie-burning moves. These fat lowering moves are best for shedding stomach fat and toning abs. It targets glutes, abs, quads, calves, hamstrings, and shoulders.

How to do it?

Stand straight by keeping legs at shoulder width. Now bend knees lightly, reduce torso, and get into the ready position.
Jump high to get knees near to chest. Lower both hands to propel the body upward. Then land gently on the ground.
Make sure you breathe out during the jumping motion and inhale during the landing move.
Do 2-sets of 10-reps.

Lunge Jumps

The lunge jump is a revised version of the lunge. It has a jump combined with regular lunge exercise. It targets quads, calves, hamstrings, and glutes.

How to do it?

Stand straight using core engaged and shoulders rolled back.
Keep left leg forward, bend both knees, and lower torso to have a lunging pose.
Assume switching legs, keep right leg front and lunging down, jump high up. As you jump, get your left leg forward and right leg back.
Land gently on the ground, bend knees, take down the torso and lunge down. This time, your right leg will be front.
Jump again and get your left leg forward.
Do 2-sets of 10-reps.

Mountain Climbers

It is an excellent workout to tone the complete body. Do it on the floor and keep core engaged all the time. It targets on lower abs, upper abs, hip flexors, glutes, hamstrings, quads, lower back, shoulder, and biceps.

How to do it?

Keep palms on box-like stairs or sofa.
Stretch legs back, place spine straight, and raise hips to make torso and legs are at about 120 degrees to each other.
Engage your core and get your right leg to your chest.
Perform a small jump or hop and get your left leg near to the chest and push your right leg back to its beginning point.
Again, hop and get your right leg near to your chest and left leg back to the beginning point.
Do 3-sets of 15-reps.

Plank Taps

Plank taps are changed versions of planks, and they help to strengthen the upper body and core muscle. It targets the glutes, core, shoulders, chest, lats, and biceps.

How to do it?

Keep palms on the mat and stretch your legs back. Support body on palms and toes.
Make sure your hips, head, and heels are in a straight line, and your elbows are right under your shoulders.
Engage the core, raise the right palm off the ground and keep it on the left shoulder.
Get right palm back to the floor and lift left palm off the ground and keep it on right shoulder.
Do 3-sets of 10-reps.

Burpee Knee Tuck

It is an advanced variation of burpees. If you are not feeling comfortable with burpees, lower the reps you do. It targets quads, abs, glutes, hamstrings, lower back, calves, and shoulders.

How to do it?

Stand straight with legs at shoulder width.
Flex knees, stretch hands down and keep palms on the floor. Make sure your back is level.
Jump and keep both legs behind you and assume a similar pose as the beginning point of mountain climbers.
Hop and get legs near palms.
Raise palms over the ground, and as you begin standing up, jump high upward with full force and get knees near to chest.
Land gently over the ground. Then, keep palms over the floor, jump and stretch legs back.
Do 2-sets of 7-reps.

Benefits Of Plyometric Exercises

Improve Muscle Speed

Plyometrics is a high-octane exercise program that uses a high amount of energy. It can help to improve strength and speed.

Opens Neural Pathways

Plyometric training also helps to increase neural pathways. The signals from the brain will transfer at a faster rate to the muscle, which will help to raise weights. In other words, it means the muscle fibers number can be triggered at a time to increase weight. The muscle fibers’ numbers stimulate muscle fibers. It is the best benefit to increase athletes’ strength and often overlooked factor in the design of strength workout programs for athletes strength.

Increase Muscles Power

Polymeric workout stimulates muscle myofibrils and promotes latent power in the body.

Improve Performance

The plyometric exercise helps to increase the performance of athletes. Therefore, it is beneficial for improving performance time.

Stiffer Muscles

Apart from strengthening complex muscle-tendons, it helps in making muscle stiffer. Research has shown that muscles work in an isometric manner in place of an eccentric manner, which means muscles are naturally stiff and tendons’ elastic ability help in movement.

Improve Endurance

This exercise is good for marathon training by adding it to your routine. It provides good conditioning and endurance. Plyometric workouts are best for developing muscle, but they help with an athlete’s endurance also. Power endurance, which is needed in sports activities involving high-intensity movements for high times is improved from Plyo movements. Plyometrics can teach an athlete’s body to create more force while spending lower energy. This saved energy can be added towards the activity end, which raises the longevity of equality performance.

Enhanced Strength and Speed

Every athlete needs to increase both their speed and strength. Even if you are not an expert athlete training complete-time, it does not mean you cannot benefit from plyometrics also. Plyo exercises gently increase both speed and strength in athletic performance. Plyo-movements help with muscle strength in leg and arm muscles. It occurs because of the higher rate of force growth with plyometric movements. The activity spurs a physical response from the neurological system, which changes the elastic ability of the muscle. Your muscle feels contract and stretches rapidly, and when sufficient force is applied to the stretching function, the muscle will contract with high force. Applying the proper force happens with bursting movements like pushing and jumping. The higher rate of force growth will show a growth in force and muscular power.

Burn Calories

Plyometric exercises work effectively for burning calories. They help in lowering excess body fat. Running and another aerobic workout will help to burn the calories, but your ability to burn calories will increase your endurance and strength. With increased endurance and strength will enhance performance to burn calories at a faster rate. Plyometric workout helps with increasing metabolism to burn calories while resting body. Muscles require more energy than fat does. Therefore, you will find that the more muscles will burn calories with more activity.

Stronger Bones

The plyometrics benefits reach deeper than muscle. New research is finding that high movements also help bone structure. The bones in the body constantly develop to maintain density. Bone begins to lose density at the age of 30s and will lower between 1-2% every year. Raised bone density before aging will reduce the risk of osteoporosis.

Reduce Equipment Necessary

Equipment is necessary for a quality workout. But equipment is expensive and requires to learn using the machine. Stepping into a gym with reduced exercise can scare away the beginner trainee from getting their fitness goals.

However, it does not need many types of equipment to do exercise. Basic equipment recommended to do plyometric exercise would be things such as a plyometric box and jump rope. A plyometric box in specific will be the most beneficial in allowing for many dynamic exercises to be accomplished all with one equipment piece.

Full-body toning exercise

Most of the plyometric exercises provide excellent exercise to the whole body. All the major groups of muscles are engaged to strengthen and tone muscles.

Good For The Heart

This exercise helps to strengthen the cardiovascular system.

Improve Agility

These exercises also increase agility and stamina.

Improve Overall Health

Plyometric Exercises are best for HIIT exercise, which helps to improve your complete health.

Safety And Precautions

If you do not wear it right the gears will hurt.
Do not perform many sets or reps before learning the correct form.
Do Plyos two times a week.
Always warm-up and cool down before and after Plyo training.
Perform a mixed exercise to even out the strain, particularly for the knee joints.
Raise the intensity and exercise level slowly instead of going all out at once.
Take at least a 15-seconds rest in each set.

Plyometrics is a unique exercise, which can be adjusted by the wellness level. Through proceeded plyometric preparation, results will come in numerous structures. On the off chance that you are keen on plyometric works out, consider claiming your flexible plyometric box. Home exercises can be an ideal enhancement to working out in a rec center or expert instructional hub. However, having the correct devices and information is fundamental for appropriate minutes.

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