Using Extensive Plyometrics In-Season for Soccer Players

Plyometric training is often associated with depth jumps, maximal hurdle jumps and other high-intensity explosive exercises. But not every plyometric exposure needs to be maximal.

During the competitive season, lower-intensity plyometric work can provide soccer players with repeated exposure to the stretch-shortening cycle without requiring the same mechanical demand as high-intensity jumping.

This is where extensive plyometrics can become useful.

The term “extensive plyometrics” is commonly used within strength and conditioning to describe relatively low-amplitude, submaximal and repeatable jumping activities performed for a greater number of contacts. It is important to point out that extensive plyometrics are a coaching classification rather than a standardized scientific category. Research more commonly refers to plyometric jump training, stretch-shortening cycle exercise, hopping or submaximal jumping.

For practical purposes, exercises such as low pogos, ankle hops, low hurdle jumps, skipping and jump rope can fall within the extensive category when they are performed with low displacement and controlled intensity.

Why do plyometrics matter for soccer?

Running, accelerating, decelerating, jumping and changing direction all require the athlete to absorb force and rapidly produce force again. This interaction between eccentric loading and subsequent concentric force production is commonly described as the stretch-shortening cycle.

Plyometric jump training has repeatedly demonstrated positive effects on physical qualities relevant to soccer.

A systematic review and meta-analysis involving 33 studies and 1,499 young male soccer players found that plyometric jump training improved both vertical jumping and linear sprint performance. Longer interventions, particularly those lasting more than seven weeks and involving more than 14 sessions, tended to produce greater improvements in 10-meter sprint performance.

Similar findings have been reported specifically during the competitive season.

Chelly and colleagues incorporated twice-weekly plyometric training into the normal training schedule of junior soccer players for eight weeks. Players performing the additional plyometric work improved measures of jump performance, power and sprint velocity compared with players completing soccer training alone.

Hammami and colleagues also demonstrated improvements in short sprint performance and repeated change-of-direction ability following an eight-week in-season plyometric program in junior soccer players.

The takeaway is not that soccer players need large amounts of jumping during the season.

It is that plyometric exposure can remain part of the training process rather than disappearing once competition begins.

Extensive versus intensive plyometrics

One of the biggest programming mistakes is treating every jump as if it creates the same training stress.

It does not.

A low pogo performed several centimeters off the ground is very different mechanically from a maximal depth jump or aggressive single-leg bound.

Research examining plyometric intensity has also shown that simply counting jumps or looking at drop height does not fully describe the stress being placed on an athlete. Ground reaction force, power output, jump height and movement strategy all influence the actual intensity of a plyometric exercise.

From a programming standpoint, this gives us a useful distinction.

Extensive plyometrics generally involve:

Low vertical or horizontal displacementSubmaximal effortRelatively short ground contactsRhythmic repeated contactsGreater total contact volumeLow fatigue per repetition

Examples can include:

Jump ropeLow ankle pogosAlternating ankle hopsLow lateral hopsLow forward-backward hopsSkipping variationsLow-amplitude line hops

Intensive plyometrics move toward:

Greater jump height or distanceHigher landing forcesGreater eccentric loadingHigher intentLonger recovery between repetitionsLower overall contact volume

Depth jumps, maximal hurdle jumps, maximal bounds and aggressive unilateral reactive jumps would generally fall further toward this end of the spectrum.

This difference becomes especially important during the competitive season.

Why extensive plyometrics can work in-season?

The goal in-season is rarely to create as much training stress as possible.

The objective is to maintain or improve physical qualities while managing the stress already coming from practices and matches.

Extensive plyometrics provide one way of maintaining regular stretch-shortening cycle exposure without relying entirely on high-intensity jumping.

Research supports the ability of plyometric training to influence lower-limb stiffness.

A meta-analysis by Moran and colleagues found that plyometric jump training produced improvements in lower-limb stiffness. Interestingly, lower weekly jump volumes were effective, reinforcing the idea that more volume is not automatically better.

Jump rope provides a useful example.

García-Pinillos and colleagues investigated the addition of jump rope training to the warm-up routines of runners. Ten weeks of jump rope training improved reactive strength index, jumping performance and foot-arch stiffness compared with the control condition.

