Plyo Programming Guide
Welcome. This document is a practical resource for you to understand the
Saisan philosophy of plyometric exercise prescription. You can directly
implement this stuff in your next training session without any delay.
If you find yourself adjusting programs to the needs of your athletes then
your time invested into reading this PDF was a success & you have officially
L E A R N E D! My goal for you is to learn how to make training decisions.
The promised plyo program you can find at the end of this file. It can be
directly inserted into you training replacing your current plyos.
Since this PDF is a purely practical resource for your training/coaching skills
I will refrain from explaining the theory & science behind everything, but for
anybody interested in the science here are some resources that helped me
understand plyometrics better (& are what a lot of my plyo teachings are
based on, click on the hyperlinks to open the studies):
Plyometric exercise in the rehabilitation of athletes: physiological responses and clinical application
Short-Term High Intensity Plyometric Training Program Improves Strength, Power and Agility in Male Soccer
Players
Effects of ballistic training on preseason preparation of elite volleyball players
Effects of Plyometric Training on Muscle-Activation Strategies and Performance in Female Athletes
Effects of Plyometric Training on Physical Fitness in Team Sport Athletes: A Systematic Review
Effects of a Plyometrics Intervention Program on Sprint Performance
The effect of plyometric training on distance running performance
Plyometric training in female athletes. Decreased impact forces and increased hamstring torques
The effects of plyometric versus dynamic stabilization and balance training on lower extremity biomechanics
Force enhancement and relaxation rates after stretch of activated muscle fibres
Prestretch potentiation of human skeletal muscle during ballistic movement
Why the Saisan Training Plyometrics Philosophy is legit
If you think to yourself “Why would I listen to this guy?!” here’s why:
In my first offseason owning Force Plates 4/10 athletes I tested & re-tested I was able to
create TRANSFORMATIONS. The other 6 improved as well (everyone did in stiffness,
contact time & jump height slightly), but these 4 had the craziest improvements.
I don’t have the space to describe everything but just look at the numbers & dates. Directly
screenshotted from Hawkin Dynamics software. And you’re about to be blessed with my whole
plyometric system that took me years to figure out FOR FREE! Make something out of it.
Before we begin:
I need you to gain a deeper understanding of plyometric adaptation.
Have you ever wondered, “What distinguishes someone who is reactively
trained from someone who isn’t?”
... aside from their vertical jump height and movement speed?
I certainly did. To explore this question, I utilized my force plates to compare
Countermovement Jumps of 2 individuals with vastly different backgrounds.
45cm 58cm
28y/o Strength Trained Bodybuilder/Boxer Me: 23y/o Basketball Athlete
Low Braking RFD Eccentric RFD
High Braking RFD
matches Push Off
5000 N/s 10000 N/s
Braking + Propulsive Time: 0.40sec
Braking + Propulsive Time: 0.49sec
Bad unweighting phase: Better unweighting phase:
Long, shallow V shape with Short, deep U shape
500N force measured High relaxation skill: just 3N force measured
Furthermore, in an overcoming isometric test at our individual amortization angles, he
produced less force (3350 Peak Force) than I did (3700 Peak Force), despite his 10
year lifting experience. This indicates that plyometrics and high-impact training
enhance strength in ways not reflected in standard lifting.
Your practical takeaway: Lifting is only a supplement to sports training, never the
main thing. Your sport, plyos & sprints is where athleticism & “sport specific
strength” is built. You will become more forceful by jumping a lot. The weight room is
a purely general tool for athletes that will make up a rather small part of total
training volume.
Now let’s look at what keeping lifting supplemental means in practice...
Plyometric Periodization 1/4
In-Season Volume Distribution
High Intensity Plyos
Strength Training
10%
15%
Sprinting
5%
The Sport itself
70%
This would be your typical basketball player. The values can change +/- 5-10% on everything
depending on how much team practices & games the athlete actually has. This chart here is
to demonstrate that when the athlete is in-season & has high sport load you essentially can’t
do that much and just try to make sure to provide the stimuli that they aren’t getting in their
sport. Strength training is the antidote to all the high speed loading so that’s going to be the
emphasis. However, you are still going to use plyometrics, especially variations of quality
maximal bilateral jumps that they won’t encounter too often in their sport to avoid detraining.
