Plyometrics for Kickers: Power Training That Helps Rather Than Hurts
Jump training is one of the few things that genuinely develops the rate of force production kicking depends on. It is also the modality most likely to injure someone who starts it in the wrong order.
⚠️ Read this before anything else. Plyometric training involves high forces through the joints and requires a strength base, sound landing mechanics and qualified supervision to be done safely — particularly for young or still-growing athletes. This article is general information, not a prescription. Before starting, get clearance and instruction from a qualified strength and conditioning coach, physiotherapist or doctor who can assess you individually. If you have a current or recent injury, do not begin without professional advice.
Here is why plyometrics is relevant to kicking at all. Distance in kicking is not about how much force you can produce — it is about how quickly you can produce it. The kicking motion happens in a fraction of a second, which means the rate of force development matters far more than maximal strength.
Plyometric training targets exactly that quality, through the stretch-shortening cycle: the rapid lengthening and shortening of muscle that produces elastic power. It is genuinely relevant.
It is also frequently done badly — too much volume, too soon, on unprepared tissue, with poor landing mechanics — which is how it becomes a source of injury rather than power. This guide covers the order to do it in, the progression, and the volume that keeps it useful.
📋 What’s in this guide
Why It Applies to Kicking
The rationale is specific rather than general.
Kicking is a rate-of-force problem. The leg accelerates and strikes in a fraction of a second. How much you can lift matters less than how fast you can express what you have.
The stretch-shortening cycle is central to the motion. The hip flexors and quadriceps are rapidly stretched before shortening explosively during the swing. That is precisely the mechanism plyometrics trains.
The plant leg absorbs enormous force. A large part of good kicking is your plant leg accepting and redirecting momentum. Landing mechanics — the deceleration half of plyometrics — is directly relevant to that.
It supports single-leg control. Kicking is a single-leg activity, and unilateral plyometric work builds the stability that keeps a plant firm rather than collapsing.
What it will not do: fix your technique. A kicker with a plant fault will kick further with more power and still miss. Efficiency gains come first, always.
Plyometrics develops how quickly you can express force. It does nothing about whether your foot arrives in the right place.
Are You Ready For It?
The most important section, and the one most often skipped.
You need a strength base first. Plyometric landings generate forces well above bodyweight. Tissue that has not been prepared through resistance training absorbs that poorly. Strength before power is the standard sequence for good reason.
You need sound landing mechanics. If you cannot land a simple jump softly, quietly and in balance, you are not ready to add height, depth or speed.
You need to be uninjured. Not “mostly fine”. Plyometrics on a niggling groin or a sore knee is how a niggle becomes a season.
You need somewhere appropriate to do it. Grass or a sprung surface, not concrete.
You need supervision to learn it. Landing mechanics in particular are very difficult to self-assess. This is the part worth paying a qualified professional for.
| Readiness marker | Why it matters | If you cannot yet |
|---|---|---|
| Established resistance training base | Tissue must tolerate high landing forces | Build strength first for several months |
| Controlled bodyweight squat | Basic movement competence | Work on it before adding load or speed |
| Balanced single-leg stance | Kicking is unilateral | Build single-leg control first |
| Soft, quiet, balanced landings | Landing is the injury moment | Master landings before any jumping volume |
| No current pain or recent injury | High forces on compromised tissue | Get assessed; do not begin |
| Appropriate surface available | Hard surfaces increase joint load | Find grass or a sprung floor |
| Access to qualified instruction | Technique cannot be self-assessed | Delay until you have it |
💡 If you are unsure whether you are ready, you are not. Plyometrics is unusual among training modalities in that doing it too early is genuinely worse than not doing it at all. The strength and mobility work you would do instead is productive, safe and directly useful to kicking — so the cost of waiting is close to zero, while the cost of starting unprepared is real.
Landing Mechanics Come First
The half of plyometrics that produces the injuries and gets the least attention.
