The word plyometrics comes from the ancient Greek — plyo meaning to increase, and metron meaning to measure. Literally: a measurable increase. The ancient Greeks understood intuitively what modern sports science has spent centuries proving — that explosive, elastic movement is the foundation of human athletic performance.
They trained it in the Olympic Games. They studied it in their gymnasiums. They didn't have the vocabulary of muscle spindles, Golgi tendon organs, or the stretch shortening cycle — but their bodies knew.
"The nervous system hasn't changed since the Greeks ran at Olympia. We're still working with the same hardware. The question is always: what software are we loading?"
The IKE Machine — Inertial Kinetic Exerciser — is the first machine ever designed specifically to train these ancient neurological principles with modern precision. Invented and patented by Mike Thompson, ATC, after 35 years of studying how the nervous system controls movement.
Ancient Greece · 776 BC
The Olympic Games
Greek athletes train explosive elastic movement — jump training, throwing, sprinting. Plyometrics in practice before the word exists.
1924 · Newton's Laws Applied
Force-Velocity Relationship
Sports scientists begin mapping the relationship between muscle force and velocity — the foundation of what would become the stretch shortening cycle.
1960s · Soviet Sports Science
Depth Jumps & Shock Training
Soviet coach Yuri Verkhoshansky formalizes plyometric training. The stretch reflex is identified as the key to explosive power development.
1980s–Present · Modern Neuroscience
Muscle Spindles & The GTO
Research identifies the muscle spindle and Golgi Tendon Organ as the gatekeepers of human movement. Train the reflex, train the performance.
2010s · Mike Thompson, ATC
The IKE Machine — Patented
After 35 years in sports medicine, Thompson invents and patents the first machine designed to train all six neurological performance principles simultaneously.
