Today I want to address the best plyometric exercises for increasing your speed, whether that be acceleration, top speed, or your linear speed in general.
There are some misconceptions about the exercises we perform regarding mechanical drills and plyometrics.
- The way I like to think of it is that plyometric drills will be the ones that teach your body to rebound off the ground.
- We want to decrease our amortization phase, which is the time we spend contacting the ground.
- We want to absorb the force as quickly as possible, utilize that energy, and push off and produce force as much as possible.
Mechanical Drills vs Plyometrics
Mechanical drills, a lot of high knees, A skips, B skips, and things of that nature will teach your mechanics to be more efficient when you’re sprinting.
Plyometrics will teach your body to produce more power. And that’s what we’re focusing on here with these plyometric drills.
List of the Best Plyometric Drills for Speed
The following are the best plyometric exercises for speed:
Power Skips
I love power skips, whether you’re going for height or distance. I love these two variations.
One, we’re focusing on a vertical emphasis on power, and two, we’re focusing on a horizontal emphasis on power.
- Start: Stand straight with arms by the sides.
- Action: Skip forward, focusing on maximum height (vertical emphasis) or distance (horizontal emphasis).
- Next: Continue skipping, alternating between the right and left leg.
It is one of the best plyometric exercises for speed.
Double Leg Bounds
After that, we have double-leg bounds. We’re performing the same thing.
So we’ll do the same thing where we focus on vertical power and one where we focus on horizontal power.
The thing I love to do with double-leg bounds is force the athlete to make sure they flex their hips.
So they’re actually pulling the knee and tucking it as they do each jump.
- Start: Stand straight with arms by the sides.
- Action: Jump forward with both legs, focusing on vertical height or horizontal distance while flexing hips and tucking knees.
- Next: Land and immediately continue bounding.
Single Leg High Knee Pogos
I love single leg high-knee Pogos; not only are they learning how to explode off the balls of their feet, but they’re also teaching the athlete to flex the hip quickly.
You could do this on one leg or alternate each one.
- Start: Stand on one leg, the other slightly raised.
- Action: Jump vertically off the standing foot, focusing on explosiveness and quick hip flexion.
- Next: Land and repeat, which can be done continuously on one leg or alternately on each
Single Leg Bounds
I love single-leg bounds. These are coordinating bounds, where they teach the athlete to explode unilaterally through the balls of each foot as they progress down the field.
You could perform this single leg right there in place or do it over a distance.
- Start: Stand on one leg, the other slightly raised.
- Action: Jump forward off the standing foot, focusing on power and distance while exploding through the balls of the foot.
- Next: Land and continue bounding, which can be done in place or by moving forward over a distance.
Single Leg Cycling
The single leg cycling exercise is one of my all-time favorites. Not only is it teaching the athlete mechanically how to sprint at top speed, but it’s also producing a tremendous amount of force with that leg.
Single leg cycling is a very advanced movement. However, if you can do this properly, you can teach the athlete to quickly cycle the leg instead of having that leg trail, popping the knee.
And then you’re also progressing that athlete down a series or distance where they’re having to apply that force and quickly absorb it through each rotation of that leg.
- Start: Stand on one leg, the other slightly raised.
- Action: Perform a cycling motion with a raised leg, focusing on speed and force.
- Next: Continue cycling while maintaining balance and progression over a distance; quickly cycle legs to prevent trailing.
Half Squat Ski Jumps
When doing the half squat ski jump, start in a half squat and jump as far laterally as you can. Once you land laterally on both feet, you’ll immediately jump back to where you started.
- Start: Half squat position
- Action: Jump laterally as far as you can and land on both feet.
- Next: Jump back to the star
Single Leg Lateral Hop
This next exercise is the single leg lateral hop. With this, you will start as if you were in a pitcher’s stance.
You will lift one leg up, jump off the planted leg, and jump as far laterally as you can.
Once you land on the opposite foot, you will repeat the motion and go back to the starting position, going back and forth.
Be sure to keep your balance and stick to every landing.
- Start: Pitcher stance, lift one leg
- Action: Jump laterally off the planted leg.
- Next: Land on the opposite foot and repeat, maintaining balance and sticking landings.
Single Leg Same Leg
This next exercise is the single leg lateral jump. With this, you will jump off your outside leg, but you will land on the same exact leg that you jumped off of.
