Upper Body Plyo Workouts made for those of us that love symmetry
The Plyo Workouts Preamble
You don’t NEED plyometrics to put on mass, to lose body fat or lose weight.
But, if you want to:
- change your tempo while working out,
- want to increase your speed or short burst endurance,
- need to change direction quickly
- learn to fully empty your tank while training.
Before you perform these lifts, be familiar with
- Flat bench press
- Incline chest press
- Bent Row
- Kettlebell Swings
In orders of about 15 reps of ~60% of your bodyweight.
For a long time in my life, I was a plyo workouts athlete.
I played football from ages 9 to 20 which had me sprinting as hard as possible for 5 – 15 yards, hours on end.
I dabbled in track (again, sprinting) and played pickup basketball incessantly every day after school for probably 6 years straight.
MY dutiful attention and affinity to explosive sports not only meant I was rich with meaty type 2x muscle, but I can fast – I had a respectable vertical leap deep into my early 30s.
I had no idea that my athletic life made me bottom heavy.
First, let’s describe, in layman’s terms what plyometrics are.
Think of plyometrics as the summation of force. Think of your muscles as rubber bands.
In order to run fast, jump really high or change direction quickly, you need ALOT of extra force.
That force comes from maximum tension.
So, to make your muscles react, to produce max tension in a very short amount of time, you need to do 3 things:
- (Eccentric Phase) Stretch your muscle by flexing the opposite muscle and/or bending that joint thereby “preloading” or stretching the muscle.
- (Amortization) Where the stretch is achieved and balance between flex and extended muscles is stabilized.
- (Concentric Phase) The ejaculatory part of plyo workouts where the stretch muscle contracts with the added force of the stretch.
This is called a SSC, Stretch Shortening Cycle.
It’s like pulling a bow and arrow – you pull the string, it shortens the distance from the bow’s tips, allowing you to add force to the bow, flinging a hi-powered arrow at a target.
1/2 of Plyo Workouts Focus Lower Body Only
Target HR Range: High – 150~185 bpm
Rest Period: Long, Passive – 1:3, 3x the time of work
Workout through 30 seconds to 60 seconds per exercise,the continue the next exercise.
But where does the power for our legs come from when sprinting?
Our hips…
But our ARMS, add power to the system.
Forgetting to include in your plyo workout, strengthening and mimicking the sport or activity you’re involved in is limiting.
BEGINNER
- TRX Flyes (Chest, shoulders)
- Box – Up
- Ball Toss-to-Slam
- Wall Ball
INTERMEDIATE
- TRX Row single arm
- TRX Snap Curl
- Bent Row Catch
- Chest Press Toss
ADVANCED
- Plyo Push ups
- Plyo Pull Ups
- Plank-up
- Barbell Thruster