Plyometric Training
Plyometrics is training the stretch-shortening cycle — the fast reversal from landing to takeoff that produces a jump, a first step, or a change of direction. Done properly it is one of the better-supported ways to add power. Done as "jump on things until tired" it is a good way to get hurt.
How we progress it
Plyometric volume is prescribed by what an athlete can already do, not by what they want to do:
- Landing first. Stick a landing from a low box, absorb it quietly, hold it. If the knee travels inward or the landing is loud, nothing gets added.
- Then double-leg jumping. Countermovement jumps, then repeated jumps, with contact time as the thing we are watching.
- Then single leg. Bounds, hops, lateral work. This is where most sports actually live and where most programs skip ahead too fast.
- Then speed and depth work. Only for athletes with the training age and the strength base to absorb it.
Volume is counted in ground contacts per week, and it counts what happens at practice too. An athlete playing four times a week is already doing plyometrics; adding a session on top without subtracting somewhere is how you get a sore patellar tendon.
VertiMax
VertiMax applies resistance through the jump itself rather than loading the spine, which lets us train jump and sprint patterns under load without a bar on someone's back. That matters most for younger athletes and for anyone whose landing quality falls apart under a heavy barbell.
We use the platforms for resisted jumping, resisted first-step work, and lateral drive.
Being straight about the evidence: plyometric training improving vertical jump is well established. Whether a resisted-jump device beats well-programmed unloaded plyometrics is less settled. We use it because it lets us load the pattern safely and because athletes will do more quality reps on it — not because a machine does something training cannot.
VertiMax also appears in the jump work on the volleyball page, where the landing side of it matters most.
OVR Performance and Powercore 360
Two other systems on site. Both are used for core and rotational work that supports jumping and throwing rather than for the jumping itself — the trunk has to transfer force for any of the leg work to show up in a sport.
Who this is for
Athletes with enough strength base to absorb landings, which for most youth athletes means some general strength work has to come first. If the assessment says the landing mechanics are not there yet, we build those before adding height.
Athletes returning from a lower-body injury do plyometric work last in the return sequence, not first.
Book a session
Plyometric work is programmed off a physical assessment, which includes a jump and landing screen.
Booking is online, or call 707-753-3583. Every participant needs a signed liability waiver on file, and athletes under 18 need a parent or guardian signature.