Any info on Plyometrics???

[yusul]

i agree, health for life has a straight-forward text on plyos. plyos r dangerous, so dont overdo it

[ArAi]

yusul, can you explain how plyo is dangerous?

[Oberleutnant]

ArAi: Generally it's more prudent to have some decent weight training under your belt prior to incorporating plyo's into your conditioning, because it provides a better base to prevent against injury (i believ this is what atomic was getting at). Plyo's function through applying extremely high, but very brief momentary levels of tension to your muscles and connective tissues. Granted, being that if your body is unaccustomed to high levels of intramuscular tension and your conditioning is more that of a sedentary individual, you're at a higher risk for injury. Weight training provides sort of a 'warmup' prior to these high levels of intramuscular tension. For example, off of a depth jump, often the momentary forces will be upwards of 10x your body weight (we're speaking in split seconds of duration, however).

Regarding information- much of the western world's exercise physiology knowledge regarding plyo's is riddled with misinformation and flaws. Plyometrics are a method that was developed by the russians during the cold war, and has been widely adopted by the western hemisphere. However for the most part, much has been misconstrued (like periodization-the russians abandoned original periodization methods they developed during the 50s and created a more effective scheme-yet the western hemisphere widely continues to employ the older, outdated scheme). They have conducted far more research regarding plyos, and Dr. Mel Siff knows by far more than anyone else in the western hemisphere regarding plyo's (he has immersed himself in Russian/Eastern european research for quite awhile and has done work with Verkhoshansky, one of russia's top exercise physiology scientists-the man who is largely responsible for periodization & plyo concepts.). Siff is apparently workingon a plyo book that should be out soon. If you are going to purchase any information on plyo's-definately wait for Siff's book. The rest are bunk garbage for the most part. Hope this helps,

love ober

[Edited by Oberleutnant on 09-30-2000 at 08:27 PM]

[GROUND CONTROL]

Dr. Donald Chu is also very well known in the plyo world. He works with many of the USA's olympic athletes.

[Oberleutnant]

Ground Control: That's correct, he's well known in the AMERICAN/WESTERN plyo world. Siff is more familiar with soviet research than any other westerner. While Chu has admirable dedication to study-his knowledge is limited to what is readily available in the western world; a highly limited number of studies, combined with some guesswork, passed on traditions, methods and tidbits of knowledge originating from Russia.

When it comes to strength physiology- the west still has much catching up to do!

[yusul]

ArAi: Oberleutnant summarized the risks pretty good, and all the literature i've read confirms that its a good idea to weight train first to build a strength base. i have no knowledge of Siff, so i kant comment on him.

there is more inherent danger using explosive movements with eccentric muscle contractions than there is with regular weight training (which generally rely on concentric contractions). to use Oberleutnant's eg., if you r constantly exposing your leg muscles to 10x your weight by jumping off boxes and do 100 000 continuous reps, you will probably pull something. obviously, this example a is gross exaggeration, but the point is, more is not better. make sure you regulate the volume (amount of time training in a session, such as reps, sets), Ease into it, and make absolutely sure u have proper technique.

read the literature mentioned on the above posts, gain an understanding of the princples and come to your own conclusions. good luck.

[GROUND CONTROL]

You definately must watch the plyo workload. Also make sure you have 48 hrs rest between sessions. When I trained with Frank S. he stressed this point.

He also has warmup plyos he does to get ready for the "high impact" stuff.

[yusul]

GROUND CONTROL: just a side question. you train with Frank Shamrock, r you a BJJ stylist? i thought that there was some big rivalry b/t submission wrestling and bjj the way that they are always insulting eachother in media. also, i was wondering why i couldn't register to In the Guard from hotmail. (i dont have a working computer now, so i dont have a server account)

[GROUND CONTROL]

I am a Renzo Gracie student. I hooked up with Frank to learn about his plyometric and cardio routines. He is a very smart man, especially when talking about getting in fighting shape.

I did do some wrestling with him basically to see his approach. Also to see if any of his techniques could be integrated with my bjj.

I am loyal to Renzo and represent him in tournies. But I also believe it is very important to cross train. I hooked up with Frank for 5 days, I did not join his academy. But he did say it was cool for me to come back out and train again. I also trained with Royce and Roger Machado while I was out west. Just trying to learn from some of the best fighters/grapplers in the world. Everyone's style is different.

My loyalties are to Renzo and Sean Alvarez who have helped me immensely with my bjj.