If there is one thing that sprint and speed coaches can always learn more of for the benefit of their athletes, it is the correct implementation of plyometric training.
Plyometric work provides one of the most fundamental overloads to the central nervous system, and muscle-tendon complex. I’m excited today to have Ryan Banta chat about how he utilizes a yearly periodization program for the sake of improving sprint speed and power.
Using only one plyometric scheme and emphasis year round can yield burnout, and limited results, so it’s always helpful to have guideposts during the training process. With that said, let’s get started on Ryan’s thoughts on year round plyometric implementation for sprint athletes!
Talk about your yearly periodization scheme in the implementation of plyometric exercises
Ryan Banta: Training an athlete with a global periodization scheme, I feel it is important to link training modalities together with the different themes of the season and to maximize the adaptations you are trying to exploit in training.
In a concurrent periodization model, you are creating training for different biomotor abilities through multiple means of training. The first three weeks of the annual plan I tend to avoid specifically dedicated plyometric sessions to allow the athletes to adjust back into training. Remember sprinting at high speeds is plyometric training and some biomechanical drills have stretch shortening components.
Ryan Banta’s yearly periodization chart, a short sample taken from his upcoming work “The Sprinter’s Compendium” (Click to enlarge).
I like to train athletes from a global perspective, keeping training fresh and moving forward in some different methods simultaneously. I find it valuable to start with simple in place jumps to help develop a sprinter’s trigger, aka their ankle complex.
Novice athletes need to learn how to land and the experienced ones need reminding. There is no purpose in moving the athlete forward beyond the simple jumps if they cannot land correctly. Some athletes will progress quickly, and an experienced coach should feel comfortable moving them forward into more challenging plyometric drills.
Ankles need to have the ability to be stiff when the situation calls. Ankles at the same time need the proper amount of suppleness. We currently have a young athlete with ankles severely locked. As they run, you can hear a Boom, Boom, Bang with her cadence. Not only is the athlete landing too hard but the bang on the third step is a pre-indicator for an imbalance in a sprinter’s gait. These sounds could spell disaster if not taken seriously.
If you listen, you can learn a lot about an athlete as they run past you without even looking at them (more on this topic can be found chapter 9 in The Sprinter’s Compendium). I am going to prescribe a lot of in place jumping including jumping rope to unlock their ankles. I tend to couple this training with hypertrophy work in the weight room. In addition to hypertrophy work adding horsepower, increased anatomical leverage, and a cross-section of muscle, it also improves connective tissue. Ligaments along with tendons have a chance to develop both with the in place jumps and hypertrophic strength training. If an athlete is ready to move on we, then ramp up the intensity and volume in the concurrent model. Increased intensity and volume comes during specific preparation phase.
Early in the year, the sprinter needs to develop power, power, and power. I want the athletes to put so much force into the ground Isaac Newton gets a headache. To create the desired power returns the sprinters will perform sled work, maximal lifting in the weight room, cued runs of “build, float, hit,” and multi-jumps.
For sprinters, the multi-jump routine builds off skills developed in the previous phase by increasing the power output and stimulus on the neurological system. The plyometric jumps available can run the gamut of repeat “frog” hops, to jumping over hurdles or cones. In this phase, the training is developing the sprinter’s ability to project their center of mass explosively off the ground. Increasing the projection of the center of mass translates to decreased rise time, improved block clearance, and a more powerful drive phase.
A hurdle hop correctly performed with actual, low contact times. An unusual anomaly in the internet training universe!
As a sprinter enters this phase, it is always good to start with a lower number of contacts than a sprinter might be capable of at the time. You want to keep your sprinter healthy by letting them prove they can handle the increased loads before adding more barriers or reps for them to jump. Coaches should couple multi-jumps with other power routines on the track and in the weight room to maximize the outcomes from this phase in training.
To stick with the theme of power sled pulls and short uphills are great on the track options to implement as a part of training that fits nicely with the multi-jumps. In the weight, room lifting should include Olympic and power lifts of few reps with heavy loads. In this phase of weight training, it is not unusual for a sprinter to do sets of 1, 2, or 3 repetitions. Everything we do in this phase on the track, turf, or in the weight room should be to recruit as many motor units as possible to create ever-improving muscle contractions.
The first maximal phase of strength training and multi-jumps typically coincides with a break in the annual plan due to the holiday season. During this transition phase, I typically remove plyometric training from an athlete’s plan. The absence of plyometric training is for one main reason. Plyometric training is difficult and can beat up the body if done in endless succession leading to a higher risk of injury. Numerous great athletes have ruined their seasons by getting hurt training away from the watchful eyes of the coach.
