Are you a runner and heard that you should be training plyometrics? Well you are not alone, and that is good advice. But the world of plyometrics can be (but doesn’t have to be) complex. It can be challenging to discern what to do, how often or even figure out why you should spend time training them. Luckily, you stumbled upon this blog and should leave with a better understanding of plyometrics as a whole. We will discuss what a plyometric exercise is, the benefits and basic considerations and parameters for how to implement them into your routine. This is your one stop shop for learning about the basics of Plyometrics for runners.

What are Plyometrics?

It is best to start with a definition and break it down from there.  Plyometric training utilizes the stretch‐shortening cycle (SSC) by using a lengthening movement (eccentric) which is quickly followed by a shortening movement (concentric)¹ .This essentially means that by quickly stretching and contracting your tendon, you can produce force that allows you to jump. This occurs at very fast speeds, so movements like a squat or deadlift will bypass this due to the slower nature of the movement.  Another way of thinking about a plyometric is a displacement of your center of mass. Every time you jump, this is occurring, therefore one could say jumping is a plyometric. This however is not 100% true, as there are variables that distinctly make a movement a plyometric. In order to access our SSC, the exercise must be fast. To be specific, your ground contact time (GCT) must be less than 0.25 seconds. This means even if you are jumping, if you are spending more time with your foot on the ground, we are not utilizing the SSC or tendon, and therefore it is not a plyometric. This does not mean that other non-plyometric jumping exercises are not good (because they are), but it means we are training different characteristics. An example of a plyometric is a pogo hop (think jump roping) whereas a non-plyometric jump would be a squat jump. Shown below is a force velocity curve which highlights the relationship between speed (velocity) and strength (force). The skill or adaptation you are training will determine where you fall on the curve. This showcases that if your goal is to be faster, you want to include  velocity training, and if you want to be stronger you will focus on force production.  In summary, plyometrics involve jumping (vertical, horizontal or any direction) where you are on the ground for a very short time.

Why should we train Plyometrics?

So we have a better understanding of what a plyometric is, but that still begs the question as to why runners should bother? For starters, running is a series of bounds, alternating between right and left hops. Now if you think back to what we said about plyometrics, we mentioned you have to be on the ground for less than 0.25 seconds. Depending on the event distance the general GCT for runners is around .20 seconds, with elite runners typically having shorter GCT. Therefore, many runners (especially experienced runners) are performing hundreds to thousands of plyometrics just from running! This is very important, and can help our understanding of how to use plyometrics. If you are falling below average, you are likely spending more time on the ground, therefore training exercise that promotes low ground contact time would benefit you. If you already have a low GCT, plyometrics can be utilized to improve GCT or improve the amount of force you produce while jumping. A proper plyometric is fast but powerful (meaning you produce a lot of force in a short time). There is research that supports plyometric training can improve running economy (1). There is also research that supports the use of plyometrics can improve sprint speed, jump height, and possibly reduce the risk of first time ACL tears (2). There is similar evidence for strength training and often plyometrics and strength can (and should) be trained together. If you want to read more about strength training for runners check out a previous blog we wrote covering it here. Plyometrics can also promote adaptations to bone and tissue (particularly the tendon) and are often used in rehab. Plyometrics at a specific dose and intensity can improve bone density, which is extremely important because a common running injury is a bone stress injury. In summary, running involves plyometrics, therefore if we want to improve running efficiency, plyometrics can help!

Plyometric Programming

So now that you know what a plyometric is, and how they can be beneficial for runners, we can start training them! Just like any exercise, plyometrics vary in intensity and have hundreds of variations. You can focus on vertical, horizontal, side to side, backwards, multidirectional and perform them all at different intensities. Another consideration is double versus single leg. Double leg plyometrics will typically be a good starting point and require less force, and can be progressed to single leg. The most popular plyometrics are pogos, bounds (switching from right to left leg) and hopping which is jumping on one leg without switching. Regardless of which plyometric you choose (or combination), you want to scale it to have carryover to improve your given sport or promote adaptations. To simplify this, the most important consideration for progressing plyometrics is INTENSITY. You are either progressing the intensity vertically or horizontally. By jumping higher or further in any given plyometric exercise we have properly progressed. This does not mean you can do maximal jumps 100 times and expect improvement. Just like any exercise, you should track volume of reps. The higher the intensity, the less reps you should perform. The lower the intensity, the more reps/sets we can perform, as lower intensity jumping is less taxing to our nervous and musculoskeletal system. In summary, we can train in different directions and progress by jumping further or higher on one or two legs. We can think about this as a low, medium and high intensity. High intensity would be maximal efforts, and low intensity would be light, easy and conversation intensity.

