PLYOMETRIC STRENGTH TRAINING FOR THE MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENT
A PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHING UNIT BY
JOSEPH E. HERZOG
Joe Herzog, Chair Region 28 CAHPERD
Mayor's Fitness Council
President, Fresno Alliance for Phys. Educ. and Athletics
Retired, and loving it
(559) 252-3897 or (559) 999-5564 cell
email me here
Definitions:
Plyometrics: Exercises that generate maximum muscle contraction in the shortest possible time.
Power: Speed (time) X Weight (mass) = Power Power is the most efficient use of muscular contraction during any physical movement or activity.
Foot Contacts: The number of times contact is made with the ground or mats by one or both feet during a period of exercise or workout.
Blocking: Beginning with the arms extended behind the hips and driving them forward and upward and forcefully stopping them at, or just above head level, during a jump. If repeated jumps are involved, upon landing the arms must immediately be recovered to the starting position. Proper blocking technique promotes maximum application of force to the ground. Application of force to the ground is what initiates virtually all physical motion.
Levels of Intensity:
LIGHT: Standing jumps, standing hops.
MODERATE: Multiple hops and jumps, lunges.
HIGH MODERATE: Box drills.
INTENSE: Depth Jumping.
Conditions:
This unit was taught to classes that averaged between 33 and 40 students in a large, well matted all purpose room. The teaching period was 54 minutes in length, 5 days/week, with a minimum (32 min) day, every other Tuesday. Students dressed out in a district wide P.E. shirt/short uniform, or sweats every day, except minimum days. The room had both air conditioning and heating. A single instructor conducted the class.
Intense plyometric exercise is usually done 3 days per week, with some type of recovery exercise done on alternate days. 5 day exercise weeks worked well for us, because the time period at each station was relatively short, and in 4 years we had only 1 injury that required any class time missed (2 days).
These exercises should NEVER be done on any hard surface. We used brand new, quality mats, usually stacked 2 or 3 high to prevent joint compression injuries. A quality grass surface would suffice, though I would restrict or eliminate the use of depth jumping for students of this age.
A program of the intensity described here would be inappropriate for elementary students, though it would not be difficult to make modifications. Elementary students should focus on hopping, skipping and jumping, jump rope skills, including running and skipping, agility drills both standing and those done "scrambling" on their hands. They can also do medicine ball drills or use lighter balls to the same effect.
We focused on quality of performance: complete range of motion, blocking, consistency, and concentration on the drill at hand. Of course with middle school students (7th and some 8th) we weren't ALWAYS perfect. Kids were divided into groups of 6 by random draw.
EQUIPMENT:
JUMP BOXES: ½" plywood, 30" square tops. 1 @ 10", 2 @ 12", 1 @ 14" and 1 @ 16". They are open on the bottom side. ¾" by 6" oval slot cut in the top, though it may suit you better to cut 1 of those on each opposite side. Sealed and painted, sides white, 10" green, 12" red, 14" blue and 16" yellow. There are commercial boxes available, but they are relatively expensive. I "borrowed" mine from Fresno High School. I used both nails and 1 1'4 inch wood screws and I also reinforced the corners with metal braces. Mine are very heavy. I suspect if you talk to a decent track coach you can get as strong and lighter
PVC HURDLES: 18"-20" wide, 20 in total number. 5 @ 6", 5 @ 8", 5 @ 10"and 5 @ 12". You can also use cones and sticks or tape or string for this, but the hurdles worked really well. We used cones when we needed something higher because we needed only 1 or 2. Each hurdle requires 2 "T's", 2 elbows, a crossbar and 4, 10" supporting "feet", and 2 upright posts of appropriate height. I used ½" schedule 80 as it as very durable. Schedule 40 broke or became brittle over time. I did not glue (all) of mine together. While they might come apart if kicked they are easily put back together. If they are glued and broken then repair is a project. I color coded the crossbars by height, either with spray paint or colored tape, or by colored felt marker.
PORTFOLIOS/HEART RATE CHARTS: All of our students brought their portfolio to class every day and we did resting, active and recovery heart rate checks 90% of our active days. We used the carotid artery, on a 6 sec. Count and multiply by 10.
BOOMBOX/CD PLAYER: I'll discus types of music later on.
