Plyometrics and Warm Up Drills - What You Need to Know

Needless to say, proper execution of the technique is the most important of all. In the same way as sprinting, you have to land on the balls of your feet and use the same area to apply force to the ground so as to gather upward speed. However, if you are in doubt, it would be best to seek proper plyometric coaching. Aside from their ability to increase body temperature and prep the body up for more rigorous movements, warm up drills should also be considered as skill enhancement exercises.

1) Skipping Drills

As a rule, efficient running necessitates a runner to move his right arm forward as his left leg advances, and vice versa. The movement is known as reciprocal motion, which is essential to the athletic maturity of an individual.

Skipping exercises involve an exaggerated version of reciprocal motion. The emphasis on rapid liftoff and landing, along with the requisite to amplify reciprocal motion, makes skipping an ideal warm up activity that will prepare the athlete for more complicated exercises.

2) Lunging Drills

These activities were derived from the fundamental exercise movement called the "lunge". As a warm up exercise, lunging drills can take various forms. They are known as walking, forward, reverse, side, crossover, and multidirectional lunges. They are also considered as the ideal warm up exercises prior to performing long amplitude jumps. In addition, lunging drills are extremely valuable in increasing basic strength in areas such as the thigh and the upper hip.

3) Footwork Drills

These drills require speedy changes of direction and hip movement. The most common footwork exercises used in plyometric training include multidirectional side shuffle, drop step, and shuttle drills.

4) Other Common Drills

These are some of the unclassified drills used as warm up activities in plyometric training. Each and every activity is focused on a particular region of the body with a special upshot in mind.

Carioca - This movement is perhaps as well-known to football trainers as the 3-point stance. It has been used for quite a long time to enhance foot placement and hip rotation. The upper part of the body is maintained somewhat stationary as an athlete moves sideways down a line, while the feet are rapidly changed from a crossover stance to a reversed one.

5) Backward Running

Hip and hamstring extensions should never be overlooked in any athletic training program. For that reason, backward running should be utilized to achieve the same effect. The motion actually offers a precise way of reinforcing the hamstrings right before the exertion of massive eccentric forces when running frontward.