Developing the Multidimensional Athlete, Elastic Response Drills, By: Tony Reynolds, MS, CSCS, YCS II

Important Notice
Tony Reynolds, Progressive Sporting Systems Inc, and their associates
and affiliates are not affiliated with Anabolic Steroids in anyway and
do not promote or encourage the use of these drugs. His articles within this section of our site are published to offer a broad range of fitness and nutritional knowledge that will help you to achieve your health and fitness goals without the use of Anabolic Steroids.

General Guidelines and Considerations

Plyometric training can be a safe and effective way to improve reactive strength.  Special considerations must be taken when performing this program.

Strength Level

There are many suggestions as to what adequate strength levels are with regards to plyometric training.  While most of these suggestions are somewhat founded, they are not all practical.  In reality, we see that jump and landing are inherent in almost all sports, regardless of the level or strength of the athletes.  These jumps are always on the fly with manipulation of multiple vectors of force upon take off and landing.  All athletes need to learn how to properly deal with these elements, since they are part of their environment.

Although having a sufficient weight training history is recommended, most athletes possess enough strength to perform many types of plyometric drills.  It is very important to note that regardless of strength levels, not all athletes are ready for all levels of plyometrics.  You need to visually examine their landings during the drill and monitor control and mechanical alignment.

If the athlete can adequately absorb their landing, but have to contort their body to do so, time should be spent fixing the cause, whatever it may be.  Try to educate the athlete on what the mechanics should be.  Many times they just do not understand how to properly align their joints to efficiently absorb impact.  If this does not fix the problem look for strength deficits, muscular imbalances, and/or flexibility problems. It is also important to note that the intensity of a program should never be increased until all elements of the current level are mastered and no mechanical issues exist.

If the athlete can maintain proper mechanical alignment, yet cannot control their momentum upon landing, try to educate the athlete on what they need to adjust.  The majority of the time the athlete lacks the kinesthetic awareness to feel what the terminal location should be. 

Preparation

This program assumes that the athlete has some base education on land technique.  If this is not the case, time should be spent teaching landing technique to insure safety and to optimize results.  Here are some teaching points:

Land the same way you jump:  Have the athlete perform the “drop prep” prior to a standing jump.  Have them stop at the bottom of the drop and hold the position.  At this point the feet should be flat on the floor, hips back, back flat, and head up.  Examination from the front should show that the knees do not drop toward the center line rather line up with the feet and hips.  Depth will vary, but should not be too deep or shallow.  Have them perform a few jumps to see what they use for a terminal depth prior to their jump.

Landing the way you jump is important for two reasons.  First, if this is the best way mechanically for you to express force which translates in to vertical propulsion, it would make since to reason that it is the best way to absorb force in return.  We are taught to utilize “triple extension” because the simultaneous orchestration of these three joints and their muscles is suited for explosive expression of strength.  Yet we rarely think of this in reverse, or as “triple flexion” as a way to absorb the forces of landing.

Next, we need to consider what needs to be done after we land.  It is a rare occasion that we get to land and than relax for a bit.  Rather we are usually expected to perform another task immediately after.  When you land the way you jump, you remove many of the prep steps that would otherwise be necessary to realign the body to prepare it for additional movement.

Start with a short plyo box (approx 12 inches).  Have the athlete assume the landing position on top of the box.  I do this once or twice just to get them into the environment under controlled conditions.  If they cannot step onto the box and assume the landing position, they will not be able to do it when they land from a jump.

Next, have them step back off of the box onto the floor.  Have them assume the same position in front of the box.  Have them jump and land on the box absorbing down into the landing position.  It is important to note that they should jump off and land on both feet evenly.   The athlete should land flat footed (both feet entirely on the box), making as little contact noise as possible.  This position should be held until adjustments can be made if necessary.   Practice this series until it becomes perfected.

Once landing on the box is ingrained, it is time to work on landing on the floor.  Have the athlete assume the landing position on the box. Using a slight bilateral hop, hop back off of the box onto the floor (approx 12 inch box).  The athlete should absorb down into the landing position, once again making minimal contact noise.  The bottom position should be held so adjustments can be made if need be.  Practice this series until it is perfected. 

The final step is to tie the two motions together into a rebounding motion.  Have the athlete start on the box in the landing position.  They should lightly hop back off of the box landing quietly and evenly on both feet.  Upon landing they should absorb down into the landing position.  Hold this position briefly and make any adjustment that need to be made.  At this time jump back up onto the box landing as previously described.  As this drill gets mastered, contact time on the ground can be decreased.