I believe through my own personal experience that high school athletic teams should use plyometric exercises because it strengthens muscles quicker and improves performance faster. .
My senior year in high school, our varsity basketball team was picked to win our league. Practices were hard, we ran, lifted weights and went over plays non-stop. One practice our coach started these new exercises that were supposed to help our jumping ability. They were short, hard exercises. The whole idea is to develop the most amount of force in the shortest possible time. When a muscle is flexed or shortened, it's under tension and will react with a more powerful and explosive contraction due to stored elastic energy. Unlike most other aerobic exercises, gravity becomes a major factor in the workout routine. .
Needless to say our team went undefeated in league, and ended up fifth in the state. Not saying that plyometrics are what made us win, but it helped.
One argument against this type of exercise is, "that this form of training does not meet any of the Strength Training Guidelines or Recommendations of any of the experts in the field, including the American College of Sports Medicine, American Heart Association, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, US Surgeon General's Office" (Quinn Par. 7). They believe that it causes injury and eventually arthritis in the joints. .
In the end, there was not one guy on my team that had an injury due to plyometrics. I never felt pain due to these exercises either. If taken in moderation and you build up, these exercises are one of the best around.
Works Cited.
Quinn, Elizabeth. Plyometrics, the Controversy Continues. .
25 July. 2001. http://sportsmedicine.about.com/librar y/weekly/aa062701a.htm.