Land quietly. Noise is force you failed to absorb. A loud landing is a coaching cue in itself.
Land softly through the whole chain. Ankle, knee and hip all flexing to absorb, rather than a stiff landing that transmits everything to the joints.
Keep the knee tracking over the foot. A knee collapsing inward on landing is a recognised risk pattern and it is the single thing to watch for most.
Land balanced. If you have to step to recover, the jump was beyond your current control.
Master it before adding height or depth. Jump height is not the goal. Absorbing well is.
Spend genuine weeks on this. Landing work alone, before any real jumping volume, is not a warm-up phase to be rushed — it is the foundation everything else sits on.
Volume and Placement in the Week
Plyometrics is quality work, and treating it as conditioning is a common and costly error.
Low volume, full recovery. Plyometrics is about output quality per repetition. Once you are tired, you are no longer training power — you are training fatigued jumping, which has all the injury risk and none of the benefit.
Do it fresh. Early in a session, after a thorough warm-up, before anything that fatigues you.
Never on a fatigued or heavily loaded leg. Which means not after a heavy kicking session, and not the day after one.
Leave recovery days between sessions. Two sessions a week is plenty for most kickers, with clear days between.
Count it in your total load. Plyometrics loads the same hips, quads and hamstrings that kicking does. Kickers who add jump training on top of full kicking volume without adjusting anything are simply adding load.
Reduce it in season. Maintain rather than develop when your kicking volume is high. Our training programme guide covers periodising this properly.
⚠️ Stop the session when landing quality drops. Not when you are exhausted — when the landings stop being quiet, soft and balanced. That is the point at which further repetitions stop developing power and start rehearsing the mechanics that cause injury. It usually arrives earlier than people expect, and being willing to stop there is the difference between a productive modality and a dangerous one.
Exercises by Stage
A general progression. Learn each stage properly with qualified instruction before moving on — the stages are not optional steps to be skipped when you feel ready.
| Stage | Focus | Example movements | Prerequisite | Typical volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Landing | Absorbing force | Drop-and-stick landings, snap-downs | Strength base | Low; quality only |
| 2. Double-leg low | Basic elastic work | Pogo hops, small squat jumps | Quiet, balanced landings | Low |
| 3. Double-leg higher | Greater output | Countermovement jumps, box jumps up | Stage 2 mastered | Low, full recovery |
| 4. Single-leg low | Unilateral control | Single-leg hops in place, small bounds | Stage 3 plus single-leg stability | Very low |
| 5. Single-leg dynamic | Kicking-specific power | Bounding, lateral single-leg hops | Stage 4 mastered | Very low, well spaced |
| 6. Advanced | Maximal reactive work | Depth jumps and similar | Substantial base; supervision essential | Minimal; not for most kickers |
Most kickers should live in stages one to four. The returns from stages five and six are marginal for kicking specifically and the risk rises sharply, particularly for younger athletes. Depth jumps in particular are an advanced modality that many kickers have no reason to attempt.
Note that box jumps mean jumping up. Stepping down rather than jumping down removes a large amount of landing load for no loss of training benefit.
Equipment
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Resistance Band Set
The Prerequisite, Not the Alternative
Plyometrics requires a strength base first, and bands cover the single-leg strengthening, glute and hamstring work that builds it. This is what you do for months before jumping, and continue alongside it.
✅ What’s good
- Builds the prerequisite base
- Also the warm-up tool
- Packs into a drawer
- Progressive resistance
⚠️ Keep in mind
- Needs correct technique
- Bands perish over time
👤 Best for: Anyone considering plyometrics who has not yet built a strength base.
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Exercise Matting
Surface Is a Safety Variable
Landing forces on concrete are considerably harsher than on an appropriate surface. If you train indoors or in a garage, matting is not a comfort item — it is part of doing this safely.
