Plyometric exercises are known to build explosive power and athleticism, however, they may yield other benefits even more useful for the aging grappler.
Power and speed are the obvious benefits to jumping, bounding, hopping, and landing.
These are hugely important to anyone concerned with maintaining optimal fitness past the age of 35, as power is the first quality we lose as we age.
But more importantly with regard to longevity, is the protective effect plyometric training delivers for resilience and injury prevention.
In addition to power loss as we age, we also slowly lose bone mass starting around age 40. Less bone mass means less durability and more potential for breaks.
As grapplers, tendon and ligament quality is hugely important. The dynamic nature of submission grappling puts these tissues at risk every time you step on the mat.
Plyometric training has shown to strengthen bones, ligaments, and tendons, while also building those highly sought-after performance qualities like power and athleticism.
If you’re new to plyometrics here’s a quick primer.
What Are Plyometrics?
Plyometric training takes advantage of the stretch-shortening cycle. The SSC happens when you eccentrically lengthen a muscle before quickly concentrically contracting it.
Essentially, you are loading the muscle to a lengthened state before releasing the energy generated, which leads to higher force output.
It’s like pulling a slingshot back before letting it go.
This alone will strengthen muscles and tendons, however, the landing phase of plyometric training is vitally important for tissue health.
This is when force is absorbed by the muscles, tendons, and ligaments, fortifying them in the process.
Examples of plyometrics are squat jumps, box jumps, lunge jumps, lateral hops, broad jumps, bounding, jumping rope, and plyometric push ups.
Why Plyometrics Are Important For Grapplers Over 35
Fast Twitch Muscles
Plyometrics help build and strengthen type 2 muscle fibers. These are your fast twitch fibers that produce speed and power.
Not only does plyometric training strengthen these fibers, it strengthens the neurological connection of your brain to these fibers, making you react quicker and be more explosive.
These qualities are crucial for escapes, takedowns, counters, and fast reactions. Any type of quick, forceful movement on the mat will benefit from training with plyometrics.
Unfortunately, type 2 muscle fibers are also the fibers that atrophy when we age. This muscle loss starts happening as early as your late 30’s.
Adding plyometrics will help combat some of this muscle loss, while also reaping the added muscle fiber and neurological gains.
Tendons and Bones
Bone density also starts decreasing around the same time as muscle loss. One common way to build stronger bones is through heavy resistance training.
This is a great method if you can tolerate it, however, my body hates the compression that comes with heavy squats and deadlifts.
Fortunately, plyometric training has a similar effect on bone density without the prolonged compression.
When you land after jumping, enough force is produced to stimulate the laydown of new bone tissue. This means stronger, more dense bones.
Plyometric training has also proven to improve tendon elasticity and stiffness. Weak, inelastic tendons are more susceptible to tears, which are painful in themselves, but also leave the joint less stable and vulnerable.
In a sport where you are attacking the joints, and making dynamic movements with your body, strong tendons and bones are the difference between consistent pain-free training and months off the mat in doctors offices.
So, not only do you get the performance improvements of faster force production and development of type 2 fibers, you also get stronger, more resilient bones and ligaments.
How To Train Plyometrics
The thing with plyometrics is that you can definitely get hurt if you train too much too soon.
You need to give your muscles, bones, and tendons time to adapt to the new forces and stimulus you are introducing.
A good place to start is jumping rope. This is an easy way to introduce low level plyometric training into your system.
Then, box jumps to a low box is an excellent way to train the stretch-shortening cycle without the hard impact. Because you are jumping up onto a box, the landing is softer than a regular squat jump.
More advanced forms of plyometrics include squat jumps, single legs jumps, depth drops, and finally depth jumps.
For the upper body, start with “float” push up, where you explode up and trying to float at the top without actually leaving the ground. You can then progress to kneeling plyo-pushups, and eventually full explosive pushups.
Final Thoughts
Remember, you have to go slow to get fast.
Try taking 2-4 weeks before progressing to a more advanced plyometric exercise.
Give even more time if you’re older and/or more deconditioned.
I do plyometric training twice a week, always at the beginning of a workout when Im fresh, and never to complete fatigue.
If you want to fight the eventual declining factors that come with aging, add plyometric training to your routine.
