As a competitive decathlete, I’ve completed tons of plyometric workouts and exercises. Through my experience, I’ve learned that not all plyometric exercises are effective, or even safe. When creating a plyometric workout, it’s important to keep in mind that plyometric exercises can be very effective, but they can also become dangerous, especially when stacked together with fatigue.
If you’re looking for an effective and safe plyometric workout that takes just 20-minutes, you will love the workouts I have for you below. I’ve even included video clips of me demonstrating the exercises so you can see the proper form and technique.
But before we get into the workout, let’s first define what constitutes plyometric exercise.
What are Plyometric Exercises?
Simply stated, a plyometric exercise is a movement that is performed rapidly where there is a quick stretching or loading of the muscle followed by a forceful contraction. Some examples of plyometric exercises are jumping rope, sprinting, throwing objects at fast velocities (think baseball, football, and Olympic throwing), and even punching or kicking like in martial arts.
Before ramping up the intensity of your workouts with plyometrics, it’s a good idea to check in with your doctor, or get evaluated by a physical therapist, or competent trainer. If you’re new to plyometric training, exercises like jumping rope, skipping, hurdling and jumping on low objects are great ways to get started. If you’re more advanced, you can challenge yourself with harder exercises like box jumps, plyometric push-ups, and burpee pull-ups.
Benefits of Plyometric Exercises
Plyometrics are beneficial for many reasons:
1) Because they induce oxygen debt (which means they cause you to feel muscular burn and fatigue, and make you to go breathless), there is high fat-burning potential.1
2) They train your fast-twitch muscle fibers, which are responsible for speed and power
3) Over time, plyometric exercises train your muscles to store more energy because they increase the number of mitochondria (the energy-producing powerhouses of your cells) in the trained muscle groups.2
4) They’re a fun and effective way to train like a professional athlete
Plyometric exercises are a great addition to any comprehensive strength or wellness program because of the demands they place on your muscles and cardiovascular conditioning. With the right plyometric exercises you can simultaneously improve your weaknesses, increase your coordination and agility, build your power and cardiovascular endurance, and burn more fat as your fitness, recovery from training, and overall performance improve .3
Plyometric Workout Tips
Plyometric exercises can be performed as a superset or in a circuit. A more advanced option is to superset heavier strength training exercises with plyometrics, as professional athletes are known to do.
Here are some important tips to keep in mind:
1) Quality comes first! Within a few minutes you’ll be sucking wind, so mentally prepare and don’t let your exercise form suffer. Performing plyometric exercises with poor technique is a great way to get injured.
2) Train different body parts in your circuit. Consecutively fatiguing the same muscles can decrease your workout performance over the 20-min session (or much sooner) and lead to poor exercise form.
3) Understand oxygen debt and EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption)4 . What you’re really doing here is asking your muscles and body to do more work than you can provide oxygen for. The result is increased calorie- and fat-burning, even after your workout is over.
Plyometric Workout Instructions
Warm-up:
Perform a 5-10 minute warm-up with dynamic stretches and movements that match the exercises in your plyometric workout. For example, if you’re about to do 50 squat jumps, your warm-up should include some bodyweight squats and stretches for improved squat technique. Check out this dynamic warm-up, which will get you prepped for any workout.
Level 1: Beginner Workout
Complete 4 sets, performing the exercises as a circuit. Do each exercise for 45 seconds, resting for 15 seconds between exercises.1. | Jump Rope (alternatives: Fake Jump Rope, or Fast Run-In-Place) |
2. | Squat Jack |
3. | Speed Skaters (alternative: Curtsy Squat) |
4. | Lateral Thrusters |
5. | Rest or Shadow Box for 60 seconds |
Rest for 60 seconds between sets. Repeat 3 more sets of the circuit.
Level 2: Intermediate Workout
Complete 4 sets of the circuit using your first set as a warm-up to practice technique, gain familiarity with the exercises, and get sweaty. Do each exercise for 30 seconds, resting for 30 seconds between exercises.1. | Box Jumps |
2. | Clapping Push-Up |
3. | Tuck Jumps |
4. | Burpees |
5. | Lunge Jumps x10 each side, rest remaining time |
Rest for 30s before repeating again for 3 more rounds.
