Plyometric drills are very good for power transfer and teach the body to use the stretch-shortening cycle. Plyometric drills good because they allow the body to mimic what occurs during a vertical jump in sport.

In the video clip below Preston Greene, Strength and Conditioning coach for the Florida Gator Mens Basketball Team, demonstrates 4 plyometric drills that utilize a med ball.  These drill are from a complete dvd dedicated to improving an athletes vertical jump. For more information about that dvd click the link AAU Basketball Skills Series: Increasing Your Vertical Jump.  The dvd includes both plyometric drills and weight training exercises designed to improve the vertical leap of Florida Gator basketball players.

The first drill is the Anterior Leap and Throw.  The athlete begins in a squat position and will load the med ball to the hip closest to the wall. He will leap forward explosively covering as much ground as possible. He will land with the knees bent and the med ball loaded to the opposite hip. Immediately he will rotate and throw the med ball at the wall with maximum power. The athlete should complete 3 sets of 5 reps and then repeat going the opposite direction.

The second drill is the Lateral Leap and throw. In this exercise, the athlete begins with his shoulders perpendicular to the wall, but instead of leaping forward, he will leap laterally as far as possible. Once landing he will rotate and throw the ball with maximum power to the wall. Complete 3 sets of 5 reps and then repeat going the other direction.

The third exercise, the Anterior Lateral Leap Throw,  is a combination of the first two plyometric drills. the athlete will leap forward as far as possible and then leap laterally away from the wall. The drill ends with the athlete throwing the ball with as much power as possible to the wall. Complete 3 sets of 5 reps and repeat in the opposite direction.

The final exercise is the Full Squat Jump and Throw. Here the athlete will begin in a squat position with a med mall at his chest. The athlete will explode up and jump as high as possible while pushing the med ball into the air as high as possible. Complete 3 sets of 5 reps.

The Youtube video below has sound so please make sure your sound is turned on and that you have access to the site. Some schools block access to YouTube

 

Chris Beardsley graduated from Durham University with a Masters Degree in 2001.
He since contributed to the fields of sports science and sports medicine by working alongside researchers from Team GB boxing, the School of Sport and Recreation at Auckland University of Technology, the Faculty of Sport at the University of Ljubljana, the Department of Sport at Staffordshire University, and the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University. He is also a Director at Strength and Conditioning Research Limited 

For more great information regarding strength and conditioning follow Chris on Twitter and Instagram

Hypertrophy arises because of a sustained excess of muscle protein synthesis (MPS) over-and-above muscle protein breakdown, usually because of performing strength training and/or eating protein.

When studying the effects of protein consumption, it has been found that:

1️⃣ Protein consumption produces dose-response effects on MPS up to around 20g of protein; and

2️⃣ Post-workout protein consumption only increases MPS rates for a couple of hours before returning to fasting levels, even when protein is continually supplied.

These observations have led to researchers referring to the “muscle-full” effect. This is the idea that when amino acid delivery reaches a certain level, which corresponds to around 20g of protein, muscle cells cease to use them as a substrate for MPS, but instead divert them toward oxidation.

This first study was done to confirm the results of previous investigations. And it did in fact show that after a workout involving only the leg muscles, 20g of post-workout protein was just as effective as 40g for increasing MPS in the 4 hours after exercise.

However, this study does not tell us what would happen after a whole body workout.

The question of what happens after a whole body workout was addressed in a follow-up study from the same group of researchers. As you can see from the infographic, the greater amount of muscle mass involved in whole body training led to an increased requirement for post-workout protein.

This suggests that a post-workout protein shake may need to be bigger when doing whole body workouts, compared to when doing split routines.

In contrast, the amount of lean body mass of each subject did not have an effect on the MPS response, which was surprising.

This may indicate that larger individuals require less protein on a pound-for-pound basis, but this seems to contradict the idea that whole body workouts lead to greater protein requirements than split routines, so this may need to be confirmed by future research.

Interestingly, other research indicates that MPS during an energy deficit (as when trying to achieve weight loss through a diet) is lower than when in energy balance. And strength training while in an energy deficit only increases MPS to the same resting level as in energy balance.

This suggests that post-workout protein may be more important for stimulating MPS while in an energy deficit, than during energy balance.

Taken together, these studies suggest that greater post-workout protein shakes may be helpful either when performing whole body training (compared to split training) and when in an energy deficit (compared to in energy balance).

Even so, given that these studies did not assess the effects of MPS over the course of the whole day in the context of matched daily protein intakes, the effect of post-workout protein in isolation from daily protein consumption is hard to assess.