MEDICINE BALLS: We had 4 VERY old leather medicine balls filled with kapok. Only the eldest of us probably know what kapok is! I purchased 3 sets of graduated sets of medicine balls, blue, yellow and red, 4lb, 7lb and 10lb.
Misc. 2 ROLES OF 2' DUCT TAPE.
Misc. 2 SETS OF 5LB DUMB BELLS, 2 SETS OF 10LB DUMB BELLS, 1 25LB BARBELL, NO WEIGHTS.
Misc. 6 LENGTHS of ½" surgical tubing. I used torn up "T" shirts to make handles, tied on and wrapped with athletic tape at the tie on. Cut the tubing at 34"-36" so that they will be about 28" in length with the handles. 1" or 2" in either direction is not crucial. We attached these to a wall ladder at different heights. You can do lots of different exercises and they are great for re-habilitating injuries. They did not constitute a "formal" station, but I used them for demos and for working with individual kids.
MUSIC: JAZZ: I used Dave Brubek, Miles Davis, and a little Carlos Santana though he really isn't jazz.
ROCK 'N ROLL: Elvis, The Beatles (early music), The Beach Boys, and 50's Hits, Credence Clearwater
CLASSICAL: Overtures by Franz Von Supe, the 1812 Overture, Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony, Beethoven's 5th Symphony and the Emperor Concerto. During heart rate recovery periods, Bach's Suite #3, the Air on the G-string, and Pachelbel's Canon in D minor. They are by far the best, though almost any Baroque music or something piano by Mozart works pretty well.
Monday was Rock n' Roll, Wednesday was Jazz and Friday was classical. Tuesday and Thursday the most effective warm-up group got to select the radio station for the day.
REFERENCE BOOK: JUMPING INTO PLYOMETRICS, 2nd ed. By Donald A. Chu, PHd, Human Kinetics.
PLYOMETRIC EXERCISES AND STATIONS
1) STEP UP'S: 10" box: 10 X lead with right leg, 10 X lead with left leg. Emphasize rise up on ball of foot on each up phase. Can do 2 kids at a time: Facing each other, one goes up and on down phase the other student starts up. Those waiting, stretch hamstrings and calves.
2) JUMP UP'S: 12" boxes: 1st Rotation: 10 jumps off of both feet. 2nd rotation: 5 jumps off of right ft., 5 jumps off of left foot. Students unable to do single leg jumps do repeated sets of double footed jumps. I taught very quick blocking movements with this exercise, recovery being as important as the initial block.
3) DEPTH JUMPING: Not done until the second half of the unit: Standing on 16" box, step off box landing on mats both feet together. At the instant of landing, immediately jump vertically, to maximum height, blocking with arms and landing in a recover position. Do not jump up, off of the box. Landing is with too much force and instantaneous jump is not possible. Last two days of unit we duct taped a 14" and the 16" box together and (optionally) kids could do depth jumping off of a 30" box, which most were willing to try. We also did 180 and 160 degree turns in the air with our jumping, which they REALLY liked doing. We had 3 of our best mats stacked up for landing on this.
4) AGILITY BOUNDING: I laid a 25' length of duct tape on the side of the wrestling mat, but a chalk line on the grass would work as well. A: starting on the left side of the line, hop back and forth over the line, progressing down the line, on the right leg. Stretch walk, (long stride) coming back. B: same drill using left leg. C: same drill with ankles together. 2nd week, we did these backwards, 3rd week we did these with a jump rope. D: Add a parallel line of tape 18" to the right of the original line. Start on the left and hop to the right 1 line at a time, then back left and so on. Same exercises as single line.
5) AGILITY BOUNDING 2: Lay a piece of tape as a start, next piece 3' away, next piece 3'6" away, then 4', then'4'6", 5', 5'6", 6', 6'6", finishing with a 7' line. Object is to have to jump a little farther with each effort. Both single leg and double leg bounding. Just make the lines closer together for smaller kids and call the lines canyons or streams or boiling mud or gargoyles or something along those lines.
6) CREATURE CRAWLERS: This works best if you have aerobic steps. Student is in a pushup position with the step to the left, so he/she is working over the narrowest width of the step. Left hand goes up on the step then the right, then the left hand goes down on the floor to the left, then the right, so the student has moved from the right side over the top to the left side. Now go back leading with the right hand, following with the left. For most 10 reps was a struggle at the start so start with six and add on, but if a kid can do 10, turn them loose. First try or two, is to learn the sequence and develop confidence, after that it goes at a student's own personal warp speed.
