


Limit plyometrics to one to two times per week.“Whenever I’m teaching anybody plyometrics, I start off with simple moves, and I focus on landing first,” Accetta says. “They get too confident too quickly and don’t focus on the fundamentals of the movement, but rather just try to copy what they see.”īelow, Accetta shares a plan for plyometrics beginners to reap all the benefits of this type of training while avoiding the pitfalls. “Rather than taking the time to learn the movements, because it looks relatively easy, people just jump right in, but that’s what leads to injuries,” Accetta says. It’s also useful in basketball, football-all the sports where you need to do something quick and powerful in a short period of time.”īut jumping in with both feet (or even one foot) can lead to injury if plyometric exercises aren’t done properly from the beginning. “If you’re a runner trying to pick up your mile time, plyometrics can help. “You may not think golf or tennis as an explosive sport, but swinging that club or racket and trying to get maximal force onto the ball is an explosive movement,” Accetta says. It can also have benefits for athletes in a wide variety of sports. “People see others trying it on Instagram or in the gym and think, that person looks like they’re working hard, I want to try it too.” “There are a lot of benefits to adding plyometric moves to your workouts, including improved strength, explosiveness, speed, agility and power,” says Matthew Accetta, an exercise physiologist at HSS.

Though high-level athletes have long trained this way, plyometric exercises have caught on with the more casual fitness enthusiast in recent years. But plyometrics actually applies to any exercise or activity that is short, fast and explosive, allowing you to generate maximum force in the muscle in the shortest period of time. If you’ve heard the term before, it’s likely been associated with jumping movements like box jumps.
