Warm Up Drills - How To's in a Plyometrics Workout

One of the fundamental rules of any exercise program is the inclusion of a thorough warm up drill into the training regimen. Warming up should include low-level exercises that have the potential to slightly increase the body's core temperature in preparation for more strenuous activities.

In plyometric training, warm up exercises may be classified into various forms and may either be specific or general in nature. These activities of choice for the warm up exercise need to be specific and somewhat related to the major efforts of a particular training program.

Although some of the warm up drills may mimic plyometric movements, these exercises are not necessarily considered as true plyometrics for the reason that they require less focus, concentration, and voluntary effort. Instead, these sub-maximal plyometric exercises are used to take on basic movement skills and are therefore useful in setting up motor patterns intended to directly progress to jumping ability and speed development.

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. In plyometrics, these drills are aimed at rehearsing specific motor patterns and are usually carried out over distances of 10 meters to 20 meters. Plus, the recovery phase between each exercise must be fairly long.

1) Jogging Drills

A number of jogging variations can be used to put emphasis on speed development. Even the uncomplicated act of jogging on your toes, with particular emphasis on speedy ground reaction by not allowing the heel to the ground, can be a plyometric warm up activity. Jogging with limited knee flexion, on the other hand, will prepare an athlete to take on intense impact when executing exercises that require maximal effort.

2) Marching Drills

Marching drills aim to imitate running movements. The exercises are meant to divide the motion of running into its essential components. This technique allows the trainer or coach to highlight various components such as range of motion, posture, foot placement, joint angles, and other aspects of physical movement that are frequently neglected whenever the complete act of running is performed.