✅ What’s good
- Reduces landing load
- Also useful for strength work
- Interlocking tiles fit any space
- Protects the floor
⚠️ Keep in mind
- Takes storage space
- Cheap versions slide
👤 Best for: Anyone doing jump work anywhere other than grass or a sprung floor.
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Phone Tripod
Landing Mechanics You Cannot Self-Assess
A knee tracking inward on landing is the pattern most worth catching and it is essentially impossible to feel. Filming from the front, in slow motion, makes it visible immediately.
✅ What’s good
- Shows the key risk pattern
- Useful to send to a coach or physio
- No helper needed
- Cheap
⚠️ Keep in mind
- Does not replace supervision
- Needs stable ground
👤 Best for: Anyone training without in-person supervision every session.
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Plyometric Box (Adjustable)
Only Once You Have Earned It
A box is a stage-three item, useful for jumping up onto rather than down from. Adjustable height lets you start conservatively, which matters far more than the maximum height it offers.
✅ What’s good
- Adjustable so you can start low
- Sturdy platform
- Useful for step-ups too
- Long lasting
⚠️ Keep in mind
- Not needed for early stages
- Bulky and heavier than it looks
👤 Best for: Kickers who have mastered landings and low-level jumping under supervision.
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Foam Roller and Massage Ball
Recovery Between Sessions
Plyometrics adds load to exactly the tissue kicking already stresses. Mobility and recovery work is what allows two demanding modalities to coexist in the same week.
✅ What’s good
- Supports recovery between sessions
- Targets the loaded tissue
- Cheap and portable
- Ten minutes a day
⚠️ Keep in mind
- Uncomfortable at first
- Not treatment for an injury
👤 Best for: Anyone combining jump training with a full kicking week.
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Training Log
Counting Plyometrics as Load
Jump training loads the same hips and quads as kicking, and kickers routinely add it without subtracting anything. A log is where the combined total becomes visible.
✅ What’s good
- Makes combined load visible
- Flags overload early
- Cheap and simple
- Useful for coaches and physios
⚠️ Keep in mind
- Requires the habit
- Easy to abandon
👤 Best for: Kickers adding plyometrics to an existing full kicking schedule.
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Young Athletes and Growth
A section that deserves particular care.
Adolescents can benefit from appropriate training, but supervision matters more. Well-designed, supervised programmes are widely regarded as appropriate for young athletes; unsupervised high-volume jumping is a different proposition entirely.
Growth periods warrant caution. Rapid growth can affect coordination and may increase susceptibility to certain overuse problems. Reducing volume during a growth spurt is sensible rather than overcautious.
Technique before intensity, always. More so for young athletes than anyone. A teenager who can land beautifully at low intensity is in a far better position than one jumping high with poor mechanics.
Volume creep is the risk. Enthusiastic young athletes add repetitions. Someone needs to be counting.
Get individual clearance. Before a young athlete begins plyometric training, a qualified professional should assess their readiness. This is not a formality — it is the difference between a useful modality and an injury.
And it is genuinely optional. A young kicker who does no plyometrics at all, but has good technique, sound strength work and daily mobility, is not missing something essential.
Common Mistakes
❌ 1. Starting without a strength base
Landing forces well above bodyweight on unprepared tissue is the fundamental error.
✅ Fix: Months of resistance training first. The cost of waiting is near zero.
❌ 2. Skipping the landing phase
Landing is where the injuries happen and it is the least interesting part, so it gets rushed.
✅ Fix: Weeks of landing work alone before any jumping volume.
❌ 3. Treating it as conditioning
High-repetition fatigued jumping has the injury risk and none of the power benefit.
✅ Fix: Low volume, full recovery, stop when landing quality drops.
❌ 4. Jumping down from boxes
Adds substantial landing load for no additional training benefit at most stages.
✅ Fix: Jump up, step down. Every time.
❌ 5. Doing it on a fatigued leg
After a heavy kicking session is exactly the wrong time.
