13.3 Plyometric Technique

13.3 Plyometric Technique

Quick Answer: Domain 3.B.5 plyometric videos are stretch-shortening cycle tests. The client stretches the muscle-tendon unit (eccentric), passes through a short amortization phase, and explodes (concentric). Land quietly, knees track over the midfoot, and progress from jumps-in-place toward bounds and depth jumps. Count volume as foot contacts. Common teaching ranges are about 80–100 / 100–120 / 120–140 contacts per session for beginner / intermediate / advanced — common programming, not unpublished NSCA-CPT policy. Poor landings, acute injury, and some special populations are stop signs.

Plyometrics are not “jumps for calorie burn.” They are a high-rate force method. Program Execution items will show you a landing and ask whether the next progression is earned.

Stretch-Shortening Cycle and Amortization

Three phases:

1. Eccentric (stretch / loading): The muscle-tendon unit lengthens under load — the drop into a jump, the give on landing, the reach-back of a medicine-ball throw.
2. Amortization (coupling): The brief isometric transition between lengthening and shortening. Shorter is better if the landing is still safe. A long pause dumps the stored elastic energy as heat and turns the drill into a separate squat-then-jump (still useful for teaching, but not a true plyometric rebound).
3. Concentric (shortening / propulsion): The explosive jump, bound, or throw.

Teaching order matters. Most general-fitness clients must first stick a quiet landing (force absorption) before you ask for a short amortization. If you cue “off the ground as fast as possible” to a client who valgus-collapses, you are speeding a fault.

Video pass: Client drops from a 6-inch box, lands softly with knees over midfoot, then rebounds only when that landing is already boringly good. Video fail: Client jumps off a high box, lands loud with knees caving, pauses two seconds, then hops — and the trainer calls it an advanced depth jump.

Landing Technique — The Gate for Every Progression

Body position: Athletic stance. Hips back and down, trunk fairly tall (not a rounded dive), eyes forward, feet about hip- to shoulder-width for bilateral landings. Arms can reach forward or in a ready position to counterbalance.

ROM: Enough hip and knee flexion to absorb force — usually a partial squat, not a rock-bottom collapse and not a locked-knee stilt landing. Ankles dorsiflex; land midfoot to forefoot and let the heel kiss, not slap.

Speed and control: The landing should look quiet. Noise is a proxy for poorly absorbed impact. Early teaching slows the landing. Rebound speed comes later.

Knees track: Knees travel in line with the second toe / midfoot. Valgus (knees collapsing inward) is a stop-the-drill cue, especially on single-leg landings. Do not let the knee shoot far past the toes because the heel slammed and the shin dumped; that is a different fault (lack of hip use).

Muscular involvement: Quadriceps and glutes eccentrically, calves as springs, trunk as a stiff cylinder. The lumbar spine should not be the primary shock absorber.

Breathing: Do not lock a maximal valsalva through a long set of hops. A brief brace at impact is normal; the face should not be purple.

Cueing: “Land quietly. Sit the hips back. Knees over midfoot. Soft but athletic.” If you need a second landing cue, you are not ready for height.

Progression: Jumps in Place → Bounds / Depth Jumps

Intensity rises with height, horizontal speed, single-leg support, and how much gravity you add on the way down. A common teaching ladder (from NSCA-style classification used in strength and conditioning texts):

Box jump safety: Jump up, land with the whole foot on the box, stand tall, step down. Jumping down from a high box as a default is extra eccentric load the client may not have earned. Depth jumps are a different drill with a different purpose.

Depth jump details: The client steps off, does not hop off. Box height in S&C teaching is often in a broad range (about 12–42 inches in older tables), with lower heights for heavier athletes and anyone whose landing is still noisy. A common caution in that literature is that athletes over about 220 lb should not use high depth-jump boxes (often cited around 18 inches as a ceiling). Treat those numbers as common programming heuristics, not as a secret NSCA-CPT exam cutoff the outline never published.

Strength heuristic (also common S&C teaching, not a published CPT statute): High-intensity lower-body plyometrics are often delayed until the client can squat roughly 1.5 × body weight with competent mechanics. Many personal-training clients never need depth jumps. A quiet squat jump is already a lot of “power” for a general-fitness goal.

