Who Needs Muscle, Right?

Well plyometrics 5X a week is a surefire way to wear down the joints. Muscle will not automatically make you fat, it actually assists in burning it. Lifting weights CAN add bulk. Olympic lifts are the way to go. (There are more than two…) Also Informed Athlete 1 (more like mis-informed) should check his sources and look up a dude name Alex Maroko. There’s obviously more, but those are the main ones that stood out to me.

Firstly, anyone gong into a gym should know why they are there and what they are wanting to accomplish. Have a plan and stick to it.

Secondly, its your body, put the time and effort in to finding out a) what types of exercises there are and b) how they affect the body.

Thirdly, get lots of advice, you will pick up a common thread of truth in the varying opinions that you get.

I’d say doing 5x a week is only looking for trouble.probably a tendon tear in a few months(depending on the intensity). And is that guy nuts
? Was he dreaming of a bombshell when he was figuring it out?Unles his stupid or something. Chuka i agree with you. he gotta look up a dude name Alex Maroko.

What is olympic lift? Does muscle slows me down and not jump as high? When lifting weights for speed and jumping higher, should I do it nice and slow or lift as fast as I can?

Plyos 5x times a week will kill your knees (spoken from patellar tendinitis experience )
and there is no time to recover in between workouts
Muscle will not make you bulky and slow it will make you faster
Olympic lifts FTW

Don’t life weights… do plyometrics.. lol ..

I agree with Chuka, but olympic lifts isn’t necessarily the solution. They require a ton of technical training, which means you will spend alot of time not pushing your muscles as hard as u could with simpler exercises. Even if you could do them right you should think about your strenght vs quickness ratio. The movement in snatch and clean is explosive which can be transferred succesfully to your sport – but if you lack strenght your impsovement will quickly plateau in these exercises. Therefore I recommend some heavy squatting and deadlifting combined with plyos. In these slower more controlled exercises, its easier to develop great strenght, which you learn to express in the plyos.
(I excuse my english, I’m from Denmark:) )

Yea, well, plyometrics help, I think, but the main thing you need is explosive lifting, like squats, deadlifts, and depth jumps. However, doing anything 5xs a week will never positively affect your body. You only really need 2-3xs a week.

lifting heavier weight will not make you lean, it actually will help you gain mass.

Even if your the most efficient guy in the world at using the muscle you’ve got, you still need explosive muscles to be fast. I’d do type three exercises, like jump roping with a weighted vest, or tire running.

I agree with you Alex. Doing plyometrics 5 times a week is like setting a time bomb on your knees. I hear similar conversations in the gym ALL THE TIME. Been reading your blog for a while. Great stuff man!

I do alot of heavy low rep squats, and it havent made me much bigger – it has improved my vertical though – more than plyos ever have!
Its also about body type – Im a naturally skinny guy, so I guess maybe bigger guys will get more out of plyos (and losing weight in general).

Wow, it may be easier & a heck of a lot quicker to name the things that were correct.
1. Alex has great hair.
2. Athlete 1 definitely came up with that stuff himself;)
3. There are two Olympic Lifts used in competition, but using those will not help much since they are uber-technical. Using Olympic variations MAY help some. Probably not a good idea to do any kind of O-lift after plyos

Though there are more than one mistakes, the most tragic one is not enough resting; it is during the resting period (after pushing your body trough workout) when the body can improve. Training is only good if proper resting is used, daily plyometrics and olympic lifts would not let the body recover properly and progress would seem impsoible to obtain. Remember, improvements are achieved during the rest period.
I do like the fact that at least it tried to combined two different types of exercises, plyometrics focus on concentric muscle action (when mscle contracts), and explosive lifting focus on excentric muscle action (when the muscle explodes); however, those are not specifical enough

Plyometrics shouldnt be done by inexperienced (Meaning amateur) athletes at all, and should only be concidered by advanced athletes after the age 18.
Also, the true meaning of plyometrics is heavily misunderstood (Real plyometrics are done in 2-3 reps / set, not jumping up and down over and over and over and over again like an idiot). Plyometrics can lead to a dangerous future if not done properly/if the athlete isn’t prepared for them.

That’s in short my say on plyometrics

@ David. You don’t really get more athletic if you take 5 minute breaks between each set, if that’s what you were trying to suggest. Decrease your workload and you will see better results.

Also, it’s suggested (For baseball players, i’m not 100% sure about other sports) that athletes do olympic lifts in 1-4 reps, for 2-4 sets, and proper recovery should be possible if an athlete warms up adequately and has a 2-3 day/week stretching routine AFTER their workout.

David, you are right about the resting/recovery part…but you may want to check your sources on your last few comments…concentric contraction is when the muscle shortens under tension (what the bicep does in an arm curl)…eccentric contraction is when the muscle lengthens under tension (also known as negatives)