Plyometrics-Lite Said to Revive a Star’s Career

Plyometrics, an intense exercise regimen that was born in the Soviet Union in the 1970s, is regarded today like just about everything that was born in the Soviet Union in the 1970s. Many trainers place  the explosive drills, which include tricks like jumping off a box to the floor and to a higher box WHILE CARRYING WEIGHT in the same category as high-impact aerobics, whose high injury rates have taken them off the sign-up list at most health clubs. Yet now comes this piece in the Los Angeles Times, thanking a newer, kinder and gentler version of plyometrics for extending the career of volleyball legend Karch Kiraly. The story reports that Kiraly, who is 44, first met plyometrics in their original unpleasant incarnation when he was training for the 1984 Olympics, and since then has moved on to two versions of plyometrics-lite, the most recent version devised by an  Orange County-based trainer-coach named Mike Rangel.  Geezer doesn’t doubt Kiraly’s devotion to the regimen, but then, as the Times points out, the Hungarian volleyball genius has approached every aspect of the sport with an intensity that terrifies everyone, even those who were on his team. Read more.