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Thread: Low impact plyo

  1. #1
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    Low impact plyo

    Is there such a thing? Fairly serious back condition makes any kind of impact painful and not particularly safe. I'm used to doing box jumps and side jumps as part of my preseason conditioning--those are now out of the question for me. My understanding is that it's the impact on the way down, not the jump up that gives most of the benefit. Is that true, and is there any way to get the benefit of plyo without the impact?

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    Low impact plyo

    Quote Originally Posted by old goat View Post
    Is that true, and is there any way to get the benefit of plyo without the impact?
    I know when I do (or prescribe)plyos, it has a few goals in mind:
    - training for speed and power
    - activation of fast twitch fibers
    - utilization of stretch-shortening cycle
    - simulation of skiing or other applicable activity

    With some creativity, I think you could devise low impact exercises for the first 3 goals, the last one could be tough

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    Right up there with military intelligence or jumbo shrimp, I got strained achilles and then PF the next year from ski bounding (tarining with XC racers) I would limit plyo to once a week ... not every workout
    Lee Lau - xxx-er is the laziest Asian canuck I know

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    Quote Originally Posted by XXX-er View Post
    Right up there with military intelligence or jumbo shrimp, I got strained achilles and then PF the next year from ski bounding (tarining with XC racers) I would limit plyo to once a week ... not every workout
    Great point, plyo should be used sparingly and as an adjunct. Doing it every workout would be begging for an injury

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    Hike steep hills

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    Hiking (which I do a lot) is of course great exercise but doesn't do anything for the ultra fast twitch fibers that plyo is supposed to hit. My kid, who is a gym rat, tells me that at least in crossfit they do the box jumps up but step down--apparently most achilles ruptures are on the landing. Guess I'll give that a try. Limiting to once a week will be no problem--or once a month, or once a year.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ernest_Hemingway View Post
    I realize there is not much hope for a bullfighting forum. I understand that most of you would prefer to discuss the ingredients of jacket fabrics than the ingredients of a brave man. I know nothing of the former. But the latter is made of courage, and skill, and grace in the presence of the possibility of death. If someone could make a jacket of those three things it would no doubt be the most popular and prized item in all of your closets.

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    Quote Originally Posted by old goat View Post
    Hiking (which I do a lot) is of course great exercise but doesn't do anything for the ultra fast twitch fibers that plyo is supposed to hit. My kid, who is a gym rat, tells me that at least in crossfit they do the box jumps up but step down--apparently most achilles ruptures are on the landing. Guess I'll give that a try. Limiting to once a week will be no problem--or once a month, or once a year.
    you're probably right to think that plyo can get you in trouble if you're not ready for it.
    sometimes you need to train in order to do the plyo drills and not get hurt. we get old and forget that the resilience of youthful bodies is built on years of using those bodies everyday. younger bodies do bounce better, but, with some thoughtful work, older bodies can bounce too.

    good form and take it easy at first
    step downs are probably a good idea

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    Box jumps to a box that is the height of your actual vertical jump, land as softly as possible allowing your femurs to come close to parallel during absorption of the landing, step down off the box. Jumps should be as quiet as possible. Even better is if you can find access to the mvp shuttle, which is what my gym uses to rehab / train athletes that cant take impacts from jumps. Do the jumps with two feet and on one leg.

    Get a medicine ball or a dynamax ball and a concrete wall to throw it against. Throw ball in the air, at the wall and into the ground.

    There are benefits to the initiation of force and the absorption of force. A good way to train eccentric leg strength is single leg squats, start by going to a box, dont rest on the box, just barely touch it.

    Also, to train eccentric strength go slow on the down of exercises. Take a full 3 to 5 seconds on the down for a front squat, RFESS, etc.

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    Ever tried knee jumps?






    Bound up stairs? Sprints on a stationary bike?
    Last edited by Dantheman; 11-13-2014 at 03:22 PM.

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    Agree with dan. Stair bounds up a few steps with jogging down, repeat. Clear as manny steps as possible on the up jumps. I try for 4 steps and can get 4 consecutive bounds up the stairs at my gym. I repeat that for 5-6 sets twice a week.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dantheman View Post
    Ever tried knee jumps?