This study involved runners rather than soccer players, so it should not be directly generalized to soccer performance. However, it provides evidence that repetitive, low-amplitude rope jumping can function as a plyometric stimulus affecting lower-limb reactivity and stiffness.

That is one reason we can use jump rope as an extensive plyometric option rather than considering it simply conditioning.

Where extensive plyometrics fit during match week

This is where we have to separate direct research from evidence-informed programming.

There is currently limited research directly comparing extensive plyometric training performed on MD-4 versus MD-3 versus MD-2 in soccer players.

Therefore, stating that one specific day is scientifically proven to be the “best” day for extensive plyometrics would go beyond the available evidence.

What we can do is combine plyometric research with what we know about how professional soccer clubs distribute training load across a typical microcycle.

A full-season study examining professional soccer players found that MD-4 and MD-3 generally contained the greatest training volume and intensity, while workloads progressively decreased approaching competition.

That makes MD-4 and MD-3 logical locations for the largest plyometric exposures during a conventional one-match week.

The plyometric stimulus can then decrease as the next match approaches.

Example of Pre-Season Micro-Cycle

MD+1

For players who accumulated substantial match minutes, the priority is usually recovery rather than adding additional mechanical loading.

Extensive plyometrics are generally unnecessary for starters immediately following competition.

Non-starters are different. They may need a top-up training stimulus because their match exposure was considerably lower.

This reinforces an important point: the microcycle should follow the athlete's match exposure rather than simply the calendar.

MD+2

Low-volume extensive plyometrics can potentially be introduced as part of a return toward normal training.

Examples could include low pogos, skipping or brief jump-rope sequences.

The objective is not fatigue.

It is reintroducing elastic activity and preparing the athlete for the heavier portion of the training week.

MD-4

For a traditional seven-day microcycle, MD-4 is a logical location for one of the larger extensive plyometric exposures.

This is also commonly one of the higher-load training days within professional soccer periodization.

An MD-4 sequence might include exercises such as:

Jump ropeLow pogosLateral ankle hopsLow hurdle hopsSnap-down to low rebound

These can then transition into acceleration, change of direction, strength or more intensive plyometric exercises depending on the objective of the session.

MD-3

MD-3 can also accommodate extensive plyometric work.

Depending on the structure of the week, the volume may be similar to or slightly below MD-4.

If the field session already contains substantial accelerations, decelerations and high-speed running, additional plyometric volume should be considered within the total mechanical load rather than programmed independently.

Plyometric contacts do not exist in isolation from everything else the player is doing.

MD-2

At MD-2, the purpose begins to change.

Rather than trying to accumulate plyometric volume, extensive contacts can become part of preparation.

A small amount of low-amplitude jumping may be useful within the warm-up, but there is little reason to chase fatigue or large contact numbers this close to competition.

The session should leave the athlete prepared for the next training day rather than needing to recover from the plyometric work itself.

MD-1

MD-1 is not the place for a large plyometric training stimulus.

If jumps are included, they should generally function as a primer.

A few sets of low pogos, low hurdle contacts or other fast elastic movements can expose the nervous system to rapid force production without creating substantial volume.

The difference is intent.

MD-4 extensive plyometrics can contribute to training.

MD-1 plyometrics should primarily contribute to preparation.

Match day

Jumping, skipping and low reactive contacts already appear naturally within many soccer warm-ups.

There is no need to turn match-day preparation into a separate plyometric workout.

The athlete already has a much larger mechanical stimulus coming: the match itself.

How much volume do we actually need?

There is no universal contact number that applies to every athlete.

Research in youth soccer has historically suggested beginning around 50–60 contacts during dedicated plyometric sessions and progressing toward approximately 80–120 contacts depending on training age, exercise selection and tolerance.

Those numbers should not automatically become targets.

Contact count alone does not describe plyometric stress.

Ten maximal depth jumps can represent substantially more mechanical demand than ten low ankle hops.

Body mass, jump height, landing strategy, unilateral versus bilateral loading, surface, previous running exposure and athlete training history all change the cost of the exercise.