In order to better structure your plyometric session, start by tracking foot contacts. Count the amount of times your feet hit the ground. One strategy is to use your training age to determine the amount of contacts per session. For beginners, 60-80 contacts. For intermediate, 100-120 contacts and advanced is 120-140 contacts. It should be noted that there is no consensus in the published literature on the specific criteria, parameters, guidelines, specific exercises, or principles of progression that should be used during plyometric training. Most of the recommendations are empirically based upon Level 5 evidence with minimal scientific research supporting any of the recommendations. Other general recommendations are 2-5 sets of 2-6 contacts per set 2-3x/week, with 48-72 hours between each session for 6-8 weeks.  A final consideration is what adaptation are you looking for. When considering plyometrics for runners in the healthy population, performance based training is likely what you are looking for. For improving rate of force development (RFD), we have to perform high intensity jumping. A simple starting point could be 4 sets of 4 maximal pogo hops with 90-120 seconds between each set. The goal is to be fresh in order to produce as much force per jump. To summarize, plyometrics are goal and adaptation specific. 2-5 sets of 2-6 high intensity plyometrics 1-3x/week for 6-8 weeks is a general starting point for improving performance metrics, however it is not a one size fits all.

Considerations

A big question is always where and when should we be doing plyometrics. Well, that depends. If you are pairing them with your resistance training, they should always be done prior to your strength workout. This is because jumping, especially at higher intensities, requires a higher demand from your nervous system, therefore we want to be fresh to maximize the potential performance benefits. Light plyometrics can also serve as a great warmup prior to a run, as the run itself will consist of consistent bounding, we want to progressively warm up the muscles and tendons that will be used. You can perform plyometrics before or after a workout, but we recommend performing them prior (or on separate days) if the plyometrics are higher intensity. You should prioritize the activity that is high intensity first, and ideally one should not interfere with the quality of the other.

Strength Training

While we shamelessly plugged our strength training blog earlier (so go check it out), we still have to reiterate why the two pair together like cheese and wine. Strength training is the foundation for plyometrics, and provides you with a controlled objective way of improving important characteristics that have overlap in plyometrics like force production eccentrically and concentrically. You can reap the benefits from just doing a well programmed plyometric program, but you will be missing out on all of the benefits of strength training. Strength training can improve application of force, rate of force development, and other various characteristics that can help improve your plyometrics (3). Many used to think you should first develop a foundation of strength training because the forces you see with jumping are higher. We challenge this, as plyometrics are extremely scalable, so while being strong might be advantageous for high level/high force plyometrics, you can find a version that is suitable and progress over time. We adapt to the forces applied, therefore over time we will not only make musculoskeletal adaptions, but improve our ability to jump. There is a starting point for almost everyone when it comes to jumping/plyometrics, so get to jumping!

Conclusion

Plyometrics for runners is an effective way to potentially improve running and jump performance. They are extremely scalable and require minimal to zero equipment. Everyone should jump, and runners should train plyometrics. So if you haven’t already added plyometrics and jumping into your program, what are you waiting for?

  Work Cited

1: Engeroff T, Kalo K, Merrifield R, Groneberg D, Wilke J. Progressive daily hopping exercise improves running economy in amateur runners: a randomized and controlled trial. Sci Rep. 2023;13(1):4167. Published 2023 Mar 13. doi:10.1038/s41598-023-30798-3

2: Davies G, Riemann BL, Manske R. CURRENT CONCEPTS OF PLYOMETRIC EXERCISE. Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2015;10(6):760-786.

3: Guizelini PC, de Aguiar RA, Denadai BS, Caputo F, Greco CC. Effect of resistance training on muscle strength and rate of force development in healthy older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Exp Gerontol. 2018;102:51-58. doi:10.1016/j.exger.2017.11.020