Glen Thurgood - Plyometrics for Speed and Power: Includes over 100 Drills and Exercises

First published in 2016 by
The Crowood Press Ltd
Ramsbury, Marlborough
Wiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

Glen Thurgood 2016

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 042 3

FOREWORD BY NEIL BACK AND ALAN PEARSON

R ugby Union is a game of technical skill and tactical knowledge and underpinning this even more so today than ever before is physicality. To perform optimally players must train their aerobic and anaerobic fitness but at the business end it is all about strength, power and speed. Making tackles, controlling rucks, getting over the gain line are essential elements of the game and of course these are largely governed by your ability to exert greater strength, speed and power than your opponent.

I remember during the Rugby World Cup 2003 Semi-final battle versus the French that our teams conditioning, particularly our speed and power gave us the vital edge to secure victory and to go on to claim the ultimate prize versus Australia in the Final.

Having worked closely with Glen I can assure you that he is up there with the very best in the world. His knowledge, attention to detail and understanding of what is required to attain and sustain elite peak performance, especially with respect to speed and power, is second to none.

This book is a great introduction for developing your own speed and power. Glen has a first class understanding of being ready to train for optimum performance with plenty of detail on conditioning the body for strength prior to plyometric training. This is something usually overlooked by coaches and athletes which unfortunately leads to increases in injuries. In my opinion plyometrics should always be a part of any training programme where the end goal is increased speed and power and with it this book should be an essential tool in any athletes or coachs library.

Neil Back MBE

Glen has been a Master SAQ Trainer for many years. His knowledge and practical application, passion and commitment to functional training is second to none. This book demonstrates his understanding of how best to prepare athletes using intensely researched best practice gathered from years of experience and knowledge. I highly recommend this book to all those who want improve physical performance.

Alan Pearson SAQ International

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

T he author and publishers would like to thank the following people and organizations for their generous help in producing this book. For modelling: Training Shed coaches Ryan Bates, Jack Campbell, Ethan Draycott, Will Gooch, Lydia Palmer, Jack Young; for use of facilities: Phil Littlewood (Training Shed Market Harborough), Jack Young and Will Gooch (Training Shed Stratford-upon-Avon); for use of equipment: Alan Pearson (SAQ International); Jamie Taylor, Phil Littlewood (Indigo Fitness); photography: Ricky White (www.rickywhite.com).

This book has been made possible by the kind collaboration of the following companies.

TRAINING SHED

At the Training Shed we pride ourselves on offering first class facilities, twinned with the finest training and treatment services, that are not the norm in other gyms. As fitness professionals we have spent many years in the industry as coaches, personal trainers, physiotherapists, sports therapists and athletes, writing worldwide industry leading books and courses. We understand the importance of being fit for function. Whatever your aspirations or requirements we can offer a type of training or therapy to suit your needs. (www.trainingshed.com)

INDIGO FITNESS

Indigo Fitness has been at the forefront of performance strength training for almost twenty years, leading the market with innovative design, state of the art engineering and high quality equipment. We manufacture much of our equipment at our factory right here in the UK and are also UK exclusive distributors for Powerbag, Duraflex premium flooring and RAZE strength and conditioning equipment. (www.indigofitness.com)

SAQ INTERNATIONAL

SAQ International is a world leader in the benefits of human movement. SAQ provides training, education, consultancy and specialized equipment to elite sport clubs and individuals, NGBs, education and public health including early years fundamental movement and community physical activity programmes developed to improve health, well-being and education. During the past twenty years SAQ International has led the way in the practical application of ground-breaking movement-based programmes into all areas of sport and physical activity in many parts of the world. (www.saqinternational.com)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

G len Thurgood is a coach, physical therapist, author, speaker and athlete. Glen received his Masters in Strength and Conditioning from Coventry University in 2010. He is co-owner of Training Shed a functional training and performance facility in Market Harborough with two additional facilities and growing

With over eighteen years experience both as an elite level performance coach and athlete, his wealth of knowledge and experience has led him to work with some of the worlds leading coaches in both rugby and football. He has a huge passion for developing young athletes and has worked with many schools and national level academies. Glen also works with runners, triathletes, ironman athletes, martial arts, canoeists and cyclists.

E very good coach or athlete asks more questions than they answer. So before you set out on your quest for greater speed and power through the use of plyometrics, I would imagine you are wondering how it came into existence as a training modality. You dont need to read this bit to be more powerful or faster but, as a coach, I believe it is always good to know how something responsible for a monumental change in training methods evolved. Everything begins somewhere and with regards to the evolution of plyometrics as we know it today it started in Russia with a high jumper.

Vladimir Dyachkov was that high jumper. Dyachkov was a great jumps athlete and won the Soviet high jump and pole vault title eleven times during the 1930s. After his career he went on to coach and was appointed national coach to the Soviet team and later head coach during the 1960, 1964 and 1968 Olympic Games. A studious coach, he amassed a wealth of knowledge by studying numerous films of the worlds best high jumpers during the 1940s and 1950s. Dyachkov spent hours on end meticulously analyzing the footage, which led him to recognize a pattern in the technique of the better jumpers. He noticed that, just before take-off, it was the simple arm jumping mechanics that improved overall jump height. Simply moving the arms into a backward position during the last step of the approach to the bar and then driving them forward and upward increased the drive of the take-off phase and, as a result, an increased high point at take-off. The technique during this period was the dive straddle technique the current Fosbury Flop did not come into existence until Dick Fosbury won the 1968 Mexico Olympics. Dyachkovs observations of the straddle technique led him to develop new training methods for his high jump athletes and, of course, this new studious evidence-based approach to training led to success. Dyachkovs new coaching methods helped Soviet athlete Yuri Stepanov to high jump world record glory in 1957, setting the bar to a new height of 2.16m. This was an increase of 1cm but, probably more importantly for the Soviet Union, it broke a record previously held by Charles Dumas of the United States of America.