7) MEDICINE BALL EXERCISES:
A: Crunches: Hold an appropriate weight ball on the chest and do a set of 20 crunches. We lined up the balls lightest to heaviest and did 20 at 4Lb, 15 at 7lb and 10 at 10lb.
B: Partners Crunch: 1 standing, in a sitting position. Standing person tosses, underhand a ball to the partner who catches it does a sit-up, toss the ball back and repeat the process. Number of intervals should suit the skill of the person on the floor.
C: Trunk lift: Hold ball behind head and do sets of 10 trunk lifts. Emphasize, just get chin or eyes level position and not go above that.
D: Around the World: Sit back to back to your partner. Hold ball at chest level, both turn to the same side and ball is passed, immediately turn to other side and return ball, turn to first side and repeat. 20 reps or maximum number in 30 seconds.
E: Over/under: Back to Back: Partner 1 passes ball back over head, partner takes the ball and returns it by passing in between their legs. 10 reps in each direction.
F: Passing drills: Same as you would use with a basketball: Chest, 2 hand overhead, right hand push, left hand push. Emphasize principle of opposition.
G: Table Drill: An advanced drill. I took a long cafeteria table and padded the ends with towels, duct taped, on.
3 people. 1 person standing 4-5' back from the end of the table, 1 lying on the table, hips JUST BARELY over the end of the table. 3rd person holding the feet of the person on the table. #2 hangs over the end of the table, rises up as in a trunk lift. #1 underhand tosses the ball, which SHOULD be caught overhead (we didn't demand this). #2 flexes down, holding the ball, then rises and tosses the ball back, Repeat 5-10 times. We allowed #2 to catch the ball below face level and toss it back underhand, simply because most kids are not strong enough to do this exercise above head level. Those who could were revered by their classmates. Very tough, but a confidence builder and a terrific exercise. As an option kids could simply hold a medicine ball and do "Flex-uprise" reps. In fact we required kids to start with this exercise before advancing to the more difficult catching drill.
8) Bounding Drills: For the very heavy kids who were not confident about bounding over hurdles, I simply laid out 3' green bamboo garden stakes at intervals on the mat and had them do single and double leg bounding over them. I always emphasized that kids should work at the level of their own skill and tried to design specific programs for kids who were not capable of doing the standard drills, or for those who were already advanced, in their ability.
Set up the PVC hurdles, the higher ones slightly closer together than the lower ones, but never closer than 4'.
Start with controlled double leg hops focusing on feet shoulder width and good blocking concepts with arms, including the recovery phase. Increase speed of exercise, as you feel comfortable in doing so.
On single leg bounding, kids tend to lean to the side of the hop leg. As best you can, keep them in an upright position. Kids have a tendency to start fast and slow down as they have trouble controlling their weight on landing. Emphasize start under control and try to accelerate throughout the exercise. We did occasionally mix the hurdle heights and a higher first hurdles does slow them down at the start.
9) Box Drills: 10TH DAY, or so, we would start stepping off a box and bounding over the PVC hurdles as a lead-up to box drills. Line up the boxes, tallest to shortest, 4'-5' apart. Step off first box down to floor, hop onto 2nd box, hop down to floor, onto 3rd box, until completion. Chest up, head up, good block and recovery. WARN them, if they start leaning forward they will hop into the box, not on top of it and there is a chance for injury here! Good body position is an absolute. Off of last box we jumped as far as possible and eventually did 360's (optional) off of both the first and last box, and one of my kids did a full back flip off of the last box.
10) Rope Jumping: Very basic two footed jumping, or running in place jumping. Done at 15 second intervals, not including prelim. side swings with 20 seconds rest and done at maximum speed. Emphasize that you stay as high on the ball of your foot as possible while jumping. Three intervals then a one minute rest then repeat.
11) Lunging: Step forward with rt. Foot, until left knee touches floor, push back and recover to standing and repeat with the left foot. Total of ten reps. Start with no weights, then add a 5 lb wt for each hand, then a 10 lb. We went as high as 15lb with certain kids. Heavier kids probably cannot go all the way to knee on the floor and you don't want them to injure their knees, so we put a small cone down and had them touch that until they got stronger. 90% of the kids eventually went all the way to the floor. Recovery was the hard part.
