Improving competition results requires better sprint speed and performance; for any runner, however, developing both of those qualities is complicated. If you create an effective routine, plyometric training may help your sprinters get faster.
Learning more about what makes a plyometric program effective will help you coach your athletes to greater success while avoiding any guesswork along the way.
Why Plyometric Training Is Crucial for Sprinters
Load monitoring is fundamental for any sprinter’s success. You’ll update each athlete’s workout focus based on their latest competition benchmarks, but the various aspects can get hazy. I’ve found myself focused on helping my sprinters with internal load training to maximize their self-perception while running, but it meant that my external load monitoring fell behind. That’s why I’m passionate about reminding coaches to utilize plyometrics routines.
I’ve found myself focused on helping my sprinters with internal load training to maximize their self-perception while running, but it meant that my external load monitoring fell behind. Share on X
Plyometrics provides numerous physical and mental health benefits for athletes within four adaptable phases. Once you know the foundational premise of each phase, you can customize the training to your sprinter’s training needs:
- Phase 1: Improving coordination and movement.
- Phase 3: Honing the explosive power in each step.
- Phase 4: Practicing movements with short stretches prior to jumping.
The first phase targets coordination and movement. This type of exercise begins when kids are young, because these activities include skipping rope, running, and other kinds of general play. Athletes can repeat the same maneuvers to challenge their neuromuscular system with repetitive movements. Exercises like box jumps and jumping sprint tucks are helpful in this phase.
Phase two practices landing mechanics. The control of each plyometric movement in this phase is more important than intensity. Precise landings teach the neuromuscular system to adapt to eccentric contractions at varying joint rotations. Unilateral and bilateral training enhance stabilization in single-leg landing tests, which puts more importance on practicing pogo hops, box jumps and other exercises outlined in a study from the College of Physical Education.
Athletes should also incorporate phase three of plyometric training into their routines between competitions. This phase includes a specific focus on concentric contractions to maximize explosive power from kinetic energy gained with each step, ultimately improving your athlete’s speed. Small hurdle jumps and bench drives may hone this benefit in sprinters needing less system stiffness to improve their time. The key is giving them time to practice the muscle contractions that happen each time they push themselves off the ground through jumps or steps.
The final phase concerns conditioning your athlete’s power to develop their stretch-shortening cycle (SSC). Movements with short stretches before each jump lengthen and contract muscles to prepare sprinters for hurdle jumps. Combining SSC plyometric exercises like squat jumps or bounding with jogging improves an athlete’s sprint performance by making muscles more used to functioning like well-oiled springs.
Key Factors for Competitive Training Advancement
Adding plyometric routines to an athlete’s workouts is best done with precision. You’ll need to know how their current practices aid their competition performance and what they must strengthen. These benchmarks change over time, so coaches should always provide adaptive routines that refresh between events.
Adding plyometric routines to an athlete’s workouts is best done with precision. You’ll need to know how their current practices aid their competition performance and what they must strengthen. Share on X
First, remember to increase jump intensity gradually. It’s crucial to assess how an athlete responds to plyometrics when they become a standard part of training before advancing the intensity of a specific movement. If the plyometric training is too intense too soon, the sprinter’s central nervous system may require valuable recovery time. Muscle tissue injuries may also occur if the athlete doesn’t receive proper training before plyometric workouts become too advanced.
Additionally, sprinters need time to hone plyometric movement techniques. Completing each training motion without proper form can lead to undesired muscle compensations. When sprinters compound those subconscious compensations with intensified workouts, they may become more at risk for injury.
Changing volume with intensity is another vital part of coaching sprinters through plyometric training. Overloading an athlete with only one specific exercise prevents them from strengthening their muscles, joints, and perception. If box jumps feel intense for an athlete, doing fewer repetitions to reduce the volume refines the exercises to what their body can handle. Meanwhile, movements that feel lower in intensity can increase in reps. Refining both aspects of plyometric training according to what each athlete is currently capable of doing provides better balance and long-term performance results.
Coaches should also select their word choice carefully to guide their athletes through jump-focused routines. When I coach my sprinters through skips during the first phase of plyometric activities, I tell them to grip the track and push up. The phrase reminds them to practice long jump takeoffs by rolling through their heels first, which better prepares them for events while doing eccentric contractions.
