Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Plyometrics


This workout reminds me of basketball practice. Since I haven't practiced basketball since, like, college it stands to reason that I'm pretty sore this morning. I actually did quite well. I was dizzy a few times but not alarmingly so and kept up with everyone, which I can't say for any of the other workouts yet. I even thought, for a minute post-workout, that I might not be too sore but later on in the evening I began feeling heavy and getting out of bed this morning wasn't particularly easy. Paying dues is always fun.

I had a couple of thoughts during my session. First was that maybe this is why I added both a basketball and baseball element to my challenge in 03. I mean, I played baseball for many years, and even in college, but never really liked it that much. But it's always nice to see that you still have it to some degree and those pitching movements probably got me thinking of that.

I also thought of Leigh Miller who used to work at Beachbody. He was similar to me in that he had a lot of oddly varying interests that didn't seem to relate to each other, which meant that we related very well. We did a lot of the 90x workouts to test them as they were being designed, including Plyo for the first time. We hadn't shot any video so we'd do them off of Tony's proposed work sheets and had to try and figure out each move. We didn't always get them right and often made the workouts even harder. He also had this really cool and funny picture on his desk of he and his fiance that was similar to this pic of my wife and I. I thought the pic showed a special connection between them and was envious he'd found someone like that. I know it shows a special connection between us; and now I know that I was right to be envious. I haven't heard from Leigh in a while but am sure he's doing great. He's the type who will always do great.



Anyways, I love Tony's introduction to Plyo where he distills the meaning of plyometric exercise into "jumping." Well, yeah. But a slightly more scientific reason of why plyometric training is helpful is that it eccentrically forces the stretching of a muscle prior to its concentric action. This action causes is high level of muscle cell motor unit recruitment. This recruitment action is what determinds a muscle's effeciency, or the absolute strength of a given muscle, and is absolutely vital for sports performance. Without any type of plyometric training it's impossible to reach your body's potential for performance.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The pitching sequence in the Plyo routine is the one move that doesn't make sense to me, it doesn't feel like I'm loading any muscles in the action. Then when I switched to my non-dominant hand it felt like I was throwing like girl (no offense ladies). Everything else is perfect to use in a small space with minimal equipment needed (boxes, ropes, tires, etc).

Today Shoulders and Arms routine was straight forward. I wasted a lot of time fiddling with my bands to get the right resistance. I hope to have that perfected by next week. Ab Ripper X lived up to its name...again.

Since the weather in SLC is cold and windy I'm going to do a 20-30 min run this afternoon.

Steve Edwards said...

I've always sort of felt that way, too--ditto for the jump shots. Until yesterday. Yesterday I was tired and planting the front foot actually felt like it took some contentration. Still, these movements are at the end and are designed to be easier than the others. I think when you're on they don't feel like much. I'm obviously not on at the moment.

Reedster said...

Shoulders and Arms went pretty good. I had a hard time with the straight arm extensions due to not having a lighter weight. Also, the lying tricep extensions were pretty hard the 2nd time.

And Ab Ripper X absolutely killed me. I can't imagine being able to do the workout without taking breaks. I did all the reps, but it took quite a few breaks to get there. I can also feel my abs getting "crunchy" which is how they feel after a few days of really hard ab workouts. Hopefully they will feel better in a decent amount of time.

Yoga tomorrow is another killer for me. I have never made it through the whole workout without pausing or having to stop in places.

I think I'll have another recovery cocktail.

~R

Debbie said...

Steve, just wanted to let you know that my buff as hell linebacker sister introduced me to the Beachbody series of dvds last summer. She kicked my ass all over Park City.

Anonymous said...

btw, beautiful picture of the 2 of you, you guys definitely look happy together! (i'm kind of sentimental for a surly old bastard)

okay, as we near the end of week 1, i'm 100% confident that at least i will be in pain for 90 days. suzanne's still in bed with the flu, though she did yoga last night, and i woke up this morning as if i had been beaten like a soapy dick! after yoga! and that was only day 4! i'm not sure who i hate more, tony horton for administering said abuse or steve edwards for his manipulatively encouraging words of inspiration??? if i could raise my hands to the heavens and ask WHY! i would, but alas, the range of motion in my shoulders allows me only to slump over the keyboard; at least i have pants on this time.

looking forward to legs and back and some more abs tonight. in all seriousness, this is a damn fine set of workouts! and this tony horton cat is pretty damn funny.

thanks again steve for inspiration. oh and, damn you steve!

marc