A: Barbell: We did two exercises. Pad the bar with the towel and must work with a spotter. First exercise was simply to do ankle pop-ups with the bar on the shoulders. Never let the heels touch the floor. Appropriate # in the set for the weight and strength of the kid, 10, 15 or 20.
B: Jump Squats: Just a slight flex at the knees, nothing beyond about 25 or 30 degrees, jump as high as possible, recover and repeat, sets of 10. Once they have learned their balance, do these as quickly as possible.
12) Observation: The ability to improve kids times in the mile run came from strengthening their calf muscles and their hamstrings, especially for those who were carrying extra weight. As a cross-country runner I fully recognize the value and necessity of cardio-vascular strength, but do not over look leg strength as a fundamental to improved running. Kids who run flat footed from start to finish, take a lot longer than kids who can keep their stride short and the weight primarily on the forward ½ of the foot, at least when they need to increase speed.
STRUCTURE
Warmup: Class was divided into groups of 6, by random draw. Once dressed, they lined up at the back door to the room and when I opened the door, we took a resting heart rate then, they ran outside, twice around the gym, then came in and got into their groups and started stretching while I took roll. We sat briefly and I reviewed specifics about technique, and being in a safe mode and asked for questions. Groups started at the same station in which they had finished the previous day. 4 minutes in each station. When I stopped the music everyone got down on the floor and did 15 pushups, then went to the next station. That got us all on the same time station and made sure that they did at least 60 pushups every day. We usually had 6 groups and 7 stations, sometimes 8, depending on how I advanced I thought each class proved to be. After the second rotation, when we finished pushups we did an active heart rate check.
Closure: Stop the class with 4 minutes left: Everyone hit the floor, on their back, eyes closed for 2 ½ minutes, while I played something Baroque. At the conclusion we did a recovery heart rate check and record (also, recorded) Resting and Active heart rates. Kids got their portfolios and recorded numbers on the chart and then did a three sentence quick write on the day, what they did well, what was most difficult, what they wanted to accomplish the following day, or on Friday, what they planned to do for exercise for the weekend.
Standards Met
ONE: The student will demonstrate competency in many movement forms and proficiency in a few.
Demonstratable forms of movement: Bounding, skipping, hopping, lateral movement, forward and backward, lunging, pushing, pulling, controlled throwing, leaping. Students must choose a specific exercise in which to demonstrate proficiency.
TWO: Student will apply movement concepts/principles and the learning and development of motor skills.
Students applied bounding, skipping, hopping and agility to a wide variety of specific exercises.
THREE: Students will exhibit a physically active lifestyle.
-Students were physically active for 30-35 min./day.
-Students were required to design their own warm-up routine in relation to their exercise program.
-Students showed improved scores in crunches, pushups, 1 mile run based on their pre-test scores
and in comparison with students who did not engage in the plyometrics class.
FOUR: Students will participate and understand that physical activity provides opportunities for enjoyment, challenge and self-expression.
-Students recognized designed in flexibility to fit their own needs and to challenge them to rises to higher standards.
-Students used quick writes to express their need, feelings, goals and plans to include physical activity in their lives.
-Students videotaped their group in a specific exercise, and had the opportunity to explain the exercise and participate in the demonstration.
FIVE: Students will demonstrate responsible personal and social behavior in physical activity settings.
-All students participate in the construction of a full value class behavior contract.
-Students are required to meet challenges and participate in low-level risk taking activities.
SIX: Students will understand the relationship between history and culture and games, sports, dance and play.
-Lessons applied: development of plyometrics and their relation to improved physical performance, and their historical development in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.
SEVEN: Students will understand the importance of respect for all others through responsible social behavior while participating in movement activities.
-Students work co-operatively with partners and in small groups.
-Students participate in the construction of class standards through the full value contract.
-Students use T scales, videotapes, self and peer evaluations.
Foot Touches
Beginning: 60-100
Progressed: 100-250
Intermediate: 150-300
Advanced: 250-400
RHR=resting heart rate - Prior to exercise
AHR=active heart rate - Following exercise
RCHR=recovery heart rate - After recovery period, following exercise.
Daily Schedule
Day One: Initial roll call: Discuss and define unit, answer questions:
Warm-up: Go through exercises as they relate to different stations, specific muscles/groups.
ACTIVITY: Standing hops and jumps, 1 ft/2ft. Jump turns: 90, 180, 270 and 360 degrees. Teach principle of blocking and landing to recovery. Divide into groups, draw by lot. Hand out full value contract forms.
