We love working with our outdoor athletes here in WNC. Why? Because that’s who we are at Mountain Wellness & PT. Throughout my 20+ years here I have dabbled in a little bit of everything. Kayaking, trail running, MTB, road biking, hiking and climbing! If only I had more time in life I would be able to do it all…..much better.
Fortunately, we get time with all these sports when we spend time with our clients. So climbers, this blog is dedicated to you!
Something I have noticed when working with our climbers is the need for some quick, efficient training programs that not only keep you healthy throughout your climbing season BUT ALSO, contribute to you getting stronger and performing at a higher level.
A perfect combination of strength and agility are plyometrics. Think of plyo’s as the formula here: Speed + strength = POWER. You have got to train both in order to call upon your STRENGTH at a moment's notice for a quick agility move…think sit start, dyno….or even landing from a drop or fall.
Often people think of plyometrics as jumping….box jumps….and more. Officially, plyometrics is an eccentric muscle contraction followed quickly by a concentric contraction.
For example, your classic box jump….eccentric is the slow lowering into a squat (the quad has to slowly lengthen out) followed by a quick shortening of the quad (and other muscles) to propel yourself up or out….followed immediately by a nice soft landing using the eccentric muscle groups again…..thus the cycle.
Here are some plyo routines to incorporate into training to work on those very specific moves.
Check out our YouTube channel for specific instruction and technique. Please follow us as well as we start to get this content out to everyone! (slowly but surely).
- Plyo Push ups
- Ys & Ts
- Kettlebell Swings
- Medicine Ball Slams
- Squat jumps
If you have questions, please shoot them our way! We love to prevent injuries FIRST instead of treating them. If you do have a nagging issue going on, please reach out and schedule a quick free consult with us here: https://www.mountainwellnesspt.com/get-started
Until our next blog entry….again, hopefully sooner rather than later!
Charlotte - Outdoor Enthusiast & Physical Therapist