Worked progression: Luis, 185 lb, recreational, landing from a 6-inch step is loud and valgus. Today’s program is drop landings and squat holds — not tuck jumps, not depth jumps. When he can stick three quiet landings in a row with knees tracking, add jumps in place. Bounds wait until single-leg landings from a small hop are clean.

Volume as Foot Contacts — Common Teaching Ranges

Plyometric volume is usually counted as foot contacts: each time a foot strikes the surface.

• A bilateral squat-jump landing is commonly counted as 2 contacts (both feet).
• A single-leg hop landing is 1 contact.
• Upper-body plyometrics may count catches or hand contacts analogously.

Common programming ranges per session (widely taught from NSCA-associated plyometric tables; not unpublished NSCA-CPT policy and not a magic exam statute):

Low-intensity landing school for a true novice may sit below 80 contacts. High-intensity depth jumps should not be piled up just because the client has “contact budget” left. Quality is the governor. Rest between quality efforts is long — S&C teaching often uses about a 1:5 to 1:10 work-to-rest ratio so the next rebound still looks like the first. High-intensity lower-body plyometrics are often limited to about 1–3 sessions per week with 48–72 hours before repeating the same high-impact work.

Worked count: 4 sets × 5 bilateral squat jumps = 20 landings × 2 feet = 40 foot contacts. Add 2 sets × 4 single-leg hops each side = 16 contacts. Session total = 56 contacts — still a beginner-sized day if landings are crisp. If landings degrade at set 3, you stop, even if the spreadsheet wanted 90.

NSCA-linked power texts also remind coaches that more is not better: a few well-mastered drills beat a long menu of sloppy jumps. Two or three plyometric exercises in a session is plenty for most clients.

Contraindications and Special-Population Caution

Do not layer high-impact plyometrics on:

• Poor landing mechanics (loud landings, valgus, heel slap, trunk collapse) — this is the everyday CPT stop sign.
• Acute injury (sprain, strain, post-surgical restriction, bone stress symptoms, painful tendinopathy that worsens with impact).
• Some special populations, as a history-based decision:
  • Osteoporosis / osteopenia: high-impact depth jumps and aggressive bounds are a poor match; some clients may use very low-amplitude, clinician-cleared impact later — default to caution.
  • Pregnancy: jumping and bounding are generally avoided; use other power options if a clinician and the client agree (for example a light medicine-ball chest pass from a supported stance).
  • Obesity with joint pain, uncontrolled hypertension, or recent cardiac events: impact and breath-holding are extra load — choose other methods.
  • Youth: can learn landing and low-amplitude jumps, but they are not automatic depth-jump candidates; coordination and landing quality first.
  • Older adults: may use very small hops or step-down landings for power and fall resilience if balance and joints allow; many should not bound.
  • Neurologic conditions with poor reactive balance: skip reactive bounds.

Surface and shoes belong in the next section too, but they start here: grass, rubber, a sprung wood floor, not wet concrete. Worn shoes that collapse medially make valgus more likely.

Video-Item Checklist for Plyometrics

1. Position — Athletic, hips back, trunk not diving.
2. ROM — Enough flexion to absorb; not a locked knee.
3. Speed/control — Quiet landing before a short amortization.
4. Cueing — Would you stop for valgus or noise?
5. Muscles — Hips and thighs absorbing, not lumbar spine.
6. Breathing — Brief brace, not a strained purple face for 20 seconds.
7. Safety — Height earned? Surface? Special-pop match? Stepping down from box jumps?

Traps

• Starting with depth jumps because they look advanced.
• Jumping off the box and calling it a box jump.
• Counting “sets” but never counting contacts — or chasing 140 contacts with broken landings.
• Cueing “faster off the ground” before the client can land quietly.
• Treating 80–100 / 100–120 / 120–140 as a secret NSCA-CPT law rather than common teaching ranges.
• Programming aggressive plyometrics for acute injury or a special-population client who cannot absorb force.