Soccer Coaching Drills

The purpose of this article is to function as an introduction into the relation between speed and agility training and a practice known as Plyometric training. I’m going to talk about: plyometrics — exactly what it is and what it is supposed to do, the general benefits you can get from it and finally, ways in which this sort of training can be used for the purposes of speed and agility.

So what are plyometrics anyway?
Simply put plyometrics are a form of exercise. The purpose of these sort of exercises is the linking of strength to speed  for the improvement of power.The theory goes like this: if you use the same strength, faster, the power will improve. If you use more strength, faster, the power will be geometrically higher.A sport that can benefit from plyometric training is basketball; here, great benefits can be obtained quickly in a  running vertical jump for height.
Plyometric exercises focus on just two things:
– increase your bodies ability to absorb and store force;- teach you how to release that force — creating a movement which has a lot of power behind it.

If your sport of choice involves any throwing, kicking, jumping or lifting, then plyometric training can benefit you. Some examples of sports like these are: soccer, power lifting, basketball, football, baseball etc.

Benefits of Plyometric Training for Speed and Agility
The effect of plyometrics is twofold: it not only strengthens your joints, tendons and muscles, but it also trains your nervous system to react more efficiently. Speed and agility can be developed very quickly with such practices – the best gains come if you have already strengthened your muscles and tendons.

The conditioning of the nervous system is the reason plyometric training produces very quick results. That is why you must pay close attention to these instructions(plus it will also proove to YOU that this gets results and thus you more likely to stick with it and also get the long term gains):
never train when in a fatigued state
concentrate on what you are doing — perform each rep with the same dilligence
train harder not longer (no more than 20 reps REGARDLESS of exercise used)always remember to keep the set number under 3 (no more than 3 reps of a given exercise per training session)

Drill this into your head: Train HARDER, not looonger.

Plyometrics also bring improvements in the long run, however these rely more on changes in your body structure (incidently this explains why nutrition plays a big part in the results you get with plyometric training). Plyometric training will change the structure of your muscles and tendons.Plyometrics will make your muscles and tendons more springlike.
I’d like to know exactly how a plyometric movement works!

* first the body absorbs and stabilizes the force from a negative (eccentric) contraction
* as it does this, it  loads up your muscles and tendons with force (think of it like a compressing a spring)
* the spring unloads and the body (for legs) or an object (for arms) is propelled with astounding speed

Here’s an example,when you cock back your arm to throw a rock the natural thing you do is to first cock your arm backwards.  The effect of this is that the muscles of your arm and shoulder muscles lock, forcing your tendons to stretch thus storing a lot of force in those tendons and essentially turning them into loaded springs. When you throw, the stored force is released, allowing the rock to be accelerated at a rate which is higher than your normal rate of force development.

The reason plyometric training was so big when it came out in the 70 ’s is that it allowed athletes to specifically train their muscles and tendons to be more spring-like. You naturally use plyometric movements but before plyometric training came out there was no clear cut way to train for this. That is why it was thought for so long that jumping for height for example was an innate ability.
As I said before, the more you use this type of training the more you will also develop an inherent springiness in your muscles and tendons.  Coupled with an increased nervous system learning on how to corectly perform the movement at higher speeds, you can expect to see massive improvements in your speed and agility.To further support this process you should also learn about:role of strength in speed and agility training
The question is: how do I adapt the principles of plyometric training to my speed and agility training? The answer is, and you aren’t going to like it, by tailoring your plyometric training to the specific speed and agility requirements of the sport that you are practicing. This is a long discussion and goes way beyond the scope of this article. Click here to learn more about: Speed and Agility Training

Article recap:

* what plyometrics are
* how plyometrics work
* the role of plyometrics as part of your speed and agility training
* the benefits you can expect when introducing plyometric drills into yours speed and agility training

I also recommend you check out this article and learn this very usefull exercise for speed and agility training and preventing injuries.