Plyometrics and agility training.

[Cynic]

Can plyometrics and agility training be done as active recovery?

I know Bill Vasco (MAXX) tends to incorporate it into his team's full-on training schedule, but can it be used on non-lifting days w/o affecting recovery?

[PowerManDL]

Depends on the modality used.

Full-bore plyos, absolutely no way. Anything involving heavy impacts and rebounds is pretty much out.

But for some lighter stuff that's kinda plyometric but not really, like skips, bounds, etc, sure.

Agility training would fall under the same guidelines. Any high-force type of stuff would be out, but stuff that was more metabolic/non-taxing in nature would be fine.

[JoshDunn]

Its that typical "it all depends" answer. Sure you can do some plyometrics and agility training on off days but it all depends on the volume. Same as anything, you wouldn't start with high volume as the intensity is set at pretty high. Slowly building up over time will be fine but you will have to listen to your body and back off if its too much.

Have to see if it helps with your goals, whatever they might be.

[Cynic]

Ok, thx you two. I've still got time. I'm looking at joining a softball league this summer and want to do some prep work besides just lifting.

[JoshDunn]

I'd start with agility first then add in some plyometrics. Agility will be of far more use, if you are already training power at the gym and only going social or low level competition. At least for now.

[MAXX]

Cynic, I'd just like to add that for the most part, our plyos are done from the floor--we don't use boxes too much. The risk/reward ratio is too great with some athletes trying to do coordinated movements involving boxes.

When programming plyos and agilities, I always ask the following: What are we doing today, what did we do yesterday, and what are we going to do tomorrow? By asking those questions, I can appropriately program that day's activities. That's always not so easy for less experienced trainees to determine.

Not sure if you read what I wrote when someone asked me if I considered the "dot drill" to be a type of plyometric? Here's how I responded:

I don’t consider the “dot drill” to be a traditional form of plyo’s because it does not fully incorporate the stretch-shortening cycle important in a plyo. In "Core Performance" by Verstegen, his section on plyo exercises is titled "Elasticity." He talks about generating force in a powerful manner, and a quick manner. He also categorizes the plyos in the following categories:

Rapid resonse: low-force, high speed exercises to improve ground reaction forces and quickness. Examples: Dot drills, line jumps.

Short response: help you hit the ground and immediately spring back off the ground. Examples: Bodyweight jumps such as squat jumps, scissor jumps, power skips. Some low level box jumps.

Long response: use longer ranges of motion, your feet will stay on the ground longer, but you'll produce higher levels of power with each rep. Examples: Weighted jumps, taller boxes, depth jumps.


Dot drills in my opinion fall in the rapid response category. Therefore, I consider it to be an agility exercise--kinda like line jumps. If you added the small blocks to jump over in this drill, then I think you are moving into the short response category.

Rapid response exercises require the least recovery time, while long response exercise require the greatest recovery. Short response exercises would fall in between.

[Mon]

MAXX, where would you consider one legged hops to be? Would it fall under rapid response?

Also, what order would you put the 3 categories in if being done in a program including how many exercises per category on one day?

I want to know more about Plyometric work. I do one legged hops (forward, lateral), lateral bounds, quick feet, and jump squats mostly with my agility ladder a long with one leg per box, one leg every other box, etc. I have been doing them for 3 weeks so far and my running speed has actually increased. My baserunning time from home to first has increased. I am averaging 2.90-3.10 now instead of 3.10-3.40. My mom timed me at the park doing fungo hitting and then running to first (starting the time right when the ball is hit off the bat) I told her to do. Also, my agility quickness has increased as well. I do carioca's forward, backward, and lateral.

Should I include all 3 categories in my routine? I don't do "long response" plyometrics. I don't think I need it for Softball.

[PowerManDL]

Plyometrics are really defined as any work that heavily involves reactive/elastic strength and the stretch-shortening cycle.

Obviously there's gradations of work, but by the strict definition a plyometric exercise is going to involve the very rapid loading of a muscle and immediate reversal of that force.

This would be things like depth and drop jumps, elevated pushups, things like that. You drop and immediately absorb and rebound the impact.

Hops and bounds (one and two legged), jumps from the ground, and even sprints all involve this action to some degree, but they don't train it maximally the way one of those shock plyometrics would.

What you're describing is more "multi-dimensional agility" work, rather than strictly training the elastic components of the muscle complex. Though obviously there is a degree of overlap, the two modalities will have different effects.

Strictly speaking, you don't "need" the shock plyos until you've got a baseline of strength built up. This is both to condition the body, but moreso because they simply won't have much effect without a good degree of strength.

The agility/reactive work can have more acute effects on coordination and reaction times, though, so it would be more ideal for sports training in the "less advanced".

If it helps, think of shock plyos as being more like strength training, versus the agility work being more for your sport training.