Plyometrics for Runners

If you’ve been a distance runner for years & you’ve been doing your best to eke out stellar times, but your VO2max has plateaued, don’t despair. There are still plenty of gains to be had that may not be directly attributable to a boost in this top-end indicator. Running economy is one such variable that is a complex conglomerate including cardiorespiratory fitness, metabolic, neuromuscular & biomechanical determinants. A recently published study by Lum et al. (2019) also suggests muscular power development & utilization of stored elastic energy may be underlying reasons for an improvement in running performance without concurrent gains in aerobic capacity. Countless studies have supported this conclusion showing plyometric training to improve endurance running performance. Plyometrics involve a rapid eccentric movement, an amortization phase, and then an explosive concentric contraction. Examples of such are hopping, bounding & jumping. Importantly, additional miles aren’t a necessary requirement for improving your running performance by leaps & bounds!