How do i go about adding plyometrics to a workout routine?
Right now I’m doing Rippetoes and I want to add in Vertical Jump Bible’s workout to mine. I will be doing two days of plyometrics. I am not the smartest when it comes to CNS and its recovery so i dont want to do something counter productive and overtrain.
As of now my workout looks like:
A: Squat 3x5
Bench 3x5
Deadlift 1x5
Dips 2x8-15 OR Ab work 2x15
B: Squat 3x5
Military Press 3x5
Pendlay Row 3x5(thinking about changing to 2x5 and then 2xFailure pullups)
monday: A or B
tues: rest
Wedns: A or B
Thurs: Rest
Friday; A or B
Sat/Sun: rest
And if it helps, heres stats-
5’10 158 lbs
Bench 135x5
Squat(only been doing for half a month)-135x5
Deadlift-145x5
Military Press- 85x5
One thing you are lacking is a vertical pull motion for the upper body. You have vertical and horizontal presses, as well as horizontal pulls. I suggest adding pullups/pulldowns to your routine somewhere.
We are exactly the same height and weight, but I have slightly heavier lifts as a result of probably lifting for slightly longer. Considering this, perhaps you should wait to start plyometrics until you gain some strength to your CNS. Otherwise you most likely will overtrain. I will tell you right now that with my routine (similar to yours but with more volume) I am totally fried after a days lift. Forget cardio or plyo, I eat and sleep instead.
Still gives you two rest days per week, but that means you work for 5. This may be too much for your CNS to handle at this point. If this proves too much, cut out the Friday plyo and replace it with A/B … and rest on Saturday instead. Cheers brother.
Would it be smart to just do plyos before the workout though? I heard that doing plyos before a workout is alright, that way i would have two rest days in the middle of the week.
M: plyos then A
T: Rest
W: Rest
Th: Plyos then B
F: Rest
S: A
Sun Rest
Well, now you are cheating yourself out of even more rows. You will most likely develop a “press” imbalance by benching and dipping twice a week, and only rowing once. Again, this is just a thought. Perhaps a third workout focusing on squats, the absent vertical pulls, and on other exercise would be most appropriate.
just checking what you mean by Plyos because you are not at all ready to do depth or shock jumps. For you I would recommend tuck-jumps and other similar plyos. I did them, and it helped a lot.
chrillionare, thanks but i know that to be doing advanced plyometric exercises i should have a 1.5x BW squat AT THE LEAST. I am doing begginer plyometrics and i really doubt i can get my squat up to 1.5x body weight by the end of summer, i am guessing i’ll be able to get it to 200 by the end of summer. i am just doing simple things like ankle jumps, lunges, jump squats (non weighted), slalom jumps lunge jumps, and low squat ankle jumps. Its just high volume, but no shock or depth jumps.
And to njrusmc, you seem to know what your talking about. Do you mind telling me what it means though, i dont know how to organize a program that well. I am just doing a premade workout routine that is proven to work for beginners, but i guess i can make my own.
I am debating wether to do;
M: plyos then A
T: Rest
W: Rest
Th: Plyos then B
F: Rest
S: A
Sun Rest
OR
M: Plyos + Lower Body
T: Upper
W: Rest
Th: Rest
F: Full Body + Plyos
S: Rest
Sun: Rest
The workout that goes with the VJB is only legs and it is too much volume. The main reason though, is that i would like to train 3x a week. I’ve got nothing else to do and i just sit around and do nothing on rest days so i’d rather have more days per week of weight lifting. Initially, i was trying to get my squat up before i even thought about doing VJB, but then i realized that going from squatting 100 lbs(never squatted until i did this program) to 240 lbs is not going to happen over just one summer.
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And to njrusmc, you seem to know what your talking about. Do you mind telling me what it means though, i dont know how to organize a program that well. I am just doing a premade workout routine that is proven to work for beginners, but i guess i can make my own."
Keep your A and B workouts. Create a C workout like:
Workout C:
-Single leg work (step up, single leg squat, bulgarian split squat, etc)
-Weighted pullups (or bodyweight if appropriate)
-Troubleshoot (work out any muscle group that seems lagging)
Now your program can be
Mon - A
Tue - plyo
Wed - rest
Thu - B
Fri - plyo
Sat - C
Sun - rest
With the C workout, you get some unilateral leg work. Lets face it, everyone has imbalances. You also get the vertical pull from pullups to counteract the military press. Finally, you get some wiggle-room for a lagging body part. Good luck.
Are there any other vertical pulls, i can only do 3 or 4 pullups (ive only been working out for the last month or so). If not, i guess i can do 3 or 4 then do some assisted ones.
Also, what should the sets and rep range be for the pullups and single leg squat motion be? I heard that for pullups, you should be able to do around 15 then i should start doing weighted ones. For the single leg exercise, i was thinking about doing 3x7, or should i stick to strength gains and go heavy?
I also want to know if i can switch the lagging body part on workout C. Does it have to be the same body part for a consistent amount of time? if so, i guess i’ll stick to triceps, but if not, i can mix it up and do biceps for one week then triceps next then shoulders or calves or something
No one “should” be able to do N amount of pullups. If you can only do 3-4 good bodyweight ones, do them for a few sets. Focus on the lat pulldown machines with various bars for various grips. You can select a more appropriate weight in this way. Assisted pullups are also good. Don’t worry about the drop belt until you can get at least 10-12 solid, good form pullups. Start with 10lbs on the drop belt at that point. To give you an idea of me, I can do about 17-18 wide pronated pullups. With a 25lb plate, I get about 7 for my first set and maybe 5-6 after that.
For single legs, I would say keep a slightly higher rep range until you become more accustomed to balancing the load. The last thing you need is your knee to rotate inward on a single leg squat.
And yes, the lagging body part is supposed to change over time. Your triceps wont be lagging forever, especially if you give them extra love. Its kind of a “need to work” basis, your body should tell you what is weak. Don’t forget about the important muscle groups everyone likes to neglect:
Obliques: a number of rotational exercises
Gluteus medius: will get his from single leg work, but isolation is helpful too
Scapula/shoulder external rotators: face pulls are excellent
VJB says to focus on your strength first, and then once your strength is up to par, then it would be better to start plyo’s. I think Kelly Baggot’s reasoning behind this was that you need to be able to exert a decent amount of force before you start training your body to better use that force. I would just stick with strengthening your body for now. Thats what im doing, and once im stronger I will start doing VJB plyometrics. I remember him stating its absoulelty imperitive that you develop a decent level of strength before you start plyometrics for the best results.
If you can’t squat your body weight yet, you should defienitly focus on developing strength first. Trust me, you will see the best results from that. I wanted to do VJB plyo’s but after doing them for a while and not seeing results, im just focusing on increaseing strength. You might not be able to start VJB for a while. Have patience. You do not need to do VJB right now to increase your vertical. You need strength.
highschool, ive decided to stop doing plyometrics though. i want to focus on leg strength and get my squat up. it was too tiring doing two days of plyos a week.
[quote]Lol312 wrote:
highschool, ive decided to stop doing plyometrics though. i want to focus on leg strength and get my squat up. it was too tiring doing two days of plyos a week.[/quote]
Makes sense. I play in college. I’ve found that simply playing volleyball is plyometric enough to maintain or build explosive power and that true “plyos” are only needed rarely to help break plateaus.
My recommendation would be to focus on building your strength up until you can squat 225 or so, ATG, then start in on a more balanced program.