Do Gwen Jorgensen’s plyo drills at home for explosive power
Plyo drills are great for building strength in your running, especially after recovering from an injury
Plyometric drills refer to jumping or driving exercises that engage the muscles of the lower body and are an excellent way to build explosive power and strength into your running. Gwen Jorgensen has a conservative routine you can do at home, and the drills can be especially helpful for building strength after recovering from an injury. Just make sure you’re well warmed up, stop if you feel pain, recover between sets and do them only on your workout days, so as to maximize recovery time.
What’s particularly useful about this routine is Jorgensen demonstrating how to improvise if you don’t have a home gym with equipment. Some examples are given below.
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Jorgensen’s routine
Calf raises on the floor
Calf raises on a step while holding a weight
Box drives from a bench or couch
Glute drives using a doorway to support your upper body
Ladder drills (use a tiled floor for visual ladder cues, or just use your imagination)
Frog jumps
In and outs (front and back, and sideways)
Box jumps on the lowest step of a flight of stairs (facing forward and facing sideways)
Jump rope for one minute
Weighted step-downs (facing forward and facing sideways)
Weighted 12 o’clock taps
Anterior tib eccentric at wall (weighted)
Eccentric seated calf raise
I am excited to share my plyometric routine that can easily be done at home. I use this to build achilles strength and improve my muscular endurance. https://t.co/LwVlT2u101 pic.twitter.com/FAZmVOYKdr
— Gwen Jorgensen (@gwenjorgensen) January 4, 2020
Jorgensen won the gold medal in triathlon at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, and has since transitioned to the marathon. After undergoing surgery to repair a Haglund’s Deformity in early 2019, she has only recently resumed full training, and declared last month that she would target the 10,000m and 5,000m rather than the marathon at the U.S. Olympic trials in June.
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