Exercise of the Week: Bounce Drop Heiden with Medicine Ball

Written on February 25, 2020 at 3:03 pm, by Eric Cressey

The Bounce Drop Heiden with Medicine Ball combines two of our favorite Heiden (frontal plane plyometric drill) progressions:

1. Dropping from elevation to increase eccentric overload (and increase storage of elastic energy)

2. Holding a med ball as a counterbalance to improve hip loading

Some key coaching points:

1. Don’t let the knee slip into valgus (knees collapses in) on landing. A strong sagittal plane landing position should be following by power production laterally. You’re loading the glutes in the sagittal plane and then unloading them in all three planes (especially the frontal plane). Don’t put the knee in a vulnerable position to get these benefits.

2. The arms should not be rigid. In other words, holding the medicine ball shouldn’t restrict a fluid arm swing.

3. Don’t race through ground contact. The goal is to use the increased eccentric pre-loading to enable you to produce more force. There is a happy medium between spending too little time on the ground and shortchanging yourself vs. spending too long on the ground and wasting elastic energy. This video demonstrates that sweet spot well.

4. This is a late offseason progression for our advanced athletes. Don’t give it to an untraind 14-year-old who’s never lifted weights. They can start with regular Heidens (no elevation) and other landing and jumping progressions.

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