When beginning the transition to plyometrics, you always want to make sure that athletes can first control regressed movements and positions of instability, and demonstrate good deceleration control in all three planes in a slow and controlled manner. This is an absolute prerequisite before you ask them to generate power (speed component) and change directions (agility component), especially in reaction to an external stimulus (i.e an opposing player or ball). Assessing and training deceleration control in all three planes is absolutely vital for the athlete, as no sport is truly one-dimensional. In this article, we will help guide you on how to introduce deceleration control exercises!

 

Learn How To Improve Deceleration Control!

For those sports that rely more heavily on one plane of motion than others (think all your rotational sports like tennis, baseball, etc.), it’s important to focus even more time on the transverse plane. And for those sports that are trained primarily in one plane (i.e. basketball for vertical jump height and power development), you cannot neglect training in the other planes. You’d be surprised how “strong” a basketball athlete may be in the sagittal plane in terms of power development, strength, and even movement control, but the moment you task them with a frontal or transverse plane movement, they melt like Jell-O and their lower extremity alignment becomes horrendous. In our opinion, there is a huge lack of training tri-planar movement, as so much of Strength & Conditioning focused programming for top athletes is on developing sagittal plane power and strength (squats, deadlifts, cleans, snatches, etc) and not enough focus on the other planes of movement or on deceleration. Generating power is great, but you must also learn how to control it. This lack of tri-planar deceleration control is one of many causes of the high prevalence of non-contact ACL injuries today in the world of sports.

READ: How Do I Know When I am Ready to Play Again After an ACL Reconstruction?

 

Improve Your Deceleration Control With Our Jump Basics Program!

A key aspect to feeling resilient and confident is owning the fundamentals or basics with graded exposure. It is not wise to do 50 box jumps if you haven’t jumped in a month. It’s not wise to do 50 box jumps if your form is compensated. It is wise to take the time to own the fundamentals of jumping and then move into performance. What we are trying to say is, that you are wise! Get started with jump basics HERE.

 

Deceleration Control in the Sagittal Plane

Deceleration training should be a staple for any athlete in the rehab setting looking to eventually return to sport. Whether it’s after an ACL surgery (READ: ACL Prehab, Rehab, and Graft Options) or simply after a bout of patellar tendinopathy (jumper’s knee), learning to properly decelerate and control forces in addition to generating power is of utmost importance to the athlete. The deceleration in the sagittal plane should be achieved first, as it’s much easier to control due to our much larger muscles helping out (hip and knee extensors like the glutes and quads). The deceleration in the frontal plane is next. And finally, the most difficult is controlling deceleration in the transverse plane, as it is rarely pure transverse plane movement and usually involves a mix of sagittal, frontal, and transverse plane forces.

LISTEN: HOW TO REACH OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE WITH DR. TIM GABBETT

 

Anterior Quick Stab

Sample [P]rehab Jump Basics Program Exercise Video

• HOW: In a standing position, shift your weight to one leg. From here push off in a forward direction landing with the opposite foot and bend the knee to help absorb the landing.  Immediately push off with the foot that lands back into the starting position. 

 

• FEEL: You should feel your lower body muscles working. 

 

• COMPENSATION: Bend your knee slightly as you land to help you push back. Don’t land with a straight leg.

 

Jumping 101

 

Deceleration Control in the Frontal Plane

Below is a step-by-step progression I like to incorporate with my athletes. It’s not black and white and there are many other exercises that can be implemented as well, however, each progression does follow the following guidelines:

• Develop control of movement and deceleration first in a double leg staggered position like a lunge. There is inherently more stability derived in the lunge position because you’re on two legs. The benefit of this position compared to a squat position is that we can bias more weight onto the lead leg, challenging the leg with decelerating a higher percentage of the force

 

• Load the lead leg with an external load. To further bias the lead leg, you can use an external load (i.e. a medicine ball) in the plane of movement you wish to control. An external load not only adds more weight to the lead leg, but it further challenges the body to control momentum. Controlling the momentum of the external load while keeping ideal lower extremity alignment is key during these exercises.

 

• Control speed. Slam balls are a great way to add a speed component to our progression, in which the athlete must learn to eccentrically control the weight of the body and ball loading with speed onto the leg. In addition, the athlete must learn to dissociate movement of the upper extremity and the lower extremity, maintaining good lower extremity alignment while trying to develop power in the upper extremities.

