What are plyometric exercises and should I be doing them in my workouts?

Plyometrics are exercises that involve a stretch phase where the muscle is stretched out and an explosive contraction phase. These exercises employ your muscles stretch shortening cycle. This is the muscles ability to act like a rubber band and spring out to get more power. The simplest type of plyometric exercise is jumping. When you just you usually squat down (the stretch phase) then immediately explode up (the contraction phase) by rapidly tightening your muscle. By quickly going from the lengthening phase in a muscle to the shortening phase your muscle will snap back and create more force. This can be done with your upper body as well. An example are clap push ups where you perform a normal push up but on the up phase you explode your hands off the ground and clap.

As you can probably see these are more advanced exercises and should not be performed by everyone. They are best suited for athletes you are required to generate a great deal of force in a short period of time. However, if you are an experienced exercises they may be a great way to change up your workout. Since they can be very demanding on your body you need to make sure you have no pre-existing injuries that can be aggravated and that you keep the volume low. You should only perform a few reps or plyometric exercises (6-8). If you are up for it throw these exercises into your next workout:

Box Jumps- Get a sturdy box at a comfortable height for you. Stand about 1 foot away. Squat down and immediately jump up onto the box landing on both feet. Step back down and repeat.

Depth Jump- Using the same box stand on top of it. Step off of the box and land on both feet. As you land immediately go into a squat and jump up as high as you can.