TRAINING Q & A - Plyometrics

Q: Dude, my girl is doing this plyometric thing in the gym, along with her workouts and she is lookin' SMOKIN' HOT! Whatever this trainer is doing for her, I am really amazed. I am wondering, would doing something like that help my bodybuilding or hurt it? I wouldn't want to get too lean...

A: Ahem! Excuse us... but did you just say you "wouldn't want to get too lean?" Is there such a thing in the world of bodybuilding? We hope you mean, you wouldn't want to sacrifice size just to be lean, and in that case, we'd agree with you. However, plyo training is great for bodybuilders and will make muscle look so much better. You'll also find that it leans out areas of the body that have otherwise and in the past been stubborn. But it's super intense. I'm sure your girl has told you that, or at least complained about soreness in the beginning. It's really challenging and you should work with someone who knows how to put you through the paces when you do it, so you can learn it correctly and safely. We have seen more and more people doing it in the gym in combination with workouts, but you can also do it separately, so that you aren't going for the elevated heart rate and fat loss that your girl is going for. You'll get the power and strength, which will also help lifts like squats immensely, but you won't be going for the fitness chick look. Try it both ways and find out which you like. But like we said, plyometrics require strength and endurance, so get on that treadmill, get your fat down a bit, and do some walking lunges for awhile to see what you're made of!

Add intervals very slowly beginning with 10-30 seconds and slowly work your way to a minute long. What will you be doing? Well, plyo involves intense exercises such as jumping off platforms and rebounding and bounding up onto blocks or higher platforms. You can get a book of exercises that outline and diagram them for you, but for an example, you'd do a set of no-weight FULL REP squats for 50 reps (and believe us, that's a challenge) and then do squat jumps - down on the haunches and then springing right back up into the highest jump you can, and fluidly down once you land onto your haunches once more. But there are a lot of exercises you can do, including proprioceptive exercises, such as balance disk squats, etc.. to work your core too. All of them add to your muscularity, and the balance of your physique. We think they're terribly worthwhile, but we're hardcore!