Consult a professional before embarking on any activity or lifestyle change. The author, publishers and distributors jointly or separately do not accept responsibility for any injury, damage or loss of anything, including, but not limited to life, person or property due to any advice from this book.

Copyright © 2004 by Kobus Huisamen. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.

Pictures by John Yoo.

To the trainers who made the most impact in my career: Steve Kalakoda, Henk Pelser and Ivan Hippolyte.

---

Explosive power. This is what this is about.

This is the thump in your punch and the whack in your kick. It is the spring in your legs that gives you that bouncy energy.

Plyometric training improves the explosive power (a combination of speed and power) in the body.

This is done with continuous rapid concentric and eccentric contractions of the muscles. In this, you try to develop and store elasticity in the muscles.

Most of the leg training in this regard is about jumping and upper body is mostly about throwing the medicine ball around. Others use Olympic lifts.

When your work with a medicine ball, choose one that is appropriate for your strength and size.

These days, people are working out more with Swiss balls (a bigger variation of the medicine ball – made from a type of plastic) than medicine balls.

Choose whatever is available to you. I used both.

In the early years, most of my Plyometrics were concentrating on the legs.

At this time, my kicks were really good. Later, I slowed down on them (i.e. working my legs) and concentrated on the upper body and found it worked well on my punching power.

Start out slowly if you haven’t done this kind of training before.

You need some strength to be able to do these exercises.

Due to the speed of contraction of the muscles, injuries occur suddenly.

So be careful – ease into this kind of training.

When you jump, for some athletes, the Achilles tendon is especially vulnerable to injury.

My programmes:

Rest 10 – 20 seconds between sets. Warm up well with some light jogging and light skips and jumps prior to the workout.

Programme 1:
“Traditional” Plyometrics

20	Skip jumps
20	Tuck jumps
20	Front jumps (both legs in the same position – or close – to the position a hurdles runner’s front leg would be, going over the hurdle)
20	Side to side jumps – jumping sideways and back over a bench
20	Drop jumps – jumping up and down a bench
10	Push-ups with hand clap
10	Left jab – throwing in punching action – a medicine ball to the trainer
10	Right jab – same as above
10	With both arms, starting from between the legs, throw the ball hard forward, straightening the back as you come up
10	With both arms, throw ball overhead, backwards
10	With both arms, starting with ball above the head, throw the ball forward. (You can also do it with single arm throws).
10	With both arms, throw the ball by passing over the chest to the left
10	Chest pass as above, towards the right

Figure 7.1: The tuck jump.

Figure 7.2: The front jump.

Figure 7.3: Side to side jump. Standing next to the bench as in the picture on the left, and then jumping over and back as in the picture on the right.

Figure 7.4: Forward throw, starting between the legs.

Figure 7.5: Forward throw, from above the head.

Figure 7.6: Backwards throw, from above the head.

Figure 7.7: Chest pass. Throwing the ball across the chest.

Programme 2:
Olympic lifting
(Choose weights you are comfortable with. Be very careful for injuries. Use a
belt. In the warm-up, you also need to add some light squats and
hyperextensions for the back.)

3 sets of 10 reps	Power snatch	Performing a snatch without the lunge or the squat. Just stand normally like for a dead lift, and pluck the bar up over your head.
Advanced: 3 sets of 10 Beginner: 1 set of 30	Snatch	If you are able to do a snatch, do 3 sets of ten. If you’re not familiar with it, learn form somebody and practice this with the bar only, for about 25-30 reps.
3 sets of 10 reps	Power cleans	Standing like you would for a normal dead lift, pluck the bar up until the weight rests on your chest.
Advanced: 3 sets of 10 Beginner: 1 set of 30	Clean and jerk	Complete Olympic motion. If you’re not familiar with it, learn form somebody and practice this with the bar only, for about 25-30 reps.

Figure 7.8: Power snatch. Start in position as on the picture on the left. Then just pluck the weight up over you head, as in the picture on the right.

Figure 7.9: The snatch. Starting position as on the left. Then pull the bar into your chest, and then fall in under it as in the picture in the middle. The stand up and finish as on the right.

Figure 7.10: Power cleans. Start as on the left and then pluck up the weight onto your chest as on the right.

Figure 7.11: Clean and jerk phases 1 & 2. Starting position as on the left. Then quickly stand up, pull the weight up into your chest and drop down under it as on the right.

Figure 7.12: Clean and jerk phases 3 & 4. From position 2, just stand up as on the left. Then, bend the knees slightly and shoot the weight up with your legs. As you come up, fall into the forward split position as in the picture on the right, to enable you to straighten your arms under the weight.

Programme 3:
(Just for legs)

2 x max	Lunge jumps	Jumping up as high as you can and down into a lunge. If it gets easy, add a dumbbell in each hand.
2 x max	Squat jumps	Taking a light barbell, jumping up and down in squat position.
1 x max	Squat kicks	From a low squat, stand up quickly and do a front kick with the left leg and immediately drop into the squat position again. Without resting, come up again and kick with the other leg.

If you do some research, you’ll find a host of information on the internet, in books and by talking to trainers. Make up your own programs – to facilitate your own needs.

Figure 7.13: Jumping lunges. Using dumbbells, move forward into a normal lunge position. Then jump up, switching legs in the air and landing in the lunge position again.

Figure 7.14: Jumping squats. Squatting with a light weight and jumping up, landing in the original squat position again as on the left.

Figure 7.15: Squat kicks. Starting in the squat position as on the left. Then, shoot up and do a front kick as in the picture on the right. Drop down immediately and come up, kicking with the other leg.