Research article - (2017)16, 125 - 136
Within Session Sequence of Balance and Plyometric Exercises Does Not Affect Training Adaptations with Youth Soccer Athletes
Mehdi Chaouachi1, Urs Granacher3, Issam Makhlouf1, Raouf Hammami1, David G Behm4,, Anis Chaouachi1,2
1Tunisian Research Laboratory “Sport Performance Optimisation”, National Center of Medicine and Science in Sports (CNMSS), Tunis, Tunisia
2AUT University, Sports Performance Research Institute New Zealand, Auckland, New Zealand
3Division of Training and Movement Sciences, Research Focus Cognition Sciences, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
4School of Human Kinetics and Recreation, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s Newfoundland, Canada

David G Behm
✉ School of Human Kinetics and Recreation, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, A1C 5S7
Email: dbehm@mun.ca
Received: 16-10-2016 -- Accepted: 10-02-2017
Published (online): 01-03-2017

ABSTRACT

The integration of balance and plyometric training has been shown to provide significant improvements in sprint, jump, agility, and other performance measures in young athletes. It is not known if a specific within session balance and plyometric exercise sequence provides more effective training adaptations. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of using a sequence of alternating pairs of exercises versus a block (series) of all balance exercises followed by a block of plyometric exercises on components of physical fitness such as muscle strength, power, speed, agility, and balance. Twenty-six male adolescent soccer players (13.9 ± 0.3 years) participated in an 8-week training program that either alternated individual balance (e.g., exercises on unstable surfaces) and plyometric (e.g., jumps, hops, rebounds) exercises or performed a block of balance exercises prior to a block of plyometric exercises within each training session. Pre- and post-training measures included proxies of strength, power, agility, sprint, and balance such as countermovement jumps, isometric back and knee extension strength, standing long jump, 10 and 30-m sprints, agility, standing stork, and Y-balance tests. Both groups exhibited significant, generally large magnitude (effect sizes) training improvements for all measures with mean performance increases of approximately >30%. There were no significant differences between the training groups over time. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of combining balance and plyometric exercises within a training session on components of physical fitness with young adolescents. The improved performance outcomes were not significantly influenced by the within session exercise sequence.

Key words: Power, strength, jumps, sprints, balance, children

Key Points
  • The combination of balance and plyometric exercises can induce significant and substantial training improvements in muscle strength, power, speed, agility, and balance with adolescent youth athletes
  • The within training session sequence of balance and plyometric exercises does not substantially affect these training improvements.








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