 

Of course, this deceleration program doesn’t begin until you’ve deemed the athlete has the required strength to even control these positions. Without proper strength, you’re skipping a huge step and putting your athletes at risk for injury by jumping straight into plyometric training. Furthermore, you have to teach your athlete how to move properly prior as well. Read our article on plyometrics, Jump Training and Plyometric Progressions!

 

Single Leg Depth Drop To Lateral Bound

Sample Jumping Basics [P]rehab Program Exercise Video

• HOW: Standing on an elevated surface, begin by stepping off with one leg straight down. As you absorb the landing with one foot, push into the ground and jump to the side landing on the opposite leg all in one motion.

 

• FEEL: You will feel all the muscles in your legs working.

 

• COMPENSATION: Landing Position. Make sure your knees are aligned over your toes. They should not dive inwards on the landing. Your goal is to absorb as much of the landing forces as you can and land softly. That means that you want your hips and knees to bend as much as they need to, to absorb the force. If you do not let them bend much, you will land “stiff” and hard. Let your hips go back and while keeping your chest up to help absorb the forces. Your toes should touch the ground first when you land and quickly your heels will follow. You should land in a “ready position” like you would if you were playing sports, with your weight ever so slightly forward on the balls of your feet. You should not fall forward or backwards after landing. 

 

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Deceleration Control in the Transverse Plane

When it comes to the actual progression of deceleration training itself, there are tons of different ways to do this. Ultimately, I believe you should start in double leg positions first, then transition into single leg positions. When it comes to planes of motion, the same rule as above applies: sagittal –> frontal –> transverse. Only when control of all 3 planes is achieved, should you incorporate change of direction drills. I’ve included a few plyometric/cutting drills at the end of the video just for ideas. Again, not a black and white science here, just ideas for progressions!

 

Single Leg Rotational Depth Drop – Outside

• HOW: Start by standing on an elevated surface with one foot on the edge and the other hanging off the side. All in one motion, swing and rotate the leg hanging off the side out causing your body to rotate 90 degrees. Land on just that leg. 

 

• FEEL: You will feel all the muscles in your legs working.

 

• COMPENSATION: Landing Position. Make sure your knees are aligned over your toes. They should not dive inwards on the landing. Your goal is to absorb as much of the landing forces as you can and land softly. That means that you want your hips and knees to bend as much as they need to, to absorb the force. If you do not let them bend much, you will land “stiff” and hard. Let your hips go back while keeping your chest up to help absorb the forces. Your toes should touch the ground first when you land and quickly your heels will follow. You should land in a “ready position” like you would if you were playing sports, with your weight ever so slightly forward on the balls of your feet. You should not fall forward or backward after landing. 

 

Closing Thoughts

When an athlete is returning to sport, make sure they are not training in just one plane of movement. In sports, we move in all planes: sagittal, frontal, and transverse. In most cases, we will start in the sagittal plane, and progress to more demanding frontal/transverse plane movements as we progress throughout rehab. We have to ensure our body is able to adapt well to each of these planes of movement in order to mitigate injury risk as well as optimize performance on the playing field!

 

Learn How To Master Your Jumps, Lands, and Any Plyometric Movement!

Learn to control those breaks before hitting the gas. Jumping without your body being prepared for it can lead to a myriad of issues. Let’s make sure you avoid that. Get started with our program today.

 

About The Author

Michael Lau, PT, DPT, CSCS

[P]rehab Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer

Michael was born and raised in Northern California but now currently resides in Sunny SoCal ever since attending the University of California, Los Angeles as an undergraduate majoring in physiology. After his undergraduate studies, he received his Doctorate in Physical Therapy from cross-town rival the University of Southern California. As a licensed physical therapist with a strong background in strength and conditioning, Michael likes to blend the realms of strength training and rehabilitation to provide prehab, or preventative rehabilitation, to his patients. A common human behavior is to address problems after they become an issue and far often too late, which is a reactionary approach. He believes the key to improved health care is education and awareness. This proactive approach-prehab-can reduce the risk of injuries and pain in the first place. He is a huge proponent of movement education and pain science. Clinically, he has a special interest in ACLR rehab and return to sport for the lower extremity athlete.

 

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer – The content here is designed for information & education purposes only and is not intended for medical advice.