Teach Them to Land First
Jason Nunn MS, CSCS
Plyometrics have been a part of
most athletic development programs for many years. It
has become quite commonplace for coaches to implement
these sort of hops, jumps, and triple jump variations
during the speed and acceleration development periods of
their programs. These sorts of drills have been proven
time and again to improve both starting strength and
elastic strength in athletes. In most of the beginning
literature from the Soviets, the thought was that an
athlete must be able to squat two and a half times their
own bodyweight to be able to perform plyometrics.
However, in most athletic programs, this simply will not
work. Most athletes today will not have the time to
develop this type of strength. Honestly, this would
limit most athletes from being able to perform this type
of exercise. For example, Hossein Rezzazadeh weighs
three hundred and sixty pounds, can clean and jerk five
hundred and eighty pounds and squat eight hundred and
sixty pounds (raw I might add). Yet, by these rules, he
cannot do plyometrics.
Sorry
Mr. Rezzazadeh, I know you can clean and jerk a house,
but you can’t do box Jumps.
Given this, I do not think an old
way of measuring strength is applicable to today’s
athlete. Rather than just looking at squatting
strength, let’s look at their relative and functional
strength. By relative strength, I mean the ratio of an
athlete’s strength to their bodyweight, and by
functional strength, I mean the ability of an athlete to
“stick” a landing without a valgus of the knees
(adduction of the knee relative to the hip and ankle)
and collapsing the core (excessive forward lean).
Valgus
Knees
Excessive forward lean (core collapse)
It is my
opinion that many strength coaches tend to put the
carriage before the horse. That is, they are in such a
great hurry to get their athletes “stronger”, that they
neglect any type of progression or injury prevention in
their periodization scheme. Most of all athletic
injuries occur during deceleration and in the transverse
plane. That means that most of the athletes are trying
to simultaneously stop and turn at the same time when
they are injured. This is the most common in females,
due to the natural angle of their hips. Let’s break
this down a little bit and discuss the excessive forward
lean and torso vertical stability and torso rotational
stability first. Then, we’ll look at the valgus knee
issue.
Excessive Forward Lean
In training the core (anything
between the hips and the chest) it is important to
remember that the primary responsibility of these muscle
groups is lumbar spine stability, not mobility. This is
key when addressing the excessive forward lean. Most
times, the excessive forward lean is due to having a
weak core. If the athlete’s core is not strong enough
to absorb the force of the landing, the core will
collapse causing them to buckle forward. To prevent
this from happening, you must first focus on the
isometric strengthening of the core musculature (pelvic
floor, transverse abdominus, diaphragm, internal and
external obliques, erector spinae, and rectus abdominus).
Here are some exercises to incorporate into your program
to do so:
Front Bridge
Pull the naval in towards
the spine and squeeze the gultes
Side Bridge
Keep the hips even
with the shoulders.
Side Bridge with Glute Activation
Press the knee firmly
into the ground.
Bent Knee Bridge
Press through the heels and make sure the hips are all
the way through.
Hold each of these 6 – 30 seconds depending on the
athlete’s strength level.
Valgus Knees
Like stated earlier, valgus knees
are the adduction of the knees in relation to the hip
and ankle. This is a very dangerous position that can
lead to many knee injuries, as well as, several other
hip and low back problems throughout the kinetic chain.
For most athletes, this is just a simple matter of
re-learning the motor pattern. If this is the case, the
easiest way to do this is doing a drill I call “Landing
Mechanics”. (Very creative, I know) This is a drill
that I incorporate at the end of my dynamic warm up.
Frontal Landing x 5
Starting Position Landing
Position
Have
the athlete start on a bench or plyo box that is about
knee height and fall into a good landing position.
If you’ve done the following drills
for a couple weeks and the athlete is still exhibiting
the same valgus knees, this may be a sign that there are
bigger problems that may need some extra attention. A
little corrective exercise training may be order.
First off, let’s look at the
problem. The knees are moving inward. Let’s take the
Janda approach and look at which muscles are locked long
(weak) and which opposing muscles are locked short
(tight). I think that Gray Cook put it best when he
said, “The knee is a slave to the hip and the ankle.
For dysfunction in the knee, look either a foot north or
a foot south, you will find your problem.”
Corrective Exercise Training for the Valgus Knees
Now that we’ve identified which
muscles are tight and which ones are weak, let’s look at
how to fix the situation. First, we will start with
lengthening the short muscles by:
Foam Rolling:
IT – Band
Start
with the roller at the greater trochanter and work your
way towards the lesser trochanter. Hold each tender
spot thirty seconds.
Peroneal Complex
Roll
from the head of the fibula to the lateral malleolus.
Hold each tender spot thirty seconds.
Static Stretch:
Calfs
Be
sure that the arch of the back foot does not collapse
Hip Flexors
Squeeze the glutes and keep the shoulders back.
Following the foam rolling and
static stretching, you will implement a comprehensive
dynamic warmup. Then, you will be able to incorporate
the core above mentioned isometric core exercises, as
well as, the following:
Lateral Tube Walks
Begin with a mini band just above the knees and the feet
just a little wider than hip width. Then, while
maintaining core stability, step out just wider than
shoulder width. Then, step back to starting stance. Do
this 10x to the right and 10x to the left.
Hip Thrusts
Begin
with one leg bent just past 90 degrees at the knee and
the other pointed straight up. Press the heal of the
foot into the ground, squeeze the glute, and press the
hips up as high as possible. Repeat 10x each leg.
Athletes get injured for three
reasons. They either aren’t strong enough, aren’t
flexible enough, or by contact. If the athlete gets hit
by a car, you can’t help that, but you may be able to
fix the other two! By spending a little time working on
preventative maintenance, the coach greatly reduces the
risk of injury to their athletes.
Sources:
Janda V. Muscles and cervicogenic
pain syndromes. In: Grant R., editor.Physical therapy of
the cervical and thoracic spine. New York: Churchill
Livingstone; 1988. p. 153-66.
Meyer, G.D., et. Al., Neuromuscular
Training Improves Performance and Movement Biomechanics.
J. Strength Cond. Res. 19:51 – 60. 2005
Rodger, Robb, Kids Jump Down.
Sbcoachescollege.com
Jason Nunn is a Personal Trainer
and Sports Performance Coach in Indianapolis, Indiana.
He is the Owner of Nunn’s Performance Training, LLC. He
works with clients of all levels from weekend warriors
to division I athletes. Check out
http://www.nunnstronger.com for more info.
