plyometric workouts

Ah. You want to whip yourself into shape, grasshopper through plyometric workouts for women? Well, hop on over and lend an ear. 😉

First of all, one of the deep secrets of our art is something we like to call plyometrics. If you know what that is, great. If not, this article is for you. Here, we want to introduce plyometrics for beginners.

That’s you, young tadpole.

Specifically, this article is for those female tadpoles in our collective pond.

Ok. So, why, you ask, are we referring to everyone as if they were hopping insects or amphibians? The reasons are simple. The first is that we’re old enough to remember the 1970’s Kung-Fu, and that’s how we roll.

The second is that Plyometrics workouts for women are all about short jumps.

Thus,we recommend that you check out the following article from WebMD. It’s written by By Kara Mayer Robinson, and is an excellent introduction into what Plyometrics is and is not.

What Is Plyometrics?

“Remember the fun you had as a kid, hopping, skipping, and jumping around the playground? The exercises you do with plyometrics mimic those dynamic moves.

Plyometrics (“plyo,” for short) used to be called “jump training.” It’s a technique that you can use in many different ways. For instance, you can do plyometrics to help train for basketball, volleyball, tennis, or any other activity that uses explosive movements.

You’ll do a series of jumps and hops, like jump squats or one-leg hops. You might jump up and onto a box or bench, or jump over cones. Some moves will be faster than others.

Every time you land from a jump, your muscles get a stretch. That gives your next jump even more power. The combination of stretching and contracting your muscles whips them into shape.

You won’t do plyometrics every day, because your muscles will need a break from all that jumping. If you’re not active now, you may need to start working on your basic fitness first and later have a pro show you how to do the moves, so you don’t get injured.

It’s a fun alternative to an everyday strength-training workout that boosts your muscle power, strength, balance, and agility. You can either do a workout based around plyometrics, or add some plyo moves to your usual routine without giving it an entire session.

Intensity Level: High

This workout uses maximum power to strengthen your muscles. The moves are quick and explosive, so prepare to use a lot more energy than you do in a typical strength-training session.

Areas It Targets

Core: No. This workout doesn’t specifically target your core.

Arms: No. Most plyometric workouts don’t target your arms. But if you want to work them, you can add upper-body moves like medicine-ball throws and plyometric push-ups.

Legs: Yes. Expect your legs to get in great shape from all the jumping and hopping.

Glutes: Yes. Moves like jump squats fire up your glutes to make them stronger.

Back: No. Though the workout involves your whole body, it’s not focused on your back muscles.”

Finally, there’s more to this article, so be sure to check it out. You can do so by clicking on the title above, or by clicking on the image beneath it.

Next, we want to share great, body-weight only plyometric workouts for women that are about 21 minutes long.

The Ultimate Plyometric Workouts for Women Beginners

 

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Finally, since this is a beginners article featuring plyometric workouts for women, we’re going round everything out by increasing the intensity by a level. Consequently, the next article uses light weights in addition to regular plyometrics for beginners. This one’s from Susi May over at popsugar.com.

Calorie-Torching Plyo Workout With Weights

“If it’s time kick your fitness life up a notch then this workout will push you to the next level. Mixing plyometric moves with challenging variations of weight-training exercises means you’ll be burning more calories in less time. It’s hard, but it’s worth it …

… Directions: warm up with five minutes of light cardio, then repeat each three-exercise circuit three times. Start with 10 reps of each exercise, building up to 15 reps of each move as you get stronger. Start with five-pound dumbbells, and work up to eight- or 10-pound weights to increase the challenge in these plyometric workouts for women.

High Knee Skips

Skipping isn’t just for little kids: it’s a great warmup exercise, especially if you will be jumping in your workout.

• Skip in place by hopping on your right leg while bringing the left knee up toward your chest.
• Engage your abs as the knee comes toward your chest.
• Switch legs and keep skipping while pumping your arms.

Skip for 30 seconds.

Gate Swings

Continue to warm up as you work your outer and inner thighs with each move.

• Begin standing with your feet together.
• Hop your feet wide apart, and come into a deep squat, bringing your hands to your thighs. Your toes will be pointed outward.
• Push off your knees for leverage as you jump your legs together to complete one rep.

Do 15 reps to complete a set.

Shoulder Press and Side Crunch

Grab a set of dumbbells to tone your shoulders and waist with this exercise.

• Also, stand holding dumbbells at your shoulders. With your palms facing forward, press the weights overhead, straightening your arms.
• Additionally, as you bend your elbows to lower the weights, lift your left knee up toward your left elbow. Squeeze your abs to exaggerate the side crunch.
• Lower your leg while raising the weights overhead, and repeat the side crunch on the right. This completes one rep.
• Finally, do 15 reps, alternating sides.

Use five- to 10-pound weights.”

Finally, to get the full workout, click on the title of the popsugar article above, or on the image directly beneath it. 🙂

Now, dear lady plyo-jumpers (ok, we ran into trouble trying to think of another jumping animal metaphor that could represent our readers, here. “Lady Kanga?“, “Women Roos?”

Seems like, we need something other than an insect or frog for those women who are not so much into martial arts, you know) ….

We’ll settle for ladies here.

Ladies, we hope you got some good info on plyometric workouts for women in this article. If you did, please share on Facebook or Pinterest! Then check out some of our other articles by glancing to your right …. Over there. Over there in the side bar. Right there. You got it!

🙂

See you there.

In the meantime, we gotta think of a good, geeky Star Wars themed “plyometric workouts for men” article for all the young padawans out there.