It’s pretty clear, at this point, that plyometric training can make you a more efficient runner. There’s still plenty of debate about how it works. Does it streamline the signals traveling from brain to muscle? Does it make your tendons stiffer, enabling them to store and release more energy as they’re stretched with each stride? Does it alter your running style so that you take quicker and lighter steps? No one is sure, but there’s little debate that it does something.
As a result, studies like this one in Sports Biomechanics, published last month by a group led by Aurélien Patoz of the University of Lausanne, don’t garner much attention. They found a 3.9 percent improvement in running economy after eight weeks of either plyometric or dynamic strength training, roughly comparable to what Nike’s original Vaporfly 4% shoe produced. (They also found no evidence that either form of training altered running stride in any significant way, for what it’s worth.)
Why no excitement about a free four-percent boost? As someone who has experimented on and off with various forms of plyometric training over several…
