power cleans vs box jumps

[progressiveman1]

I'm working on the setup of my speed/power day for my intermediate program, and I'm trying to decide between power cleans or box jumps. Below is a paragraph written by louie simmons on what he prefers, but you may differ since I know you generally recommend power cleans first most. Is there a benefit from power cleans over box jumps?

"Absolute explosive power causes a much greater increase in power with respect to time by nature of a lighter load, most often bodyweight, ie, jumping. In the US, when power development is discussed, the olympic lifts come to mind. But in Europe, where they are much more sophisticated, jumping and plyometrics are used. The greatest amount of power is developed with lighter loads. I recommend that everyone, except for the lightest lifters, do only jumping on boxes for explosive power."

[Mark Rippetoe]

Power cleans are finely scalable, box jumps are not.

[Jefferson]

Would plyometrics be a good way of improving your olympic lifts? I have no idea if this is right but my understanding is that they cause the achilles tendon to stiffen making you 'bouncier', and that they train you to explode faster, like speed sets. Do they actually work? If so, can you recommend any resources on how to train with them?

[Smack]

This is a question which I am highly interested in as well.

I'd also like to ask the OP where he gets the notion that in Europe they do jumps and plyometrics as a primary means for building power. I'd always thought it'd be the other way round, given the popularity of Westside stuff in America, and Westside isn't big on the Oly lifts at all.

[tescott]

An especially ironic Q&A, given the OPs screen name..

[Mark Rippetoe]

Would plyometrics be a good way of improving your olympic lifts? I have no idea if this is right but my understanding is that they cause the achilles tendon to stiffen making you 'bouncier', and that they train you to explode faster, like speed sets. Do they actually work? If so, can you recommend any resources on how to train with them?

No, they are not a major contributor to the success of most weightlifters. Getting strong is.

[Jefferson]

No, they are not a major contributor to the success of most weightlifters. Getting strong is.

Thanks, I was just curious about this because I know that virtually all top Olympic weightlifters have amazing verticals, and that not all very strong people (squat, deadlift) are able to translate that strength into the explosive lifts, so I thought maybe plyometrics might be the missing link that allows you to express your strength as power.

Even though that apparently isn't the case, I'm just curious, as an experienced coach do plyometrics actually work in your experience at increasing explosiveness in general, ie jumping, sprinting? And if so do you know how you would go about training them?

[Mark Rippetoe]

All top Olympic lifters have a big vertical because to be a top Olympic lifter you have to be explosive. I do not use plyometrics, i.e., fancy jump training, in my programming because I never work with athletes that need to do that more than they need to get strong.

[David_S]

This is a question which I am highly interested in as well.

I'd also like to ask the OP where he gets the notion that in Europe they do jumps and plyometrics as a primary means for building power. I'd always thought it'd be the other way round, given the popularity of Westside stuff in America, and Westside isn't big on the Oly lifts at all.

He said that it was a Louie Simmons quote.

[progressiveman1]

I'd also like to ask the OP where he gets the notion that in Europe they do jumps and plyometrics as a primary means for building power. I'd always thought it'd be the other way round, given the popularity of Westside stuff in America, and Westside isn't big on the Oly lifts at all.

The second paragraph in my op was from a louie simmons article on his website. And he adopted this training method and lots of his other training from what has worked well for others, a lot of it from europe.

All top Olympic lifters have a big vertical because to be a top Olympic lifter you have to be explosive. I do not use plyometrics, i.e., fancy jump training, in my programming because I never work with athletes that need to do that more than they need to get strong.

Can you explain why you don't think plyometrics contribute to strength increases? Do you disagree that plyometrics increase rate of force development? Or that the increase in RFD drives strength increases?