It’s been a long time coming for the latest plyometric of the week installment here on Just Fly Sports. At this rate, it could be plyometric of the season, so to curtail that a bit, I want to talk about a perennial favorite plyometric of mine that has multiple uses, which is the lateral barrier hop for time.
When we think of lateral barrier hops/jumps, we often think of the low level, introductory plyometric exercise that you often see in beginner fitness boot-camps, as seen below.
Clearly, this type of jump isn’t going to be overloading a whole lot of reflex loops, or fast-twitch muscle fibers, although it can be a nice exercise for youth athletes, or those who simply need baseline reactivity training.
Remember, when we are training plyometrics, we are looking to improve either:
- Rate of force development (this is usually what I’m after)
- Peak force development
For rate of force development, think of the drop jump exercise (depth jump performed with under .25 seconds of ground contact time, preferably under .20 seconds), or rapid-fire hurdle hops. These plyometrics form the baseline of further plyometric progressions, since the strength is usable for a broader spectrum of speed and speed-strength manifestations on the field of play.
The other aspect is obviously peak force development, which is what we think of when we are looking at depth jumps and other big-impact plyometrics.
This article is going to cover lateral barrier jumps in the department of building rate of force development.
99% of the videos you’ll find on youtube regarding lateral barrier jumps aren’t going to show you how to use them for the sake of peak rate of force development.
One nice video comes from a former client of mine, Ori Biala, who demonstrates the jumps with rapid contact over a medicine ball. The stiffer one’s ankles are on ground contact, the faster you can ultimately be off of the ground.
In order to really take this exercise to its limit and make it useful for intermediate and advanced athletes, you need to put a timer on it. The easiest way is to grab a stopwatch, and have an athlete perform as many jumps as possible at a fixed bench or hurdle height. A standard weightroom bench often works well, and times between 10 and 20 seconds are usually good for testing or workout purposes.
I actually like 10-20 second bursts, since they seem to serve as an excellent potentiatior/warmup for single burst movements, such as a 10m fly sprint or a vertical jump. There is also a powerful dynamic with the internal load and fatiguing of muscles when performing 20 second barrier hops, since the body must hone in on elastic firing, as well as searching for new sequencing of motor units to finish the set once other muscles start to tire.
Longer plyometric efforts can also improve the reliance on the tendon contribution to the movement as the frictional elements fatigue.
Recently, I have been working with a Speedmat that I got through Simplifaster. This mat has given me the ability to do these hops using the “cadence” function, which gives a more urgent and rhythmic option to the movement.
After some experimentation with an 8” barrier, most athletes go between 1.0 and 1.3hz, which is in effect double the number, since the mat only picks up every other jump. Using this method was also a very effective way to potentiate subsequent max jumps. Personally, I noticed a difference in ankle stiffness and pop off the ground after just one session of this type of work.
Even if you don’t have the equipment, a simple stopwatch is all that is needed to get a lot out of this powerful rate of force builder and potentiator.
If you enjoy this series, and want to see how to put these exercises together in context of a complete program, check out our books and training groups, particularly “Vertical Ignition” and “Legendary Athleticism”. Be a part of the revolutionary training systems that are getting dozens of athletes to lifetime bests in speed, jumping and explosive power!
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