THE ONE PLYOMETRIC YOU SHOULD BE DOING IMMEDIATELY
Updated: Aug 10
Sometimes during this wonderful journey of learning and growing as a coach, you simply miss or underrate training concepts or exercises that you should have been doing. Fortunately, if you are reading this, then I'm going to be providing you with some valuable insight that has somehow managed to stay under the radar for all these years. I should have connected the dots, and usually do when it comes to the practical application of training theory and research, but for some reason I overlooked the training category I'm about to share with you because I guess it was a bit of an underdog and perhaps some apprehension. Drumroll please.....
Welcome to the Pogo Jump Progression
I'm sure most of you are familiar with the exercise. It has been a subtle mainstay in exercise menus for decades. Still, the notion that it could ever be more than just a brief high-frequency/low-load plyometric was never considered until recently.
Pogo Jumps serve several benefits, and this is the most classic and appreciated example of pogo jump training. I'd also like to quickly note that jumproping is a form of pogo jump as well.
High Speed/Low Height Pogos:
Exercise Options:
*Double stiff leg mini hops
*Single stiff leg mini hops
*High speed jumproping
*High speed stiff leg pogo jumps (height based)
*High speed stiff leg pogo jumps (lateral or side to side based)
Training Adaptations/benefit:
*Increase rate coding (increased frequency of muscle contraction)
*Increase motor unit excitability
*Increase neuron discharge rate
*Decrease injury risk of the foot, ankle, and calf complex collectively
*Ideal for beginners or those at risk or coming off injury to the lower body
*Build small levels of stretch reflex and tissue elasticity
So as I alluded to above briefly, these are the standard pogo jump options that most coaches and trainers elect when doing their plyometric work. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with these drills, especially if you need to prep involved tissues, build coordination, and proper movement before heading to the truly impactful and advanced pogo work. There is an absolute wealth of research on this subject if you want to follow Dr. Ramsey Nijem here, and he gets most of the credit; whatever is left I'll tie in with other research for you on the matter here shortly.
Low Speed/High Height Pogos:
Exercise Options:
*High pogo jumproping (i.e. Double-Unders, etc.)
*Low speed stiff leg pogo jumps (height based)
*Low speed stiff leg pogo jumps (lateral or side-to-side based)
*Hurdle Pogo Jumps
*Banded Overspeed Pogo Jumps
Training Adaptations/benefit:
*Increased Motor Unit Recruitment
*Increased Calf and Ankle Power and Strength expression
*Increased Control and stability
*Decreased injury risk of the foot, ankle, and calf complex collectively
*Ideal for intermediate and advanced athletes to improve lower leg performance and athletic movements
*Builds high levels of elasticity and stretch-reflex (through increased energy recycling in tendon properties from "strength training" see below) 1
"The Lateral Barrier Jump" can be a bit deceitful at first glance as the knee seems to possess some bend. However, the focus of the drill is to always acquire more foot contacts across the 10-second timeframe, and as you get quicker, the ankles become stiffer and more productive Maybe not a true pogo jump or a semi-pogo variation, but they are great for competition amongst athletes, which drives performance, and the lower leg is still extremely involved.
This is about as speed, athletic, and sport-specific as you can get with ankle and calf power training! The vector lends perfectly to speed or cutting if you elect to go lateral. Graduate the hurdle height as your lower leg becomes more explosive overall.
Start and Initial Acceleration Implications
Upon first glance at a sprint start and as an athlete or individual proceeds to accelerate for the first 40-50% of their top speed, you will see the hips and horizontal effort at display. 2 3 I really emphasized this in my speed book over a decade ago. However, recent research has further supported an original finding on why vertical impulse or effort and support is so influential at the beginning of a sprint. Furthermore, what aspect of vertical contribution is going to make or break how quickly you can ultimately summon this type of effort.
Maybe all of those seated calf raises did something after all???
Continuing with the previous point. Vertical forces are going to increase sharply at the start and through initial acceleration regardless of your specific sprinting type or architecture. (Brughelli, 2011) And the joints and muscles most responsible for supporting this effort are the Gastrocnemius and especially the Soleus. Figures show that the Soleus contributes up to 50% of vertical support demands at this stage of a sprint. That's a big number from such a small area, and part of the reason why I overlooked it for so long when it was right there in front of me. Just think about it for a moment. The only joint and muscle group that can really drive vertically in a closed-chain standing position is the ankle and calves. Hips drive you forward if your ankle is dorsiflexed and knees extended, and the knees have a slight moment for vertical motion, but mainly seek to prevent collapse, compliance, and flexion isometrically at foot contact.
The Soleus-A true underdog story
Everyone loves an underdog and this couldn't be more the case for the Soleus. As many of you know, it naturally has to compete with the bigger Gastrocnemius. As such, bent-knee calf-raise variations are your best bet since they shut down the Gastroc through a kinesiological movement principle known as "Active Insufficiency." In case you've never heard of the term, contracting one end of a muscle that crosses two joints reduces its ability to contract at the remaining end. The Gastrocnemius crosses the back of the knee and flexes it, so by sitting you will resort to relying on your Soleus muscle by default. Problem solved.
How to really train the calves for speed and power
For as long as I can remember, when it came to building performance of the lower leg, emphasis was always focused on the musculo-tendon unit, rather than the muscles themselves. However, emerging research points out that it's actually the concentric ability of the calf muscles that determines athletic movement skill, rather than the tendons. For some reason, it became an industry cliché that aside from neural improvements, reactive plyometrics (i.e. hurdle jumps, depth jumps, bounding, etc.) sought to develop that springy and elastic quality of the tendons that made the difference. And although definitely a contributor to performance, especially via titin, muscles seem to override other systems' ability, at least when it comes to the lower leg. And being that most sports function through primarily start, cutting, restart, and initial acceleration, these clinical findings of calf support become arguably revolutionary in this day and age.
Last but not least, tendon stiffness, fluid movement, and improvements in the mechanical properties of the tissue are best achieved through heavy and slower eccentrics. This lends further to the concept of strength training the calves because this type of tempo or movement speed is naturally associated with strength work. It all seems synchronized in the end.
Note: If you have access to force plates, then testing your maximal isometric plantarflexor strength was a solid indicator of performance in athletic movements. 1
Tendons take time to adapt to speed training
In retrospect, one thing that RBS has always advocated is year-round sprint work (Concurrent and Conjugate Sequenced Models). Not only does this approach take tremendous stress and pressure off of the athlete, coach, or parent, but it affords precious time to remodel tendons to "support" the strength you achieve to improve speed and athletic development. Cortisol is a proven gains killer, and alleviating the chronic response problem by training year-round will undoubtedly have a major influence on long-term training adaptations.
So don't underestimate the power of legitimate ankle power and strength exercises to maximize any athletic or sport-specific movement. It may just be the missing link and foundational piece you need to enable development of the other areas that have now become commonplace (hips, core, and upper body).
Related Articles:
SCIENTIFIC REFERENCES:
#1-Reference: McBride, J. M. (2021). Muscle actuators, not springs, drive maximal effort human locomotor performance. Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, 20(4), 766–777
#2-Harland M. Report to Coaches & Athletes of Study on Block Start. 1995.
#3-‐Bushnell, T, and Hunter I. Differences in technique between sprinters and distance runners at equal and maximal speeds. Sports Biomechanics 6: 261‐268, 2007.
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