Also, keeping 1-2 high quality linear max V sprints per week is essential for development &
injury prevention - ideally integrated into team practice. Just make sure you DON’T start
doing plyos in-season all of a sudden with an athlete who hasn’t done plyos in their
preceding off-season. You would just shock their system in a undesired way.
Plyometric Periodization 2/4
Early Off-Season Athlete +/- 2,5% depending on athlete
level (these numbers are just
Low - Mid Intensity Plyos general, approximate guidelines)
Strength Training 12.5%
20%
High Intensity Plyos
7.5%
Submax Sprints
10%
The Sport itself
50%
Typical developing pro basketball player offseason: 5-6 on-court and 5 S&C
workouts per week. Following a High-Low weekly scheme.
In the early phases of the summer you will want to build strength for 6-8 weeks
while enhancing movement proficiency in a multitude of plyometric movement
patterns at submaximal levels. Here it’s all about learning to be relaxed, fluid &
skillful with our force application. You will still sprinkle in some maximal jumps to
avoid detraining & prepare the CNS for later phases.
Even though strength is the focus, elastic volume dominates!
Note that e.g. older players who are past the physical development phase of their
careers will most likely not do 5 S&C workouts per week. Don’t marry this advice.
Plyometric Periodization 3/4
Mid Off-Season Athlete
Low-Mid Intensity Plyos
Strength 7.5%
15%
High Intensity Plyos
17.5%
Maximal Sprints
10%
The Sport itself
50%
This is the time where you still want to build strength and either hone in on global
lifts (e.g. Squat + Hinge) or progress lifts from previous phases (e.g. isotonic/yielding
to overcoming iso). Maybe even start to prep some power work for later.
Elastic volume absolutely dominates and the focus is getting better at plyometric
outputs. Especially the mid-tier plyos you prepped & got more proficient at in the
Early Off-Season should be done intensely now. You still have some volume going into
mid-tier plyos. I personally like those to be mainly multidirectional of nature. The high
intensity plyos you do should just get even more intense moving forward. Again, the
guidelines provided here are very general and still are to be reviewed critically!
Sprints should be maximal now. In some cases they may not be. Depends. Again, don’t
marry this advice. Situations can be very different.
Plyometric Periodization 4a
Late Off-Season Athlete who is already fast & just
needs to get generally more powerful/jump higher
Low Intensity Plyos
5%
High Intensity Plyos
20%
The Sport itself Maximal Sprints
60% 10%
Strength/Power
5%
Depending on the athlete you might have something like a low volume TB DL or
Squat for strength in the program. Most non-novices though will be doing power
exercises: Olys/Loaded Jumps/Timed Power Output/Keiser work.
Low intensity plyos will strictly be used to warm up. The vast majority of S&C
volume goes into maximal jumps & sprints. This usually is also the time to reduce
to 3 workouts per week & increase sport volume slightly (or not).
For such a basketball athlete I like this set-up:
Monday/Friday Plyos & Power ; Wednesday Track Speed.
If the athlete cannot recover this type of training organization you can also do 8
day micro-cycles. So just have one more day of rest between one of the Plyo days
& the track day. 2 days of rest after the Track day works well in my experience.
Plyometric Periodization 4b
Late Off-Season Athlete who needs to get faster & quicker
(most impactful for smaller guards/agility athletes)
Low Intensity Plyos
5% High Intensity Plyos
10%
Sprints & CoD
20%
The Sport itself
60%
Strength/Power
5%
In this set-up you reverse it and have 2 Speed Days & 1 Plyo Day. Depending on
the athlete you can also do 1 Straight Line Speed Track Day & 1 On-Court Agility
Day. Mon Plyos, Wed Agility, Fri Speed. I think of Agility potentiating the straight
line speed, hence that order. 8 Day micro-cycle can be applied here too.
