Jump into plyometrics

Plyometrics (leaping, jumping, skipping, or explosive movements) burns calories and builds muscle quickly. Working against gravity increases the load and jumping incorporates a variety of muscle fibers making your workout more intense. You can add some plyometric drills immediately after an exercise that works the same muscle group to power up your muscle fibers and use up any gas left in the tank. Here are a few examples of exercises you can put together in your next workout….

• Squats followed by box jumps or squat jumps
• Lunges followed by jumping lunges
• Lateral lunges followed by lateral leaps (aka speed skaters)
• Deadlifts followed by lateral cone hops or lateral box shuffle
• Plyometric pushup (pic below, one of my faves)

Some other plyometric exercises include: power skipping, backward power skipping, broad jump or long jump,  tuck jumps, star jumps, side to side hops or front to back hops (these can be done with one leg or two). The possibilities are endless, think outside the box!