Plyometrics can assist in any phase of a sprinter’s training progression. Whether they’re working on speed endurance, explosive movements, or peak sprint times, wielding jump-centric workouts with purposeful coaching flexibility will help your sprinters reach their desired outcomes. Your efforts may even prevent speed plateaus by incorporating conditioning drills during off-seasons through plyometric exercises and the need to diversify them with standard cardio workouts.
Example of Plyometric Training Routine for Sprinters
If you’re ready to add more plyometric training to your programming, build personalized routines on a common foundation. This is the starter routine I’ve used to estimate which exercises my athletes should do, how many times they should do them, and what a comprehensive routine could look like for each sprinter.
| Exercise | Sets/Repetitions | Benefits |
| Skipping (Jumping Rope) | 100 skips/3 | Decreases muscle stiffness with low-impact exercise. |
| Box Jumps | Five continuous jumps/5 | Reduces injury risk related to landing after hurdle jumps when box jumps happen continuously. |
| Alternate-Leg Horizontal Bounding | Five bounds per leg/7 | Improves sprint acceleration before a race. |
| Single-Leg Hurdle Hops | Three hops per leg/4 | Can enhance jumping and sprinting speed when the hurdles are equal to the athlete’s competitive hurdle height (between 6-42 inches). |
Maximizing your athlete’s specific strengths, like stride length or speed, comes down to their personalized workouts. You should add or adjust example rounds with similar phase-related exercises for athletes with more stamina.
Assessing Sprinters for Stamina Prior to Plyometric Routines
Developing a custom exercise routine is more challenging if you’re unsure of an athlete’s strengths and weaknesses. In that case, you may need to perform stamina testing before plyometric training. Assessing your athletes can help you identify how they perform in three key categories:
- Power
- Strength
- Stability
Vertical jump tests identify how much power your athlete can generate while going from standing to a mid-air position. Broad jumps then demonstrate how far that generated force can take them. They may need more power-centric plyometric movements to address a lack of force or distance, like deficit lunges.
Your athlete’s stability allows them to push off the ground and land without hesitation before their next steps. Their stance and contact times during sprints may indicate a need for more stability training with jump-focused movements. I also assess this ability by timing my athletes while they stand on one leg or perform calf raises for 60 seconds.
The key to any assessment is using multiple layers of inference to determine an athlete’s capabilities. You need to know how their combined strength, power, and stability are working to customize a plyometric training routine that improves their competition outcomes.
Turning Assessment Data Into Effective Routines
After finishing an assessment, you’ll have a list of notes to compile into an actionable workout routine. I have felt a bit lost at times when I’ve reached this stage, but then I go back to the distinct phases of plyometric movements to pinpoint exercises for each area of opportunity.
Direction was challenging for one of my sprinters (who had recently) recovered from a hamstring strain—they veered too close to their lane markers when they landed after a hurdle. Directional-specific jumps trained the muscles when landing without the exertion of a sprint. Single-leg ankle hops and cone drills were the most helpful adjustments to their routine.
You might also have an athlete with a high flight-time to stride-length ratio. You’ll see this when an athlete spends more time in the air after a hurdle jump than the time it takes to cross a distance on the ground. Plyometrics focused on horizontal jumps, like step-ups, can reduce the ratio by changing how they approach getting over hurdles. It’s an excellent assistive technique while coaching sprinters to practice using 90%-93% of their effort during float sections of their events.
Deceleration control is another issue that can arise for sprinters. They need to slow their pace after an event comparable to their explosive starts. Deceleration encompasses merge control and speed, which may benefit sprinters struggling with this crucial part of competitions.
Scheduling Rest for Optimal Recovery
Plyometric movements are high-intensity, especially if your athletes are focusing on single-leg exercises. The standard rest time between reps is two to four minutes, but that’s not enough time for optimal recovery. Rest days must be standard for routine practices so the muscle fibers can heal and become stronger before the next workout.
When the athletes find their body’s recovery timeline paired with plyometric training routines designed for their biggest growth opportunities, you’ll help each sprinter achieve their best competition performances. Share on X
Adding rest days after jump-centric routines or varying them between cardio workouts will ease muscle strain so the tissue can become stronger, leading to the desired competition results. The number of rest periods will depend on each athlete’s ability to feel ready for more training, which also relates to their lifestyle, stress levels and nutritional intake.
Understanding your athletes on an individual level will key you into how much rest each person needs. When they find their body’s recovery timeline paired with plyometric training routines designed for their biggest growth opportunities, you’ll help each sprinter achieve their best competition performances yet.
