Muscles Worked: Legs
Equipment Needed: None / Bodyweight
Difficulty: Beginner
Bounding is a plyometric (PLYO) exercise that is intended to increase power production in the lower body.
This exercise may be performed during a warm-up to other exercises, helping to activate the CNS which is responsible for instructing the muscles to contract at a rapid pace.
This exercise guide explains how to do bounding, its benefits, which muscles are worked, and how to make it easier and harder.
Table of Contents:
How to Do Bounding
Stand in an open area with your feet together.
Begin this exercise with skipping, then push off the ground with one of your legs and adding a high knee with the opposite leg to complete the motion.
A 90° angle should be formed at shoulder height by the leg that is in a high knee in combination with the opposite arm. The other arm should be positioned beside your hip.
Push up off the ground as powerfully as you possibly can, land with bent knees to absorb the impact.
Repeat this motion for your desired number of times.
Caution: Only do this exercise if you have no injuries, this is due to the force on your joints.
What Is Bounding
Bounding is a plyometric and calisthenic workout that requires explosive movements.
The quadriceps and other assistance leg muscles, as well as stabilising muscles, are the primary muscles engaged during bounding, with the calves, glutes, and hamstrings coming in second.
Bounding is a fantastic exercise for intermediate-level athletes who want to increase their stability, power, and endurance.
Several jumping and sprinting workouts, such as the vertical jump and the 80 percent sprint, are comparable to this one.
Additionally, a weight vest may be worn to make bounding more difficult; more on this below.
Benefits
Bounding is a plyometric workout that involves jumping.
Jumping, hopping, and skipping are among the other activities that are often employed in plyometric training.
Plyometrics is the utilisation of the stretch-shortening cycle in our muscles to achieve a certain result (muscles being stretched in an eccentric contraction followed by the muscles shortening in a concentric contraction).
You can read more here about eccentric and concentric training.
Plyometric training is a very effective method to train athletes of all ages and abilities.
Strength, power, speed, and range of motion may all be improved with bounding.
Tendon strength will also be increased over time with this exercise.
Muscles Worked
A variety of muscles are worked when bounding, mostly lower body muscles but other assistance muscles are activated too.
The major muscles worked are as follows.
Quadriceps
Hamstrings
Calves
Glutes
Abdominals
Shoulders
Other assistance muscles such as the minor underlying leg muscles will also gradually get stronger and bigger.
How to Make It Harder
You can make the bounding exercise harder in a couple of different ways.
The simple ways to make bounding harder is to:
Increase number of repetitions.
Increase the speed of the exercise.
Increasing the number of reps you do will make this exercise harder, you can also increase how fast you do this exercise to increase intensity.
This is an exercise that is intensity and power focused, so time-under-tension doesn't matter as much in this case.
Another way to make bounding harder is to:
Wear a weight vest.
Wearing a weighted vest will increase load and make bounding harder to perform.
Though, don't go too heavy with a weighted vest as it could cause excessive pressure on your back and joints.
Here's a good weight vest on Amazon if you're interested.
How to Make It Easier
Making the bounding exercise easier can be achieved in three ways.
You can make it easier by:
Going slower.
Doing fewer reps.
Decreasing the weight (if you're using weights).
As you progress you can increase the number of reps, the weight and how quickly you complete the exercise to increase intensity again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What are bounding exercises? A: Bounding is very simple to perform, you leap off one leg, propelling your body forward as far as you can. Then land on your opposite foot, immediately spring into the next bound. Bounding is essentially an exaggerated sprint but springing off the ground.
Q: What are PLYO workouts? A: Plyometrics (PLYO) is a type of training that focuses primarily on speed and force of different movements to build overall muscle power. Plyometrics exercises can improve your physical performance and functional ability.
Written by Billy White
Billy White is a qualified Kinesiologist and Personal Trainer. He is an aspiring bodybuilder, fitness enthusiast, and health and fitness researcher.
He has multiple years of experience within the fitness, bodybuilding and health space. He is committed to providing the highest-quality information.
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