    I might be able to do those---backwards.

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    Quote Originally Posted by old goat View Post
    I might be able to do those---backwards.
    Be careful and let your body decide your level of impact. I figure I've only got so many high impacts left and I don't want to waste them in a gym.

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    The only way I can think to make plyis low impact, which is an oxymoron, is to do them in a decreased weight bearing environment, like waist deep water (50% WB) or on a shuttle machine. The shuttle is like a leg press but the resistance is created by large elastic bands and is on a horizontal plane. This eliminates Gravity so you only deal with whatever amount of resistance you select by adding more or less elastic bands. This let's you perform jumping and landing without your full body weight.
    fighting gravity on a daily basis

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    Leg presses with very heavy weights will train the fast twitch muscles.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Vinman View Post
    or on a shuttle machine. The shuttle is like a leg press but the resistance is created by large elastic bands and is on a horizontal plane. This eliminates Gravity so you only deal with whatever amount of resistance you select by adding more or less elastic bands. This let's you perform jumping and landing without your full body weight.
    Plyo on a shuttle is a good idea. Slows everything down too so you can focus on technique which will also help prevent injuries. Avoiding that evil, knee tracking inward hip adduction motion will go a long way towards keeping you healthy.

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    Thought about this a little more, and Vinman would know more about it than I, but if your back is the limiting issue I would think that you would want to really focus on your ability to resist rotational forces. Although it depends on the back issue, but backs that have "conditions" usually don't like getting overloaded with rotational forces (like skiing is likely to do).

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    Why not just no weight fast squats and lunges, i.e. leg blasters? There are a lot if variations that require no actual jumping (or landing more importantly).

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    Quote Originally Posted by old goat View Post
    I'm used to doing box jumps and side jumps as part of my preseason conditioning
    I somehow missed this the first time around. If jumping in the gym is painful and unsafe, how are you going to actually ski?

    If you just want to activate your Type 2 muscle fibers for the general metabolic benefits, 20-30 second all-out* sprints on a stationary bike is your safest and lowest-impact option.

    * - All-out means just that, you should have nothing left and practically fall off the bike at the end.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dantheman View Post
    I somehow missed this the first time around. If jumping in the gym is painful and unsafe, how are you going to actually ski?

    If you just want to activate your Type 2 muscle fibers for the general metabolic benefits, 20-30 second all-out* sprints on a stationary bike is your safest and lowest-impact option.

    * - All-out means just that, you should have nothing left and practically fall off the bike at the end.
    I think HIIT cardio like this translates very well to skiing anyway. Whether the OP gets any "plyo" benefit from it or not, it will condition well for skiing hard in short bursts

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dantheman View Post
    I somehow missed this the first time around. If jumping in the gym is painful and unsafe, how are you going to actually ski?

    If you just want to activate your Type 2 muscle fibers for the general metabolic benefits, 20-30 second all-out* sprints on a stationary bike is your safest and lowest-impact option.

    * - All-out means just that, you should have nothing left and practically fall off the bike at the end.
    I think skiing will be fine as long as I don't bafl onto a cat track in a white out--I tend to do that around KT saddle. Low impact is more of a preventative thing--trying to keep the spinal stenosis from getting worse.
    I all out sprint up hills on my bike. I do fall off from time to time--can't figure out this clip thing.
    I have been doing box jumps with step down, at least I was until I pulled an ab sneezing. Old sucks.
    Thanks for all the suggestions. Just reading made me tired. I'm going back to bed.

  22. #22
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    pool for core and jumping, lots of core and lots of eccentric leg work
    fighting gravity on a daily basis

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    x3 or 4 on the pool. But, seriously, I'd evaluate as well how much you need to be doing plyos. As one component of a periodized workout plan, intense intervals of the kind mentioned by DTM would give one portion of the benefit you're looking for. Bike slaloms could give the other.

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    I just ordered the piyo basic set. From what I'm seeing here, not sure! My ACL is pretty healed, but I'm no spring chicken and thought it was easier on my body than most. Maybe I'll stick to hatha yoga and the 5 Tibetans...?

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    PLYO (metrics) not PIYO

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