Original articles   

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2001 June;41(2):159-64

Copyright © 2002 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Effects of pylometric training on jumping performance in junior basketball players

Matavulj D., Kukolj M., Ugarkovic D., Tihanyi J. *, Jaric S. **

From the Research Center, Faculty for Physical Culture, Belgrade, Yugoslavia * Hungarian University of Physical Education, Budapest, Hungary ** Center for Musculo-Skeletal Research, Umea, Sweden

Back­ground. ­Although the plyo­met­ric train­ing has ­proved its effi­cien­cy, it ­remains gen­er­al­ly ­unknown wheth­er a lim­it­ed ­amount of plyo­met­ric train­ing ­could ­improve move­ments in sub­jects who ­already dem­on­strate ­high lev­el of per­for­mance.
Meth­ods. ­Three dif­fer­ent train­ing reg­i­mens ­were per­formed in ­order to ­study ­effects of plyo­met­ric train­ing on ­elite jun­ior bas­ket­ball ­players. ­While con­trol ­group (CG) par­tic­i­pat­ed ­only in the reg­u­lar mid­sea­son train­ing activ­ity, ­another two ­groups per­formed a lim­it­ed ­amount of plyo­met­ric train­ing employ­ing ­drop ­jumps ­from the ­height of ­either 50 cm (EG-50) or 100 cm (EG-100). The ­height of the max­i­mal ver­ti­cal ­jump (CMJ), as ­well as the max­i­mal vol­un­tary ­force (F) and the ­rate of ­force devel­op­ment (RFD) of hip and ­knee exten­sors ­were test­ed ­prior to and ­after the train­ing.
­Results. An ­increase in CMJ (4.8 and 5.6 cm in EG-50 and EG-100, respec­tive­ly), as ­well as in F of hip exten­sors and RFD of ­knee exten­sors was ­observed in ­both experi­men­tal ­groups, ­while no sig­nif­i­cant chang­es ­were record­ed in CG. ­When the pre­test ­scores ­were ­used as a covar­i­ate, ­both experi­men­tal ­groups dem­on­strat­ed high­er ­increase in CMJ and RFD of ­knee exten­sors ­then CG. How­ev­er, no dif­fer­enc­es ­were ­observed ­between EG-50 and EG-100. The mul­ti­ple cor­re­la­tion ­between ­four iso­met­ric param­e­ters and CMJ ­revealed R2=0.29.
Con­clu­sions. A lim­it­ed ­amount of plyo­met­ric train­ing ­could ­improve jump­ing per­for­mance in ­elite jun­ior bas­ket­ball ­players and ­this improve­ment ­could be part­ly relat­ed ­with an ­increase in F of hip exten­sors and RFD of ­knee exten­sors. How­ev­er, nei­ther of the two ­initial ­heights of the ­applied ­drop ­jumps ­proved to be ­more effec­tive.