Why hold a Medicine Ball during Jumps or Plyos?

Dan Pfaff and ALTIS discuss the biomechanical reasons and benefits of holding a medicine ball during jumps and plyometric training.

Last night Coach Pfaff held Live Immersion Session 2 of the current Coaching Eye program, bringing coaches from a range of sports and locations together for a deep, practical look at how movement actually unfolds in real time. The session centered on acceleration analysis. Coaches worked through sprint footage frame by frame, learning how to zoom out to judge overall effectiveness, then zoom in to assess posture, segment timing, contact strategy, and force direction. The goal was to understand why athletes choose certain solutions and what those choices reveal. Key themes from the session: 👀 How shin roll, knee drop, and toe drag show up in early acceleration and what they cost. 👀 Why effective movement and efficient movement often look different. 👀 How the same acceleration principles apply across block starts, rolling starts, walk-ins, and field sport starts. 👀 How injury history and strength profiles shape movement strategies. 👀 Why lasting progress starts with whole-system observation, not isolated fixes. The session reinforced a core Coaching Eye idea: better coaching starts with better questions. The eye is trained through structure, repetition, and honest analysis, not shortcuts. If you want to develop a clearer process for seeing movement, making sense of complexity, and connecting observation to action, the next Coaching Eye cohort begins May 2026, with registration opening this week. 👀 Interested in being part of Coach Pfaff's next group? 👉 Head here to learn more and register your interest: loom.ly/qtcqnio 👉 Bonus - grab your free video guide on MJ Rudiment here: loom.ly/7INl9H0