Plyometrics

**Soft landing- when landing from a jump, make sure that the knees bend to at least 90° in order to absorb the load. (DeVita and Skelly, 1993)

Vertical squat jumps

Equipment: none

Area: 1 sq yd

Directions: Squat down to touch floor/ground with hands, making sure to keep head and chest up. Jump straight up in the air with arms reaching overhead, land softly and repeat.

Sets/reps: 3 x 10-20

Modifications: Lateral squat jumps over a ball or cone.

Single leg hop

Equipment: none

Area: 2-3 sq. yd. (10-15 straight yards for modifications)

Directions: a single repetition of a maximal jump for distance on one leg. Start and finish on the same foot.

Sets/reps: 2 x 8-12

Modifications: single leg triple hop for distance, single leg zigzag triple hop over a sideline for distance.

Box Jumps

Equipment: 10-20" box or bench/step

Area: 4-5-sq. yd.

Directions: start with both feet on the ground, bend knees and hips and explode up as high as possible, landing on the box. Step off the box and land with both feet in a soft landing position.

Sets/reps: 3 x 8-12

Box Jumps modifications

Down

Modified

Modifications: jump off of box only, cut left or right after landing, add more boxes and jump from ground to box consecutively, add more boxes and jump over boxes consecutively.

Hop-hop-tuck

Equipment: several cones or field markers

Area: 5 x 5 yd.

Directions: set up cones/markers in an 'L' shape. Hop over each cone with both feet. Every third cone the hop should include enough height to bring the knees to the chest.

Sets/reps: 3 x 8-12

Modifications: be sure to bend the 'L' to both the left and the right equally, may perform with one leg.

Bounding

Equipment: none

Area: 20-40 yd.

Directions: start in sprint position, drive the opposite arm/leg in order to achieve maximum height and distance. Repeat for the other arm/leg. Alternate for the entire distance chosen.

Sets/reps: 5-10x

Modifications: may apply to shuffles, add resistance bands to waist.

Powerskip

Equipment: none

Area: 20-40 yd.

Directions: start with left foot forward and right foot back. Drive the left arm and right knee in order to achieve maximum height and distance. Land on left foot, then place right foot in front and repeat the cycle with the other side (left knee/right arm drive). Repeat for chosen distance.

Sets/reps: 5-10x

Scissor kicks

Equipment: none

Area: 2-sq. yd.

Directions: start in a lunge position, jump as high as possible in order to switch legs in mid-air. Land and repeat quickly with opposite foot positions.

Sets/reps: 3 x 5-8 reps per set, per foot position

Circle kicks to hands

Equipment: none

Area: 2 sq yds

Directions: place arms in front of body at shoulder height, keep leg straight and kick toes to fingers from an outside-in direction, and immediately repeat from an inside-out direction. Repeat with opposite leg.

Sets/reps: 2-3 sets x 8-12 reps