Note that for all the offseason stages I explained in the previous pages you can
use CoD/agility training as well by swapping it for some plyo or sprint volume. All
depends on what your goals are. I usually just sprinkle in some CoD work if I
identify room for improvement in their multidirectional movement bank. I for the
most part think that if they have 5 court sessions per week that’s enough agility.
Practical Takeaways for direct
Application into your Programming
Plyometric volume will almost always dominate our programs -
that’s how fast & springy athletes are built. Strength training just
needs to play a supportive role. Slow & easy strength progress!
There never really comes a time where a healthy teamsport
athlete who is playing their sport needs to be bombarded with
strength training & be shifted towards the slow end of the
spectrum (except for aerobic phases)
The sole purpose of general strength in the context of
performance enhancement (not health) is to generally increase
the ability to create tension with muscles so they can pull on the
tendons harder for higher potential in elastic recoil. And that
does not require 5-8 strength exercises per workout
The actual increase in athleticism happens through getting better
at doing elastic activities & the task itself
As long as the athlete is predominantly playing their sport &
doing plyometric activities you DO NOT have to worry about
transfer of training. It’s almost certainly always going to
happen. Doing things like 55% 1RM speed squats “for transfer of
strength” is a waste of time!
Now that you know what “Training Fast & Reactive” really means in
practice we can now move on to the actual plyometric methods
that are going to make up the majority of our training.
Plyometric Methods Overview
(Tap hyperlinks to see a sample movement)
Hops Leaps Bounds
Base Movement Patterns can be done
Stiff & Deep &
or
Overcoming Yielding
and the goal (cue) of those can be
Height Quickness/ Smoothness/
Frequency Relaxation
All plyos can be done either
Cyclical Goal-Based
Movement Planes are available to every movement
Vertical Horizontal Lateral Multidrectional Mixed
Plyometric Programming Thought Process
What can be improved?
Vertical Power Horizontal/ Multidirectional General Inhibition
Lateral Power Movement Proficiency
Start at the level
Do maximal Do maximal Do submax plyos in all that they can
vertical plyos horizontal/lateral directions focusing on hop/bound with
quick contacts &
hitting steeper angles
plyos & especially relaxed and scale it
while being smooth &
sprints quick off the ground
up from there
How do I know what needs to be improved?
Step 1:
You let them do a bunch of different basic plyo movements
and just SEE what they are good at & where they struggle
Step 2:
Once you know what they can do, you will then decide what
movements you will prioritize in light of their training goals & overall
training load (volume distribution). You must make decisions!
Step 3:
Meet the athlete where they are at. E.g.: do not make them do maximal hops if
they can’t do medium hops smoothly in a relaxed manner --> let them improve
their hopping submaximally, use leaps or bounds as their maximal movement
of the day. Always have everything present!
Dario’s Philosophical Thoughts on Plyometric Coaching
1. Your goal as a coach is to get your athletes to be proficient & free of
inhibition (caution) in all directions & relaxed/fluent at maximal efforts
with all movements
2. Vertical Plyometrics are probably the most important, they will make up the
vast majority of the program in most cases. Both yielding & stiff variations
3. As a non-advanced athlete Hops & Leaps are mostly done vertically,
Bounding is mostly done “up & out”
4. Hops & Bounds done for horizontal speed or distance are very intense &
introduced later when vertical is performed skillfully
5. Basic CMJ’s & Box Jumps are expressions of jumping power rather than
developmental plyos (apart from the fact that they aren’t plyometric per
definition)
6. ANY movement can be regressed & progressed in intensity. If movements
look sloppy (unrelaxed, high upper body tension, choppy movements, slow
ground contacts) then regress the movement immediately. Most of the
times saying “do 50% instead of 90” works wonders.
7. A healthy, somewhat athletic individual should strive to able to do any form
of plyometric task you ask them to do with a decent level of proficiency
8. Incorporate some form of yielding in every plyo workout. Even if its just 2-4
sets of 15-20 sec yielding sets in the warm up section of the workout
9. Use goal-based, single output plyos to enhance raw power/neural drive in a
movement pattern (e.g. depth jumps) in 2 week bursts, especially in-season.
Cyclical is your default.