Level 3: Advanced Workout
Perform 4 sets of the circuit, resting for 60 seconds between sets.Do each exercise for 45 seconds, resting for 15 seconds between exercises.
1. | Star Jumps |
2. | Frog Squat Jumps |
3. | Plyometric Push-Up |
4. | Plyometric Pull-Up (aim for sets of 3-5) |
5. | 2-Hand Kettlebell Swing |
Rest and repeat for 3 more rounds.
Plyometric Training Considerations
With any kind of training, it is you, the athlete that needs to be responsible for your wellbeing. It’s awesome that you’re finding the time to train and improve your body, mind and soul, but you also have to be aware of when your exercise technique has lost its quality. Recognize your strengths as well as your limitations.
If you’re doing a 100 lunge-jump challenge and notice on your 32nd repetition that the muscle burn has turned into a legit pain and you’re wondering why you decided to do this workout, then it’s probably time to stop because you’ve forgotten how important and crucial your movement quality is. This is especially true for plyometric exercises where you’re challenging your muscles to rapidly stretch, contract, and produce optimal power. Train smart, and you’ll definitely see improvements in your performance.
If you try one of these plyometric workouts, let me know how it goes in the comments below!
Congrats on your first article on BuiltLean Mark! The videos really bring the article to life. Can’t wait to try these workouts this week and I’m pumped to read more of your articles. You make some of these exercises that are very tough look easy!
Very challenging approach to advanced training regimens. I like that there are 3 levels shown on the videos.
Love this, Mark! So glad you are getting your expertise out there! I will vouch for you any day! Training with you at Berkeley and privately was always phenomenal! You’ve level of expertise is off the charts!
How can I get a 6 pack? I am noticing a little definition in the stomach but its not very noticeable, what should I do to ensure it becomes defined
Hey Stan, losing the last few pounds of body fat is usually a nutritional challenge. I recommend getting more specific about your calorie / food intake. Winging it makes it really hard to get to the next level.
I love these kind of workouts. I think I’m up for trying the advanced workout.
The only thing I know I can’t do (yet), is the Plyometric Pull Ups. Do you have any suggestions for an alternative or modification of that set. My pull ups are getting better all the time but I’m not ready to let go of the bar.
Thanks!
Hey Samuel, thanks for the comment. Consider plyometric body rows on something like a smith machine bar instead, just be careful. Another idea is battle ropes for 30 seconds, or simply skip the exercise.
Hi Marc, thank you for the suggestions. I have done this workout today, before I saw your comments.
This workout is a killer workout. An excellent idea for my hard cardio days.
Instead of doing the pull up plyometric, I did burpees but instead of just jumping at the end of the burpee, I jumped up to the pull up bar and did one pull up.
I wanted to mention here, that it is a good idea to experiment with the interval times, to make sure you can finish it in good form. This is what I had to do. 45sec to 15sec rest ratio, was way too hard for me. After experimenting I found that 30/30 was a more suitable ratio for me. It was still super challenging. Sometime I had to rest just a tad bit more.
Now that I took the time to figure it out, I have a base to work out of and keep in my workout log, so I can see how I’m improving.
Please keep bringing more article like this, they sure help put a twist to the regular workouts and that’s really important (at least for me).
Thank!
Thanks for the follow up, Sam. I’ll be sure to let Mark Jellison know you completed the workout with some modifications and enjoyed it! We’re also excited to post many more workout ideas in 2016, so thanks of the encouragement!
Hi Love this but been a beginner i am struggling with the lateral thrusters and alternative i can do
Hi Robyn,
Instead of lateral thrusters, you can do mountain climbers or normal thrusters. Then, as you get stronger, you can add lateral thrusters back into your program. Glad you’re enjoying the workouts!
-Kristin, BuiltLean Coach & Managing Editor
Hey Marc – great set of workouts. Just a note: the videos don’t seem to be available anymore, and I think they’d still be a great reference.
Thanks, Ben. Mark Jellison did a great job creating this workout. I’m not having any trouble accessing the videos, which are hosted on Vimeo. What browser / computer are you using? Can you try accessing in private / incognito browser mode? Sometimes that can help