The objective should therefore be the minimum effective dose rather than reaching an arbitrary contact number.

Research comparing different plyometric volumes also supports this approach. Lower-volume plyometric programs have produced improvements in reactive strength comparable to higher-volume programs in trained athletes.

A practical extensive plyometric progression

An extensive sequence early in the training week could look something like this:

Jump rope 2 × 30–45 seconds

Low bilateral pogos 2 × 15

Lateral ankle hops 2 × 8 each direction

Forward-backward ankle hops 2 × 8

Low hurdle rebounds 2 × 5

The athlete should remain rhythmic and reactive.

Once jump height begins increasing unnecessarily, ground contacts become heavy or the athlete begins using excessive knee and hip displacement to complete the movement, the exercise is moving away from the original extensive objective.

Quality still matters even when intensity is low.

Extensive plyometrics are not conditioning

Another mistake is turning extensive plyometrics into a fatigue circuit.

The purpose is not simply to elevate heart rate.

The purpose is repeated exposure to efficient stretch-shortening cycle behavior.

When contact quality deteriorates substantially because of fatigue, the exercise is no longer producing the same mechanical stimulus.

Jump rope can certainly create a cardiovascular response when performed long enough, but within a sports-performance program we should be clear about why we are using it.

If the goal is extensive plyometric work, we are looking for rhythm, stiffness, coordination and repeatable elastic contacts.

We are not trying to see how tired the athlete can become while jumping.

The bigger picture

Plyometric training should not disappear during the soccer season.

The available research demonstrates that plyometric training can improve sprinting, jumping, reactive strength and change-of-direction qualities in soccer players, including when it is incorporated during the competitive season.

The challenge is managing the dose.

Extensive plyometrics give coaches another way to maintain regular stretch-shortening cycle exposure without making every jumping session highly intensive.

During a normal one-match microcycle, the larger exposures logically fit farther away from competition, particularly around MD-4 and MD-3, when overall training loads are typically higher. As the match approaches, plyometric volume should decrease and the objective should shift from development toward preparation.

That distinction matters.

We do not need every session to create fatigue to create adaptation.

Sometimes the goal is simply to keep exposing the athlete to the physical qualities the game demands.

References

Chelly, M. S., Ghenem, M. A., Abid, K., Hermassi, S., Tabka, Z., & Shephard, R. J. (2010). Effects of in-season short-term plyometric training program on leg power, jump- and sprint performance of soccer players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 24(10), 2670–2676. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181e2728f.

García-Pinillos, F., Lago-Fuentes, C., Latorre-Román, P. A., Pantoja-Vallejo, A., & Ramirez-Campillo, R. (2020). Jump-rope training: Improved 3-km time-trial performance in endurance runners via enhanced lower-limb reactivity and foot-arch stiffness. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 15(7), 927–933. doi: 10.1123/ijspp.2019-0529.

Hammami, M., Negra, Y., Aouadi, R., Shephard, R. J., & Chelly, M. S. (2016). Effects of an in-season plyometric training program on repeated change of direction and sprint performance in the junior soccer player. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 30(12), 3312–3320. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000001470.

Moran, J., Liew, B., Ramirez-Campillo, R., Granacher, U., Negra, Y., & Chaabene, H. (2023). The effects of plyometric jump training on lower-limb stiffness in healthy individuals: A meta-analytical comparison. Journal of Sport and Health Science, 12(2), 236–245. doi: 10.1016/j.jshs.2021.05.005.

Oliva-Lozano, J. M., Gómez-Carmona, C. D., Fortes, V., & Pino-Ortega, J. (2022). Effect of training day, match, and length of the microcycle on workload periodization in professional soccer players: A full-season study. Biology of Sport, 39(2), 397–406. doi: 10.5114/biolsport.2022.106148.

Ramirez-Campillo, R., Castillo, D., Raya-González, J., Moran, J., Sáez de Villarreal, E., & Lloyd, R. S. (2020). Effects of plyometric jump training on jump and sprint performance in young male soccer players: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 50(12), 2125–2143. doi: 10.1007/s40279-020-01337-1.