Practical applications of an optimized plyometric training – an overview

Abstract: Plyometric training has always been a topic of interest in terms of sport perfor-mance enhancement and development. The most relevant and up-to-date data has been reviewed to try to answer the question “what kind of plyometric training to use” to improve ones’ performance. The present study demonstrates the use of re-active strength index (RSI) and force-velocity profiling. In the text there is also a presentations of common jumping tests that help practitioners to establish a profile of an athlete. Main findings of this study are: general strength should be developed alongside reactive strength qualities, plyometric training optimized and guided by RSI is highly effective in improving reactive strength ability, demands of a sport determine the manner in which plyometric exercises should be performed, RSI can be used as a representation of neuromuscular fatigue, force-velocity (F-v) approach may help improve the training practice for performance in explosive push-off ac-tions like jumping, through a more efficient monitoring and understanding of the individual determinants of athletic performance, showing the sensitivity of the F-v profile to specific training programs can result in either maximal force or velocity capabilities improvements (determination of F-v imbalances or FVimb) – which is termed “optimized training” and it has been found that an optimized and individu-alized training program specifically addressing the FVimb is more efficient for im-proving jumping performance than traditional resistance training.