1. Do not use 2 maximal variations of the same movement vector & trajectory
in the same workout. Generally look to cover all movement vectors & lines
of force throughout the week (or workout). Do not create monotone
programs. The worst thing you could do: Purely Vertical & Bilateral Plyos for
both leg-days of the week. E.g.: Vertical Leaps, Depth Jumps & Drop Jumps
Sample Plyo Program
This is a very basic, straight forward, yet effective workout. Just plug it into
your own training week. I would not recommend doing this twice a week or
in-season. The 2nd leg day of your week should look different. Use the
knowledge from this PDF to modify your 2nd leg day of that week.
Your creativity is the limit!
Tap the Hyperlinks to see the exercise videos.
Global Warm Up
1x30sec Easy Leaps
1x20sec Alternating Split Leaps
1x20 sec Deep Knee Bend Jumps
2x30sec 3D Slant Board Ankle Hops (first set double leg, 2nd set single leg)
1x20sec Front Foot Elevated Lunge Jumps
1x20sec FFE MB Overhead Jumps
1x20sec Alternating MB Torsion Jumps
A1: 2x8 Slalom Bounds
A2: 2x8 Crossover Bounds
3x5 Leaps for Height
3x5 Lateral Bounds Stationary
1x60sec Yielding Lunge Jumps In Place (capacity)
Strength Section
BONUS:
Plyometric Programming Template
Global Warm Up
2-3 sets: Very Low Intensity Plyos to warm up Lower Legs
2-3 sets: Low Intensity Yielding Plyos to warm up Knees & Hips
2-4 sets: Low-Med Intensity Multidirectional Plyos
1-3 sets: Warming up High Intensity Movements with medium/constrained
versions of them focusing on skill acquisition & reduction of inhibition
3-6 sets: High Intensity Plyos
2-3 sets: Something Lateral or Frequency/Capacity based or more Yielding work
Strength Section
This is typically how I approach writing training programs. Keep in mind that
this is a broad template, and you are not required & SHOULD NOT strictly
adhere to it. If you have felt uncertain about your plyometric programming,
consider this a helpful starting point to build your confidence, knowing that
you will be creating effective programs that yield results! Additionally,
remember that it is ultimately YOU who will determine the volume and select
the movements for your athletes. You can always do less or more - depends
ENTIRELY on your critical judgement of the situation as a coach.
The goal of this guide is for you to learn how to write programs yourself. Not
have me provide them for you.
Experience Saisan Training-Style Plyo Programming
before you start writing your own programs
If you’re not fully confident in creating your own plyometric programs yet, or you’d like some
extra inspiration, check out my 4-Week Plyometric Program. For a low cost of 20 bucks, you
receive a ready-made Mo-Wed-Fri program that you can plug into your own training or run by
itself to develop your springs.
→ Click Here to Start the 4-Week Program
Interested in learning more about
Programming & Periodization for Athletes?
If you read this then you have proven to me & yourself that you are a curious mind interested
in learning. This Plyo Guide that you just read is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of
programming for athletes... there is still strength, speed, in-season vs offseason etc...
Over the past 5 years I have refined my training system to a point where I barely need to
think about what to program. I look at an athlete & within seconds I know which exercises
that person needs. This has only become possible for me because I have a system of deciding
which exercises to use and I am capable of identifying the needs of an athlete. No 2 athletes
receive the same program (you should be worried if you do this).
I know that you have read this PDF until here because you found the contents interesting &
probably haven’t seen a step by step action-system for programming to guide your decision
making as a coach.
Most coaches spend years doing sub-optimal training that doesn’t reliably lead to results
(especially with trained athletes) because nobody precisely instructs them on HOW TO write
training programs. Thinking “I can piece it together from books” is one of the greatest
pitfalls that results in slow career trajectories because training results keep coming very
slowly (resulting in slow or NO positive word of mouth for you).
This is why I created my Saisan Training System Course to help coaches find a working
training system & programming framework for their clients faster than ever before. You can
mess around trying things by yourself and waste several years... or you could see how I do it
and get the same results for your clients within a couple hours of paying attention.
If you are interested in learning how to program like I do then click this link
& use this coupon code for 10% off “Ireadtheplyoguide”