10 Plyometrics Exercises to Build Major Strength and Endurance
Plyometric exercises, like box jumps and burpees, are a one-way ticket to nailing your paces and nabbing PRs, since they help you build strength, explosiveness (or power), speed, and agility. Those last three perks don’t come from strength training alone, so it’s key to round out your cross-training routine with jump training (another name for plyo).
All plyo movements require your muscles to stretch and contract at a rapid pace, which helps them become more explosive. So, unsurprisingly, they’re considered a high-intensity workout. One benefit of firing up your muscles this way: It spikes your heart rate.
Before you jump into plyo training, you want to feel solid when it comes to stability, balance, and core strength. But aside from that, the beauty of it is that you can scale plyo to your fitness level and that it is totally beginner-friendly. Can’t jump up onto a three-foot-tall box? Start small! The most important thing is that your movements are quick; they don’t have to be big. As you feel more stable and powerful, amp it up.
We recommend incorporating two or three plyometric exercises into the beginning of your workouts after your warmup. Since they demand so much from your body, you don’t want to go into them already fatigued from a bunch of other moves. Want your entire workout to incorporate plyo? You can do that, too. Just be ready to feel the burn in ways you’ve never felt it before.
Time: 20 minutes
Equipment: mat, dumbbell, box (or a sturdy elevated surface, like a stair)
Good for: full-body, power
Instructions: Complete 10 reps of the exercises below, resting for 30 seconds between each move. Once you’ve finished all movements, start from the top and repeat once more for a total of two rounds.
Join Runner’s World+ to become a stronger, faster runner!
(Kathryn Wirsing)
Plus, why you should start all your cross-training workouts with a few plyo moves.
