Sports Training Videos - Side Box Jumps To Increase Speed
Side
box jumps are an incredible plyometrics exercise to include in your
workouts for building explosive power and speed for many sports.
The instructions for performing these begin with choosing a piece
of equipment that it tall enough to provide a good challenge. This
can be a box or a barrel or really anything else that you have around
but just make sure its completely stable to avoid injuring yourself.
It needs to have a height that provides you with a challenge to
jump over but not too high that you struggle to perform the exercise.
Its also important to avoid injuring yourself with a box that's
too difficult to jump onto or over. A normal height of the box can
be anywhere between two to five feet off the ground. Place the box
on the ground to your side. While facing forward, place your legs
apart at a distance that gives you enough stability and room to
perform the exercise correctly. This will allow you to jump over
the box in the lateral space needed. Make sure to perform this exercise
in a explosive but controlled manner for a specific number of repetitions
or a set amount of time. This plyometrics exercise really builds
up your calves and thigh muscles which helps to gain explosive power
in your legs.
There are two possible variations of the side box jumps plyometrics
exercise. The first version is the speed version. In this version,
the key thing is to jump over the box laterally as fast as possible.
This means that as soon as you touch the ground on one side, you
jump to the other side. This version is great for increasing agility
and overall lateral speed. It increases the response rate and works
very well for explosive sports like football and basketball.
The second version is the explosive workout. In this version, try
to focus on exploding off the ground and increase your vertical
jump as high as possible when performing this exercise. The key
thing is to avoid jumping as fast as possible but rather to build
as much energy in the leg muscles as possible and explode up while
performing a maximum jump and overloading your quadriceps muscles.
This version is important for increasing the explosive power contained
within the leg muscles. These two versions are not intended to act
as substitutes. Rather, they should be performed together in order
for the athlete to gain maximum benefits of both styles of training.
Plyometrics exercises are commonly referred to as jump training.
On the anatomical level, these exercises act by placing extra pressure
on the leg muscles through repeated jumping. This causes the leg
muscles to undergo forced contraction before the jump is performed.
The jump then causes the muscles to be extended as they release
the energy created. They are then made to repeat this process over
and over. The repeated repetitions cause the muscles to build up
their tolerance and their energy output. This is useful for normal
workouts for advanced individuals who like to train as well as professional
athletes looking to gain maximum sports performance.
There are many benefits of implementing side box jumps into your
plyometrics workouts. First, they reduce the risk of lower extremity
injuries. The repetitive nature of these exercises causes neuromuscular
conditioning in the athlete performing them and this increases endurance.
As a direct result, injuries to the knees, calves, and related leg
areas become less frequent. These exercises also build up muscle
mass in the legs which really helps to increase the explosive power
of the athlete. This gives professional athletes an edge in different
sports where short explosive bursts of leg energy are required.
A few examples would be football players or athletes who perform
the long jump event in track and field. The last benefit is that
they produce increased agility which is a huge advantage when competing
in different sports. Plyometrics provides the athlete with increased
response rates when performing a specific sport which can give them
a big advantage for winning.