Plyometrics..............

In any given movement of skeletal muscle tissue,the human body has "surge protectors"to inhibit the use of the complete muscle tissue in the structure.The reason for this is that if you were to be capable of recruiting the muscle tissue in the entire structure,you would damage the joints,connective tissues,and antagonist muscle involved.an example would be punching.Your triceps muscle(on the back of your arm)is used to extend the arm away from the body.The biceps (on the front of the arm)is primarily used to retract the arm towards the body-would be the anagonist muscle,in other words,the muscle which works against the triceps in a motion which involves extention.If you were to be able to throw a punch,recruiting all muscle tissue of thr triceps structure-belive it or not-you would most likely tear up your elbow,biceps,possibly your shoulder,and lots of connective tissue as well.
This being said,you are now aware that you do not recruit you total muscle structure in a given,intentional movement.Youre body wont allow it.However,there are times when your central nervous system(CNS) can actually override the "surge protector" nerves-like when you trip,and your leg or arms shoot out to catch you.People often suffer sprains,strains and sometimes even broken bones in a limb used in this manner.This is because the CNS has overriden the protetor nerves,allowing more recruitment of muscle fibre.....in effect sacrificing a limb to spare head injury.
Now,you may wonder how/if this has anything at all to do with martial arts.It does.These are the principals behind plyometrics,a series of controlled exersizes designed to trick the CNS into purposefully overriding those surge protectors,allowing you to recruit more musle tissue in any given movement.It sounds dangerous,and it can be.Plyometrics,when done incorrectly,can have the same effect as a nasty fall on the limbs involved.However,the benifits of correctly performing a plyometric regime as well as skill training and resistance training far outweigh the cons,in my opinion.With the ability to recruit more of that hard won muscle,your hard earned skills will definitly generate more force.
However,knowing all of this,I am new to the practise of plyometrics,and welcome suggestions,questions,insight and corrections to my base theory from people coming from more experence in this form of exersize.Thanx.

consider all the joints involved in any given exercise, any and all. The amount of stress on them is tremendous. I have been doing plyometrics for years, before even knowing what they were. I have seen next to no negative side effects, the only time i have is way back when i was trying to get a fuller use out of my push ups by snapping my wrist at the end, all in all coupled with a fast push up this can create quite some distance between you and the floor. Unfortunately, my wrists were unable to sustain the impact of the landing. This created stiffness and soreness. This is the only problem I have ever had with anything like a plyometric.
By the way the principles that you have mentioned are also the principles behind a proper kick or punch, where you are trying to hurl a limb out there. The only muscle tension should happen at the time of impact, or just in time to prevent full extension. This takes a great deal of practise not to cause tendon damage and soreness.

Thanx reaper,any understanding of plyos in anyone elses perspective is helpful.Personally,Ive been doing training,mostly fitness work,almost all my life.Plyos as a distinct form of excersize has been a boon to my power output,allowing me almost 50% more force in any lunging movement.
Now,one more question:could skipping rope be plyometric?I've noticed the movement is similar to speed hop plyometrics.As you stated,there are lots of movements done by most physically active people are by their nature plyometric.
During the past 6 years,I have incorporated martial training into my lifestyle,specifically Krav-Maga and american kickboxing.After reading the tao of jeet kune do,and being from a weightlifting/physical fitness background,I started to realize that for me,keeping my combat responses simple and limiting the amount of responses to given stimuli was the best way to stay fast.Plyometrics seem to make my body capable of even more force/speed in tecqnique.

I would agree essentially with what you say. If you are looking for a good plyo leg exercise I would recomend frog jumps and tuck jumps. Remember your knees though. I come from a powerlifting background and used to do a lot of fast squats, gained a lot of weight really quickly, but destroyed my knees do to hyperextension. For calves you need to make sure that you are doing a complete range of motion in your jump, I like calf raises done fast and lots of stretching.
good luck!

I love plyometrics, they are massively useful in all areas of MA and sport. I personally used to play Basketball, and used plyometrics to increase my jump height. It is very effective. HOWEVER, you must build up core strength in your legs first. I recommend 2-3 months of leg strengthening before doing plyometric excercises, this way yuor vital joints take less impact.

I had to give up basketball due to impact injuries on my knee, but since I started building up strength in my knee, my injury is almost unnoticable and I am able to jump really high again.