I totally agree with you on the box jumps, that's why I usually jump with the weight and the ditch it before decent. That way I get the bonus of the added weight without the bum knees.
Thanks man, so far so good. I use a varied rep scheme generally lifting heavy for 3-5 reps on my main lifts that I want to get stronger on and then in the last set drop the weight by 50% and go for as long as I can. I also once every so often do a pyramid going up and then down. Smaller muscle groups I tend to use a circuit alternating between exercises with no rest and then begin again. E.g. Close grip bench (Tris), then barbell curls then Tricep Push Down, then Rope, etc. Rest 60 seconds then hit it again. My leg training for this training cycle is volume heavy doing around 240 weighted lunges (they vary, e.g. side lunge, front lunge, rear lunge.).
As far as the bench goes I would have agreed with you fully about a year or so ago, until I started changing how I performed my flat bench. I generally bench like a Gironda Bench Press, almost to the throat. I find that actually hits my chest pretty good and I get a good stretch. My favourite exercise for chest tends to be incline dumbbell presses palms facing in with a tight squeeze at the top, but weighted dips also kick arse.
Spot on with the plyometrics. I think my tolerance is high due to a high volume of body weight work I did when I was younger. (High volume low intensity work strengthens ligaments and tendons, preparing the body for heavier loads). Joint's wise you just need to watch your rotatory cuffs as a lot of those motions may cause RSI.