As I have stated in previous blogs it is important athletes train during transition phases. However, what is truly important is WHAT they do during that time. For most of our athletes, the holidays are filled with lots of distractions even when working out at their home gyms or their old schools. Distractions and lack of concentration have destroyed many seasons. The downsides of doing plyometrics during these two weeks far outweigh the benefits, so it is better for these units of training to take a backseat to simpler and safer methods of training during the holiday.
After the first transition of the season, the sprinter will once again commence plyometric training. In this phase, we move to endurance bounding. Endurance bounding is preferable during this phase of training because it fits nicely with speed and special endurance performed on the track. The sprinter will now take the power developed during the specific preparation phase and extend these elastic properties into the maximum velocity and maintenance phase of their races. The longer a sprinter can maintain contractile efficiency the faster the speeds can be held for longer into the race.
Endurance bounding features bouts of 30-100m distances.
Endurance bounding adds the horizontal component from repeated bounding on a single leg. Bounding and skips during this phase help improve the sprinter’s stiffness and stability all the way up their spine. The stability developed from endurance bounding is balanced by “Stability” strength training in the weight room (explained in early chapters in the Sprinter’s Compendium). The stability strength training also works on the body’s proprioception providing it the improved ability to drive the leg powerfully into and off the ground unilaterally with increasingly shorter contact times.
After a phase of endurance bounding, the intensity gets ramped up once again with depth jumps. Depth jumping is by far the most intense plyometric training in a coach’s arsenal. Like multi-jumps, depth jumps are coupled with maximal strength in the weight room. Depth Jumps are like multi-jump in reverse. The goal for athletes doing multi-jumps is trying to jump over high objects above their center of mass. Meanwhile, during depth jumps the sprinter is dropping from an elevated position below their center of mass and overcomes their body’s momentum to explode off the ground again.
Depth Jumps along with maximal strength training in the weight room can put the CNS into hyperdrive. We see maximal training frequently throughout the annual plan. I like to recycle some of the ancillary training throughout the season as I believe in a concurrent system the sprinter needs to repeat stimulus from time to time to allow the sprinter to see frequently training they need to improve themselves overall.
A standard, objective based depth jump.
Implementing depth jump training should only take place if the sprinter has successfully handled all other methods of plyometric training. In the beginning it important to drop from shorter platforms and use a reduced number of contacts until the coach is confident they can handle higher elevations in increased repetitions. Resisting overload from the combined aspects of gravity and body weight push the body’s central nervous system and musculature to even further heights.
Once the sprinters have mastered the basics of depth jumping the plan moves to Jump Throw Combinations. At this stage the sprinter has seen most of the drills and combinations they are going to perform at different points through the rest of the year. In the periodization chart, you will notice we are attempting to bring the sprinter to another peak. I favor the Jump Throw Combinations in a peak cycle for a few reasons. First, using the medicine ball during a Jump Throw Combination gives the sprinter immediate feedback on the sprinter’s explosiveness by how far and high the ball goes during the drill. The feedback allows them in real time to adjust what they are doing to maximize their power output. The second positive aspect of Jump Throw Combinations is you can add barriers or depth jumps into the throws increasing the stimulus and difficulty on the CNS.
The depth jump to vertical med ball toss is one of the most basic, yet effective jump-throw exercises.
With experienced athletes I include box drops into the Jump Throw Combinations to increase the intensity right before the unloading phase. This type of plyometric training links nicely with a ballistic or speed/power acquisition phases in the weight room. The speed needed to get off the ground and move a heavy ball quickly blends nicely with the doing fast as possible (FAP) and plyometric lifting.
The unloading period will include an absence of plyometric work. Besides rest and recovery, I like dialing things down for the CNS stimulus during a recovery period. Dialing things down during a recovery phase provides the athlete’s body “more bang for the buck” to the CNS when you need to dial things back up for the sprinter in a championship phase. The body can become docile not responding strongly if you are training the same aspects of a sport all year long. Diminishing returns of stimulus dictates some aspects of your scheduling, and this includes the planning of plyometric training. After the peak cycle, it is important once again recycle valuable training methods again. However, in this final phase you might tweak the methods slightly but goals are the same.
