Basically, plyometrics involves wearing a weighted training vest while exercising. The exercises usually involve quick actions, such as jumping or lunging, while repeating the movement quickly over-and-over again. The repetitively quick actions cause the muscles to contract rapidly.
While I served in the Military, we wore our protective vests a lot (both deployed and otherwise). We would train in our vests, run in our vests, and even sleep in our vests. I’m sure the leadership didn’t know it then, but the fact that we were wearing our vests was building our strength and muscles in ways that old-fashioned exercising and weight lifting couldn’t. Maybe thats why our bodies were able to handle such a physical beating day in and day out.
If you are an athlete of any sport, chances are, plyometrics can help you. Currently, professional basketball players, mixed martial artists, swimmers, and many other types of athletes use weighted vests to build their jumping ability, their fighting ability, and swimming ability. Not only are their muscles becoming strengthened, but their bodies are building endurance!
If you would like to learn more about plyometrics, you should check out Jumping Into Plyometrics by Dr Donald A. Chu. Inside, his book, you will be able to learn much more than a small blog post can tell you about training with a vest. The book is definitely geared towards athletes, but the exercises inside can be used by the average, every day joe or jane who wants to build their muscle strength and endurance.
The good thing about this kind of training is that you don’t necessarily have to be doing anything at all to get results. You can wear a small weighted vest during your day-to-day activities (walking, working, etc), and still get some results. Of course, the results will be much better though if you actually follow a plyometrics workout.
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