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There are a ton of terrible jump training/plyo workouts all over the web, and many people asking questions on how to set up jump specific workouts.  Some of these templates will be complexes with strength/power exercises, some will be jump specific training to be done either before strength training, or on a different day altogether.  


METRICS

(we called this one "metrics" in college, short for plyometrics obviously, even though one could argue it contains exercises that are not extremely intense plyometrics,  but it sounds cool and Im not gonna change something with a cool sounding name, so it will remain "metrics". ) very simple template, very effective.


dynamic warm up, short sprint starts, leg swings complex (front to back 10x, side to side 10x, knee drives front to back 10x)

Use a distance of ~30-35 yards, a basketball court works well, football field, track, etc.


I. DOUBLE LEG BOUNDS FOR MAX SPEED- these are very sub max jumps, focus on quick ground contacts and being light on the feet.  Dont jump high, dont jump far, YET. Get off the ground, AS FAST AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE.

II. SINGLE LEG BOUNDS FOR MAX SPEED- same as above, but single leg bounding, same leg, quick, snappy, ground contact, not high, not far, "the ground is hot" cue.  Head should stay on the same plane throughout the set.



INTENSIVE JUMPS



1a. DOUBLE LEG BOUNDS FOR DISTANCE- basically continuous broad jumps, without the focus on reaching for the landing.  Dont jump so far that you have to stop and re gather for the next bound.

1b. DOUBLE LEG BOUNDS FOR HEIGHT- two leg bounds, with a focus on height rather than distance.  You want to still have plenty of forward momentum, but focus on going UP rather than OUT. You will obviously have more ground contacts on these than the previous set.

2a. SINGLE LEG BOUNDS FOR DISTANCE- basic single leg bounding (same leg), focus on distance and forward speed rather than height attained.  Head should stay basically the same level throughout the set.

2b.  SINGLE LEG BOUNDS FOR HEIGHT- single leg bounding for max HEIGHT, dont worry about distance, try to achieve as much time in the air as possible every bound.  

cool down, myofascial release, pnf stretch


NOTES:  You can repeat the workout (parts 1a-2b), up to 3 times each, but start out with ONCE.  IF YOU NOTICE A DROP OFF IN PERFORMANCE, STOP.  The better you get at bounding and the more you perform this workout, the higher your explosive work capacity gets, and the more rounds you can handle.

ALWAYS, do 1a. or 2a., BEFORE doing the B version, the bounding for DISTANCE increases hip involvement and recruitment in the bounds, and will make the B version much more powerful, explosive, and smooth.  There is no need to go back and do I and II after you have already completed a full cycle of the bounds.  Be sure to start out slowly and progress the intensity, soon you will be able to go for max distance and max height, but do a few sessions first to build the work capacity and adequately prepare the body.  

I found that only horizontal single leg hops for distance, had a significant correlation to sprint times. The other plyometric exercises I did not correlate significantly to sprint times including bounds & depth jumps (but that's just me).

Do you guys recognise sprinting as a plyometric activity?.

nice, very simple but very effective.. i actually prefer double & single leg bounds (& MR pogo/MR half tuck) over dj's now (for the last year or a little less).. really great exercises.. mastering single leg bounds will result in some seriously strong legs.. i like the single leg bounds for max speed also, great way to learn to bound, alot easier to perform. feels real good to cycle that same leg over real quick.

thanks, definitely agree with all of that. Getting a solid single leg bound will build some insane leg strength, many times lower body strength exercises will even go up as the bounds get better.

Quick question: if my right knee is injured and I can't perform right leg bounds, but I can do double and left leg single leg bounds, is that OK?

Because frankly, being a single leg jumper, I pretty much need a lot of bounding on my left leg. The problem is - if you do only one leg it might affect the fatigue level and screw up the double leg bounds since one leg is tired and another leg is fresh.

Yea, you can do that for sure, it happens pretty often actually with jumpers.  If double leg bounding doesnt bother it, then it is fine, only do the single leg bounds on the un injured leg though.  What we usually do is perform some extra unilateral work in the weightroom for the injured side to help make up for the lack of bounding on that side.  Find a good unilateral that doesnt bug it.

Would performing bounds on stairs like on bleachers work too?

Its an exercise, but its A LOT less intensive, youre taking away the eccentric overload of the landing, similar to a box jump.  With stair jumps you actually JUMP again, so its better than a box jump, but not nearly as intensive as traditional bounding.

I'm a single leg jumper, and my goal is to jump higher.

Do you recommend doing single leg bounds for height?  or distance?  or max speed?

Should I be using them all?

Yea, all of them, each style will benefit a different aspect of jumping, when you need to specialize on one point you can focus more on specific variation, but most athletes need to do all of them and will benefit from all of them equally.

If so, any specific one to put the most focus on?

not right now, in fact, unless youre a high level jumper already youre really giving away something by not doing all of the variations. for example, if you ONLY did max height, you would be missing the benefit of getting better at utilizing a faster approach, quicker acceleration, from max distance and speed bounding, which will lead to even greater heights once developed.

How often do you feel a plyo session of like sprints,depth jumps, pogos, and bounds should be done a week, if I'm lower body lifting 3x a week (low volume lifting)?

too many variables to consider without seeing your program man, but as a general guideline, if youre training with weights 3 x a week, I would jump 2-3 x a week, either before lifting, or on off days.  Lots of good results either way.  People freak out when they do plyos and jumps on the day after strength training, because initially the jumps will be slightly affected from the weights, but if they allowed time for adaptation, they would improve drastically.


note that when i say "jump" 2-3 x a week, im referring to max jumping/plyos/etc., low level reactive stuff, basketball, etc.,  can and should be done daily imo.

Lance, thanks for taking the time to put up some tried and true templates! I think many people have been waiting for something like that!

I have two questions regarding this:

1) When can a trainee expect PRs in those specific exercises or in which intervals will improvements usually occur and for how long of a period? This would be useful to know as a guideline.

2) How much room would bounding and its variations have in a double leg jumpers program? Which benefits are to be expected and how well compare bounding exercises vs. depth jumps and depth drops for double leg jumpers?

I guess this are not really two questions, but I guess you know where I am getting at!

Thanks again,
s-m

Lance, I tried the 3 variations of single leg bounding for the first time today.  Got to say, pretty hard and felt awkward.  Feels like I got a lot of room for improvement on my vert from doing bounds.

I felt kind of stupid/ like I'm doing it wrong on the MAX speed bounding.  So like, just focus on jumping with one leg and minimizing ground contact time, is that right?

Max height is pretty self explanatory, I just stay on my 1 leg and keep jumping with it as high as possible, and max distance I just stay on my 1 leg and try to jump as far as possible with the 1 leg the whole time right?

So my question is, for max height and max distance, am I supposed to be trying to do them fast?  Like on each jump, I had to jump, land, find balance again, and then jump again...

Also, any recommendation of rep/set schemes for these?