Short-Term Compound Training on Physical Performance in Young Soccer Players.

Athos Trecroci,Giampietro Alberti,Marco Duca,Damiano Formenti,Stefano Longo,F Marcello Iaia

doi:10.3390/sports8080108

Athos Trecroci, Giampietro Alberti + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/sports8080108

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Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effects of a five-week compound training (with strength and plyometric exercises performed on separate days) on sprint, change of direction, and vertical jump in young soccer players. Eighteen novices in strength and plyometric training were assigned to either a compound training (CMPT) or a control condition (CNT). Both groups trained three times per week. One session was dedicated to soccer-specific drills. The other two weekly sessions were dedicated to circuit-based training routines employing on one-day strength exercises and on the other day plyometric exercises in the CMPT group. At the same time, the CNT group performed two weekly soccer-specific training sessions. All players were tested by 15-m sprint, change-of-direction and acceleration test (CODAT), squat jump, and countermovement jump with arms swing tests. CMPT group improved CODAT, squat jump and countermovement jump to a higher extent compared to CNT group (large vs small or trivial effects, p < 0.05), while both groups had similar 15-m sprint performance (p > 0.05). These results support the use of compound training to improve change of direction and vertical jump performances in young novice soccer players, which are unfamiliar with structured and advanced strength and plyometric training.

Highlights

The importance of performing power and strength-related tasks along with a regular sport-specific routine is well documented in youth soccer [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
Compound training is an alternative to well-established methods [4,8], in which strength and plyometric exercises are performed on separate days [8,9,10,11]
Average intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) values ranged from good to excellent values (15-m sprint: ICC = 0.96, 95% confidence intervals (CI) = 0.86 to 0.99; change-of-direction and acceleration test (CODAT): ICC = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.61 to 0.98; squat jump: ICC = 0.92, 95% CI = 0.71 to 0.98; countermovement jump with arm swing: ICC = 0.93, 95% CI = 0.73 to 0.98)

Summary

Introduction

The importance of performing power and strength-related tasks along with a regular sport-specific routine is well documented in youth soccer [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. Compound training is an alternative to well-established methods (e.g., complex training) [4,8], in which strength and plyometric exercises are performed on separate days [8,9,10,11]. Some studies [9,10,11] reported that this temporal exercise distribution can be effective to improve muscle power and physical performance in healthy team sport athletes. It seems that compound training influences the force-velocity curve by promoting higher increases in lower-body strength and power compared to traditional methods (e.g., higher- or lower-load strength training) [12,13]

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