This one plays a trick on your brain. You will want to land on the opposite foot.
Be sure to start light, jump as far as you can laterally, and land on that same leg. Then you will switch and jump back, landing on the same leg you jumped off.
- Start: Stand on the outside leg.
- Action: Jump laterally off the outside leg and land on the same leg.
- Next: Switch and repeat
Rapid Rocket Jumps
The next exercise is the rapid rocket jump. With the rapid rocket jump, you will bend your knees slightly, maybe 20–25.
You’ll jump as high as you can with your hands in the air, almost like you’re trying to touch a backboard.
And as soon as you land, you’ll bounce right back up. You will not spend much time on the ground.
Rapid jumps are when you immediately land and then immediately rise.
- Start: Bend your knees slightly (20–25 degrees).
- Action: Jump as high as possible, hands reaching upwards.
- Next: Immediately bounce back up upon landing.
Rapid Tuck Jumps
This next exercise is the rapid tuck jump. You will start with your knees bent slightly, jump, and tuck your knees towards your elbows.
Ensure that your hands are out, and you will immediately bounce off the ground and jump as soon as you land.
The key objective of this exercise is to ensure you’re not spending much time on the ground and just firing your knees back up one after another.
- Start: Knees slightly bent
- Action: Jump and tuck knees towards elbows, hands out.
- Next: Immediately bounce off the ground and jump as soon as you land.
This is one of my favorite plyometric exercises for speed.
3 Hop Lunge Hold
This next exercise is the three hop lunge hold. With the 3 hop lunge hold, you’re doing three mini build-up hops, where the third hop is an explosion into the air as high as you can jump.
So it’s bounce, bounce, jump, land, and hold the lunge.
- Action: Perform three mini hops.
- Action: The third hop is a maximum jump into the air.
- Next: Land and hold the lunge.
3 Hop Tuck Jumps
The next exercise is the three hop-tuck jump. When you’re doing the three hop tuck jump, you will bounce, bounce, and explode up, but when you explode up, you’ll tuck your knees in front of you.
Your hands go out, your knees go towards your elbows in front of your body, and then you repeat the bounce, bounce, explode, tuck land—the same thing over and over.
- Action: Perform two preparatory bounces.
- Action: The third action is a maximum jump upwards with a knee tuck.
- Next: Repeat the sequence
Single Leg Square Hops
This next exercise is the single leg square. You will start on one leg, jump laterally as far as you can off that leg, and then go around in a circle doing single leg hops.
- Start: Stand on one leg.
- Action: Jump laterally as far as possible off that leg.
- Next: Continue to hop around in a square, always on one leg.
Lunge To Lateral
The next exercise is the lunge-to-lateral hop. With the lunge-to-lateral hop, you will start in a lunge, jump into the air, land on your other leg, and hop laterally. You will repeat this going each way.
- Start: Lunge position
- Action: Jump into the air, land on the other leg, then laterally hop over.
- Next: Repeat in both directions.
Single Leg Butt Kicks
The next exercise is the single leg buttock kick. Stand on one leg and try to jump off that leg, kicking your butt and then landing.
This is a bit more advanced, so if you cannot do the advanced version, jump, try to get your leg halfway to your butt, drop it down, land on the court, and repeat that motion.
- Start: Stand on one leg.
- Action: Jump off the leg, aim to kick your butt, and then land.
- Next: Repeat the motion and modify if needed.
Single Leg Broad Jump
The next exercise is the single leg broad jump. You will do a broad jump. You can pull out a tape measure and measure this as well.
From the back of the heel, you’ll jump off one leg and see how far you can jump going forward. Remember, the measurement starts at the heel.
If you have a tape measure, I highly recommend it.
- Start: Stand on one leg.
- Action: Perform a broad jump; measure distance from the back of the heel if possible.
- Next: Repeat the motion.
There you have it; try these exercises out. In my book, these are the best plyometric exercises for speed.
Born and raised in Bozeman, Montana, he graduated from George State University with an MBA in Actuarial Science. His hobbies include beach volleyball, hiking, fishing, and lifting weights
George is also a certified nutritionist with a passion for health and fitness.
- Gambling Addiction in the Army: How to Recognize and Overcome It - November 29, 2024
- Exploring Career Opportunities in the Army for College Graduates - November 28, 2024
- Enhancing Military Training with Custom patches - November 28, 2024