Abstract
This study was designed to provide an overview of weightlifting performance as a function of age group and sex and evaluate the potential of countermovement jump height (CMJH) as a tool to gauge performance potential. Data from 130 youth athletes (female, n = 65 & male, n = 65) were used to examine progression of performance (Total and Sinclair total) and the relationship between CMJH and Sinclair total while considering interactions between CMJH and age and/or sex. ANOVAs with post hoc analyses revealed that both totals had a statistical first-order polynomial interaction effect between age group and sex and the difference between age groups of 12–13 and 14–15 years old was statistically greater for male than female. A linear model, developed to examine the relationship, revealed that CMJH and CMJH x sex x age rejected the null hypothesis. Our primary findings are that male youth weightlifters have a higher rate of performance progression, possibly owing to puberty, and CMJH may be a better gauging tool for older male youth weightlifters.
Highlights
IntroductionThe recent related literature suggests that the development of elite performance may be best accomplished with general participation in a variety of sports early on and gradually narrowing down to a single sport [2]
The first-order trends were statistically different between the sexes (Total, F(3, 122) = 60.03; Sinclair total, F(3, 122) = 18.88)
There were no sex differences observed until the age group of 14–15 in both dependent variables (Total, F(1, 122) = 25.21 and 51.31; Sinclair, F(1, 122) = 33.34 and 67.88)
Summary
The recent related literature suggests that the development of elite performance may be best accomplished with general participation in a variety of sports early on and gradually narrowing down to a single sport [2]. Besides a general understanding of a path to elite performance, it is important to understand what a youth athlete needs in order to be able to reach elite performance in a specific sport [3]. This is because it is unlikely that every youth athlete will reach the elite level by following a suggested general path
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