What MMA people train vs. what bodybuilders train, usage of protein, and more.

[Raining_Blood]

I didnt realize that this wasnt a program that you designed and I apologize for that. Although just because a program is designed by a professional does not make it right or beyond critic but that is for another discussion.

I was looking to debate the logic behind such a use of plyometrics but if the program wasnt designed by you then I guess your not in a position to do so. I also suspect that our definitions of plyometrics may vary which could be contributing to the problem.

[Teh El Macho]

What exactly would the problem with plyometrics be? In the brief time that I've trained, I've seen and been throught workouts that include plyometrics in one form or another, including one 30-minute conditioning class, twice a week, which including plyometrics substantially every other week.

This is a genuine question. The only concern I see with plyometrics is that they can be CNS-intensive and hard on the joints, BUT that concern can be addressed by tuning the volume and frequency.

[Emevas]

Its the concept of a 20 minute plyometric workout. You won't be doing 20 minutes of solid plyometrics, as the purpose of plyometrics work is to train speed, and to train speed, you don't want to be pre-fatigued. Usually a plyometric exercise is only going to be done for 1-3 reps, and then a rest period of a pretty long time to fully recover, with an emphasis being on generating as much speed as possible. However, in America for some reason, we use "plyometrics" as cardio training, when really all we mean is that we're gonna have someone jump up and down on a box for 1-3 minutes. This isn't beneficial for the training of strength or technique, as you'll become fatigued quickly and not be generating much speed.

Really, think of plyometrics as DE work.

[Raining_Blood]

Emevas has hit the nail on the head. The use of any training means should be dictated by the motor quality it is intending to target and the physiological demands of the means. The goal of plyometrics is to increase CNS recruiting efficency and allow for more muscle fibres to be activated in a limited amount of time. In simplier terms the goal is to increase maximum velocity and to achieve this, maximum velocity must be achieved in the movement itself. This cannot be facilitated without complete recovery between bouts. This is the same reason that when you are looking to improve sprinting speed you ensure full recovery between runs.

If you want to learn about plyometrics read up on infomation from soviet sources as they were the ones who designed the system and best implemented it.