Plyometric Box Jumping

ompetitors in all sports, from football to tennis, understood. from the Jr. High athlete to the professional, are fibers — slow twitch or red fibers, and fast twitch or white continually searching for more efÏcient methods fibers. Each of which have different contraction rates. of training. Today’s athlete, in order to win consistently The red fibers are specialized for endurance and must subscribe to the most effective methods of trainhelp build overall strength and are worked by running ing to compete in the intense field of athletics. or lifting weights such as the squat.

No matter how fast An extremely important facet of athletics is the you try to squat, it’s very slow in comparison to the ability to be explosive, to get off the ball quicker and response that can be created during a jump or similar more powerful than the opponent. Squatting, benching, activity. That’s the difference between red and white fibers. the power clean build strength and power, but what is done to increase explosiveness- the get off the Jumping uses the white fibers or fast twitch fibers. These fibers specialize in adding quick response maneuvers such as sprinting, throwing, or jumping. ness the white fibers must be worked with the same intensity as with the red fibers.

As stated earlier, the load on the white fibers, needs to be greater than our body weight in order for them to increase in size and responsiveness. It’s known that by adding extra weight to a squat the results will increase, in the same way increase, in this case explosiveness.

If I were to drop a rubber ball when it hit the ground, it would from the drop. As the ball returned to its original shape the stored energy is released bringing the ball back up. Therefore the weight involved is not the important factor but the ball intensity that wins games? explosion, or quickness of the jump after contact with “getting off the ball” drills, agility workouts, etc. do the ground is made. If the jump originates from a highwork, however, the maximum load on the muscle is the er source the force placed on the jumper to keep weight of the athlete.

You wouldn’t stop adding weight him/her on the ground in greatly increased, this then places a greater load on the muscles, than could be why would you then do the same when working on achieved under “normal” circumstances. explosiveness?

The muscles reaction not only needs to have Plyometric box jumping along with other plyometric work such as hurdle jumping and medicine ball work, has been used by the Eastern Block countries for decades to improve agility and explosiveness. At first, only the track and field athletes used plyohigher the fall the greater the result. This effect. However, if too much pressure is ning and losing. sports have realized and accepted the relationship plyometrics have with athletic performance and achievement. To fully understand plyometrics, knowing how muscles work must be to get the athlete off the ground in the shortest time possible. Like the ball, the same when working on explosiveness?”

placed on the ball it will burst; the white fiber muscles are no different. has created three different sets of plyometric boxes, a specific “level”. lines to follow so that you will know which height would be the best for your program.

Like all lifts whenever technique falls the lift wouldn’t stop his athletes squats at 100 pounds, so why should stop. Poor technique doesn’t develop the stop the explosiveness at ground level. Get Bigger muscle the way it should be, but most importantly poor Faster Stronger Plyometric boxes and learn to explode technique leads to injury. The best athlete is no good to at a higher level. a team if he/she is injured. Often when plyometric The Readiness Set comes with three 10” boxes boxes get too high technique seems to disappear. Poor and one 20” box with a booster that raises the 20” box technique has never impressed anybody. up to 24” or 26”.

Remember its not the height that is as important as the explorealize that anyone can jump up 10” the key is the ground after a 10” or beginning athletes. comes with three 20” to 36” or 42” for the more advanced athletes.

The new BFS Super Plyo Box Set comes with six boxes This set is recommended for high school athletes. Because a workout consists throughout the entire body. Not only does this destroy of 12-15 contacts per set each athlete must go through plyometric effect but it can really jolt your insides and the Varsity set three to four times to complete a set. cause injury.

Super Set comes with five Getting off the ground as quick as possible is the key. Try to jump before contact with the ground is made. A good rule is — if the athlete is on the ground longer than a quick clap, then the box is too high or the athlete is too tired to get the proper effect.

Be sure and stop before injury occurs. athletes. super set are the Workouts should be done twice a week with 38- athlete could jump on and off boxes making hundreds of contacts per week quite easily. So remember studies have shown that after 38-59 contacts per week white fiber muscles begin to fatigue and loss of technique results. When the white fibers slow down then so do you, and the explosiveness that’s needed on the field or court is used up between boxes. Remember always work smart.

Test your athletes and see what set of boxes would fit your program the best. An upper limit coach boxes, athletes only need to go through — the super set twice to complete a set. more beneficial workout.

READINESS PLYO BOXES ( See catalog page M).......$279 )............ $399 Be sure that heels never come in PLYO-HURDLES( page 33 ),...:...ccsescsssssssecesee 28 “THE PERFECT PLYOMETRIC BOX JUMPING STATION” Comes with five 20 inch boxes for maximum results. Contains two 4 to 6 inch boosters. Comes with one 32 inch box as in our Varsity Set.

Features 1/2 inch thick, special rubber, non-slip top. Standard color black. Painted in school colors for °60”.

“Tt’s Perfect”

FASTER STRONGER Our Plyo Pad is three feet by thirty. just the right length with the perfect surface. is too hard, and hardwood is to slick. BFS Plyo Pad is perfect.

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Designed to fit inside the Booster Box for a maximum height of 50 inches!

$29 FREE with a purchase of any Plyo Box

From BFS Magazine — Summer 1993. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).