✅ Fix: Fresh, early in a session, on a day without heavy kicking.
❌ 6. Not counting it as load
It stresses the same tissue as kicking, and kickers add it without subtracting anything.
✅ Fix: Log jump contacts alongside kick counts.
❌ 7. Expecting it to fix your kicking
More power through a faulty plant produces longer misses.
✅ Fix: Fix technique first; power amplifies whatever mechanics you have.
❌ 8. Progressing to advanced work too fast
Depth jumps and similar carry sharply higher risk for marginal kicking-specific return.
✅ Fix: Most kickers should stay in the early and middle stages.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do plyometrics help kicking distance?
They can, because kicking depends on how quickly you produce force rather than how much you can produce, and plyometric training targets that rate of force development.
But they will not fix technique. Most kickers gain more range from correcting plant depth and contact point than from any power training, and added power through a faulty plant simply produces longer misses.
Am I ready to start plyometric training?
You need an established strength training base, sound landing mechanics, no current or recent injury, an appropriate surface, and access to qualified instruction.
If you are unsure, you are not ready — and the cost of waiting is close to zero, because the strength and mobility work you would do instead is safe, productive and directly useful to kicking.
How much plyometric work should a kicker do?
Low volume with full recovery, roughly twice a week at most, done fresh and early in a session rather than after kicking.
Stop when landing quality drops — quiet, soft and balanced — rather than when you feel tired. Past that point you are rehearsing poor mechanics under high load.
What is the most important part of plyometrics?
Landing. It is where the forces are highest and where injuries occur, and it is the part most commonly rushed because it is the least interesting.
Land quietly, absorb through ankle, knee and hip, keep the knee tracking over the foot, and land balanced. Master that at low intensity before adding any height.
Are plyometrics safe for young kickers?
Appropriately designed and supervised programmes are generally regarded as suitable for young athletes, but unsupervised high-volume jumping is a very different thing.
Get individual clearance from a qualified professional first, prioritise technique over intensity, reduce volume during growth spurts, and remember it is genuinely optional — good technique, strength work and mobility matter more.
Should I do box jumps?
Only once you have mastered landings and low-level jumping, and only jumping up onto the box — step down rather than jumping down.
Jumping down adds substantial landing load with no additional training benefit at the stages most kickers should be working in. Start with an adjustable box at a conservative height.
Plyometrics Checklist
- Individual clearance obtained from a qualified professional
- Established strength training base in place
- No current or recent injury
- Landing mechanics taught in person and practised for weeks
- Landings quiet, soft, balanced and knee-tracking correct
- Appropriate surface — grass, sprung floor or matting
- Done fresh, early in a session, after a full warm-up
- Never after a heavy kicking session or on a fatigued leg
- Low volume with full recovery between repetitions
- Two sessions per week maximum, with days between
- Session stopped when landing quality drops
- Box jumps performed upward only; step down
- Progression through stages, none skipped
- Advanced work avoided unless genuinely warranted
- Jump contacts counted in weekly load alongside kicks
- Volume reduced in season and during growth periods
- Landing mechanics filmed periodically from the front
The bottom line: plyometrics trains the quality kicking actually depends on — how fast you can express force — and it is genuinely worth doing once you have earned it. Earning it means a real strength base, weeks of landing work, an appropriate surface and qualified instruction. Keep the volume low, do it fresh, stop when the landings stop being quiet, and count it as load. And fix your technique first, because power amplifies whatever mechanics you already have.
Keep Going
🦺 FlexibilityMobility alongside power
🩹 Injury PreventionManaging combined load
📈 Long RangeWhere efficiency beats power
As an Amazon Associate we may earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. This article is general information and is not medical, physiotherapy or strength and conditioning advice. Plyometric training carries genuine injury risk and requires individual assessment, a strength base and qualified supervision. Consult a qualified professional before beginning, particularly for young or still-growing athletes or anyone with a current or recent injury.