Day Two: Meet at door. Take resting heart rate, run, enter room and begin group warm-ups. Take roll, discuss contracts. Due date is day 3. Question of the day: What is Newton's 3rd law.
ACTIVITY: Standing Long Jump-3 consecutive jumps, land & recover. Rt leg hop X 3, Lft leg hop X3 all students at one time. TAKE AHR.
2 X 10 step up on boxes, 2 X 10 hop up on boxes. Answer question of day. Questions about contract.
Quiet time/take rchr. Do quick write.
Day Three: RHR, warm-up, collect contracts.
ACTIVITY; Bounding over PVC hurdles or sticks. 10 reps.
Single line agility right leg and left leg. Take ahr. Creature Crawlers X10. Quiet time/music/take rchr, do quick write, and answer questions
Day Four: RHR, warm-up, collect all contracts: Medicine ball drills: Crunches without partner, crunches with partner, trunk lift with ball, partners twist X 10, over and unders X 10. Lunges, 5 rt, 5 left. Take ahr.
Vertical jump test. Quiet time, rchr, quick write Q & A.
Days Five-Seven: rhr, warm-up. Explain rotation system: Assign groups to stations and do walk through with pushups between.
STATIONS:
1. step-ups
2. Hurdles/hopping/bounding
3. Creature crawlers
4. Medicine ball crunches.
5. single line agility.
6. Lunges
7. Jump rope. Add to station One: Jump ups on boxes.
Days Eight & Nine: Add to Station 4: Table Toss and Catch. Add to Station Two: Box step off and bound.
Days 10 and 11: Add to Station Two: Multiple in line boxes for bounding.
Day 12: Assess by Groups: Bounding over PVC hurdles for blocking technique, body position.
Days 13-15: Add Depth Jumping off of double box.
Days 16-18: Add 180's and 360's to box drills. Discuss: On Day 20: 3 groups, drawn at random will be video taped: 1 minute to explain exercise station: description of exercise and muscles affected. Name 3 physical activities superficially affected.
Day 19: Groups to practice at selected station and do written preparation and practice for videotaping.
Days 20-21: rhr, warm-up. Select 3 groups, each day. By random draw to videotape. After taping return to regular rotation. .
Day 22: Peer and self evaluations handed out and completed and returned. Return to regular rotation.
Day 23: Vertical Jump Re-test. Turn in portfolio's for heart rate chart evaluation, quick write evaluation.
Day 24: Return Portfolios, Return to regular rotation.
Day 25: Return to gym for return to assigned teacher and choice for next unit.ss
This unit takes a lot of preparation and took some time before I found the right setup for stations in the room.
In a 40 X 60 room running east and west: Creature crawlers, jump rope and table drill were at the west end of the room.
Lunges were at the east end of the room. Universal weight machine took up some room in the se corner of the room.
Line Agility ran e to w, on the south side of the room.
Line of Medicine balls ran down the center and the hurdles and the boxes took up the north half of the room running e to w.
The set of the room changed every couple of days as things were added.
We did not use the universal machine, as stacked weight exercises are too slow to provide the power effect that you get from plyometrics.
Even though a regular weight training unit (taught by another teacher) was in our program, I found that most kids never got more 7-10 minutes of actual activity during the class period.
Doing Plyometrics, we got a thorough warm-up and went through 5-6 rotations every day and all were active. Only one single exercise required a spotter so activity was at the max.
Even kids waiting in line rarely waited for more than 15 seconds or so, and even then they were supposed to be stretching or practice the blocking skill.
I was joined, once for a couple of periods by another teacher as we both ended up with small numbers. He was amazed at the quality of work and the effort put forth by the kids.
Kids were required to invite one of their teachers to come in on a prep period. Most teachers did, since we had a great relationship with the rest of the faculty. I also showed videos of the unit on a giant TVss screen prior to the start of our faculty meeting.
I HOPE that this will generate some more questions and please don't hesitate to get a hold of me. If you can ADD to the quality of this or correct any errors, don't hesitate to do so. I'm still learning.
Joe Herzog, Chair Region 28 CAHPERD
Mayor's Fitness Council
President, Fresno Alliance for Phys. Educ. and Athletics
Retired, and loving it J
bigfish344@hotmail.com (559) 252-3897 or (559) 360 6946 cell
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