3.1 Power training: physiology and mechanics
When a muscle is stretched rapidly, the neuromuscular system responds by initiating a concentric muscle contraction to prevent the muscle from being stretched too far and becoming damaged. This is known as the stretch-reflex system. In plyometrics, this means that if a rapid eccentric loading phase is performed before a concentric contraction, a greater and more powerful concentric muscle action will occur. This ‘pre-stretch’ action is known as the stretch shortening cycle and is explained further in Activity 4.
Activity 4 Plyometric mechanics and physiology
Watch Video 4, on the stretch-shortening cycle, at the link below. Focus on the section between the start and 02:55. Once you’ve watched Video 4, do the related tasks below.
Video 4: The stretch-shortening cycle [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)]
1. Use the drop-down menus to select the correct missing word.
2. Put the three phases of the stretch-shortening cycle in the order they are performed.
Two lists follow, match one item from the first with one item from the second. Each item can only be matched once. There are 3 items in each list.
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Eccentric
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Amortisation
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Concentric
Match each of the previous list items with an item from the following list:
a.First
b.Third
c.Second
- 1 = a,
- 2 = c,
- 3 = b
Now that you have an understanding of how plyometric training works, in the next section you will investigate some examples of plyometric training.