This article was provided by Training and Conditioning

By Loren Z.F. Chiu and Brian K. Schilling

Loren Z.F. Chiu, MS, CSCS, is affiliated with University of Southern California, and Brian K. Schilling, PhD, CSCS, is affiliated with the University of Memphis.

Weight training has many benefits, from developing strength to improving coordination. But it’s critical that exercises are done correctly. Here’s a breakdown on how to teach athletes to perform a snatch and clean.

The snatch and clean can be broken into three components, which individually, have distinct adaptational benefits. These are

• the first pull
• the second pull (including the preceding double knee bend)
• receiving the bar

The first pull involves removing the barbell from its static position on the floor until the bar passes the knees. In this component, the angle of the torso relative to the floor is more horizontal than vertical. Thus, in addition to the primary movement produced by the knee and hip extensors, the spinal extensors, scapular retractors, and shoulder extensors are also involved.

The spinal extensors create posterior shearing forces to oppose anterior shear from gravitational forces, which, along with the compressional forces generated, increases spinal stability. The scapular retractors and shoulder extensors keep the barbell close to the body.

In this position, the lifter can apply large forces. However, heavy loads cannot be moved at high velocity. Pulling the bar from the floor thus contributes to the training of starting strength, where starting strength is the ability to generate high forces from the onset of muscle activation in a very short period of time. Starting strength relates to the initial defensive positions for sports such as football and volleyball.

As the barbell passes the knees, the knees shift forward and the barbell and hips move towards each other. This motion initiates a stretch-shortening cycle and repositions the lifter-barbell system so that the lifter is in joint positions with advantageous leverage to impart a large force to the barbell rapidly, resulting in a high power output.

As this large production of power is considered to be the primary benefit of the snatch and clean, strength and conditioning programs typically involve exercises that isolate this component of the lifts. These include lifting from the hang, lifting from boxes, and high pulls.

While it is indeed advantageous for athletes to utilize these exercises, the second pull is not the only important characteristic of the snatch and clean exercises. Perhaps the most overlooked characteristic of the snatch and clean is receiving the bar, whether overhead or on the shoulders. In weightlifting circles, this is performed by “meeting the bar,” or actively resisting the downward momentum of the barbell. This requires activation of the agonist muscles in an eccentric and isometric fashion.

The difference between eccentric actions during weightlifting as opposed to weight training (for example the negative phase of a squat) is that overcoming the downward barbell momentum requires a greater  opposing impulse during weightlifting. Thus, the rapid production of force in an eccentric manner is necessary, similar to plyometric movements, such as depth jumps. This is also called yielding strength and con- tributes to reactive strength, the ability to rapidly reverse eccentric to concentric motion.

While plyometric exercises are widely used in strength and conditioning, the landing phases of these exercises are associated with injuries, primarily at the knee and ankle joints. The snatch and clean exercises are a safer, and perhaps more effective, method of training yielding strength, whereas the jerk exercise can be used for training reactive strength. In properly trained individuals, the vertical ground reaction forces produced in receiving the bar are lower than those produced when landing from jumping and during depth jumps.

 

This article was originally published on the website of the National Strength and Conditioning Association and is being used with permission from the organization. 

Regardless of the sport, an athlete can greatly enhance their performance if they can improve their ability to generate power and explosion. In the video clip below Gary Calcagno, Oklahoma State Wrestling Strength and Conditioning Coach;Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist; a certified Level I, Level II, and Sports Performance Coach through USA Weightlifting; shows you the basics of two similar exercises that he uses to improve an athletes triple extension and ultimately their power and explosiveness.

The two exercises are the Hang Clean Grip Jump Shrug and Snatch Grip Hang Clean. The focus of both are to the extension of the ankle, knee and hip. The two differ only in the grip. The hang clean grip should be about shoulder width, while the snatch grip should be approximately two inches outside the rings.

The key coaching points for both Jump Shrugs are as follows;
1. Feet hip width apart
2. Hips should be hinged
3. Butt back
4. Chest up and out over the bar
5. Small amount of knee bend
6. Back flat
7. Look straight ahead (approx. six feet)
8. Arms tight
9. Elbows rolled
10. Knuckles down
11. jump straight up.
12. keep the bar close to the body
13. Don’t go back
14. Use hips not arms
15. Feel the bar “picking you up”

The video is just a sample from Coach Calcagno’s Instructional DVD. For more information about the DVD click the link Training for Power and Explosiveness. Coach Calcagno shares six different series of movements (with over 40 exercises) that are the core of his program. The lifts cover:

lifts for the core including Cleans, Snatches and Combination lifts
lifts for chest and arms
lifts for leg strength
plyometric exercises

The YouTube video below has sound,  so please make sure that your sound is turned on and that you have access to the site. Some schools block access to YouTube