In the last cycle, the light plyometric sessions can center on jumping rope. Jumping rope is a great place to start your last phase as it provides similar adaptations as in place jumps. However, jumping rope creates something additional the sprinter must pay attention do to the rapid nature of their contacts and avoiding the rope getting caught at their feet. If the sprinter has advanced skills with the jump rope, they should move to single leg actions with the rope and eventually move to running while jumping rope. The jump rope phase should not and does not need to be long before moving on to the next plyometric phase. In the chart you can see once again stability weight room work will blend in to help develop the lower leg stiffness so important in sprinting. Stiffness and balance from stability training will be important as the sprinter once again go through the different phases of plyometric training.
Following the jump rope phase, I like to blend the skills of acceleration and plyometrics simultaneously. To implement in combined method in training a coach can use some different acceleration drills followed by endurance bounding and multi-hops. In this phase, a coach should use acceleration into bounding and even sprint out of the back of a plyometric hurdle or box jumps. Another great drill I like to use to blend skills are bench drop acceleration runs. At this phase, these skills should be a part of your acceleration units at the beginning of practice.
Bench drop acceleration runs.
Like early in the year acceleration and power should be a focus of your season in the latter part of your annual plan. Committing to power at this stage, I like to link ballistic lifting in the weight room. As I have stated in the Sprinter’s Compendium on Strength training a ballistic phase in the weight room should only be used at the proper time during an annual plan along with an experienced lifter. The ballistic phase requires a lot of plyometric types of movements in the weight room which fit nicely with the power and jump combinations on the track.
As your sprinter reaches the final peak of the season, I like to implement special power training inspired by Italian sprint coach Roberto Bonomi. In this particular plyometric phase, the sprinter will strap up a weighted vest or ankle weights. Some coaches use gadgets to their detriment but when correctly used they can help bring a sprinter to a crescendo of performance that can blast personal bests. Here the sprinter can add loaded with a vest to do very specific overloads like flight “A” runs or other drills that involve the stretch-shortening reflex.
Coach Bonomi has suggested using ankle weights in bounding and hopping drills. If using ankle weights do not sprint with them but instead bound this is a strength activity to couple with other faster and shorter contact time activities. Ankle weights used in this method will strengthen the sprinter’s hip flexors a typically undertrained but important muscle in high speed sprinting. The bounding amplitude with ankle weights will dictate what aspects of the sprint cycle you are training. For example, skipping with low ankles works on the push off the ground and skipping with high knees works on front side mechanics along with strengthening the lower core. I believe it is important to do both drills in a single session as they blend well together. The combinations at this point are endless but be careful not to overload the sprinter to much with loads of the vests or ankle weights. Instead, keep the loads slight enough not to destroy a week’s training but still have a positive effect on performance. Finally, the sprinter is once again ready to peak.
As displayed on the chart each of these phases are much shorter than in previous cycles of training. The sprinters have been through so many different methods of training, and their fitness is so strong the athlete does not need to stay long in one phase. Instead, I think it is more worthwhile to keep the training fresh and stack different milestone stimulus on top of one another. Doing this will keep the body coming back for more and relaying together skills the sprinter needs to be brought into maximum fitness.
The final cycle repeats the previous cycle of jump throw combinations. The jumps and throws in these final sessions should be sharpening. The chart used for this blog and the Sprinter’s Compendium is just example of one way you can lay out different aspects of training over the course of the year.
Conclusion:
Remember different goals, event type, muscle distribution, fiber type, and experience all dictate these choices you make in training. It is also important to keep in mind this is just one aspect of training laid out over the course of these many pages. As a coach, it is wise to take your time when laying out an annual plan. Draw up some blue prints, use your goals as your training guides, don’t be afraid to adjust, and always seek out another pair of eyes to make sure what you are doing is the best options to achieve your desired result.
Ryan Banta
Ryan Banta is Parkway Central High School Girls Head track and field coach 2003 to the present, and Parkway Central High School Head XC coach 2013 to present. Ryan’s coaching tenure has yielded 84 school records. 2 top 4 finishes in 2008 and 2009, District Champs 2007, 2008, and 2009, four runner up finishes at districts 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014, two state records 4×800 and 3200 meter run, 14 nationally ranked events, 34 all state performances, 7 runner up finishes, 8 state championship events and 70 state qualifiers (track and xc). Ryan is the MTCCCA Vice President and MSHSAA advisory board member. He is a writer for elitetrack.com and speedendurance.com and has his USATF Level II in Sprints, Hurdles, Relays, and Endurance, as well as a USTFCCCA technical certification.
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