Effect of plyometric training on repeated countermovement jump performance of collegiate athletes

Abstract

The goal of the present study was to find out the effect of plyometric training on repeated countermovement jump performance of collegiate athletes. A total of six variables of repeated countermovement jump, i.e., height (HT), take-off force (TOF), impact force (IF), maximum concentric power (MCP), peak speed (PS), and take-off speed (TOS), were selected to fulfil the objective of the study. A total of twenty (N=20) participants were randomly selected from a physical training centre of the Gwalior area of India as the subjects for the study. The average age of the participants was 18.40±1.19 years. The subjects were randomly divided into two groups. Each group consists of ten participants. One group was treated as the experimental group, and another was treated as the control group. To find out the effect of plyometric training a randomized control group pre-test post-test design was adopted in which the experimental group received eight weeks of plyometric training whereas the control group received dummy training. The training was given twice a week to both groups. Pre and post-data were collected before and after the eight weeks of plyometric training. The statistical technique independent t-test was used to compare the performance of the experimental and control groups, whereas paired t-tests were used to compare pre-and post-test data at 0.05 level of significance. The findings showed that eight weeks of plyometric training significantly improved the variable height, take-off force and maximum concentric power.