Abstract
Volleyball is considered a very explosive and fast-paced sport in which plyometric training is widely used. Our purpose was to review the effects of plyometric training on volleyball players’ performance. A systematic search was conducted according to the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines using PubMed, SciELO, SPORTDiscus, Medline, Scopus, Academic Search Complete, CINAHL and Web Science for articles published no later than December 2018. Any criteria were imposed for the included sample. The search focus was on interventional studies in which athletes underwent a plyometric program. To the 1831 articles found, another five were added, identified through other sources. Duplicated files were removed, titles and abstracts were screened, which left 21 remaining studies for extensive analysis. Results showed that the vertical jump (15 studies) was the major ability studied in plyometric training interventions, followed by strength (four studies), horizontal jump (four studies), flexibility (four studies) and agility/speed (three studies). In addition, it was observed that young (under 18 years old) female athletes were the most studied. The included studies indicated that plyometric training seems to increase vertical jump performance, strength, horizontal jump performance, flexibility and agility/speed in volleyball players. However, more studies are needed to better understand the benefits of plyometric training in volleyball players’ performance.
Highlights
Volleyball is an intense anaerobic sport that combines explosive movements with short periods of recovery [1,2,3]
When comparing the impact of short-term training with resistance plus plyometric training (RT + P) or electromyostimulation plus plyometric training (EMS + P) on explosive strength production in elite volleyball players, the results indicate that the first is effective in promoting jump performance, while the latter helps with increasing the jump performance, speed and agility of elite volleyball players [70]
Improvement was seen in 12- to 19-year-old players after 16 weeks of training [56]. These findings suggest that plyometric training positively affects horizontal jump performance, albeit with improvements lower than those recorded for vertical jump performance (9% to 28%, as observed previously)
Summary
Volleyball is an intense anaerobic sport that combines explosive movements (i.e., in both vertical and in horizontal directions) with short periods of recovery [1,2,3]. Explosive strength, which is defined as the ability of an individual’s neuro-muscular system to manifest strain in the shortest possible time [4], is considered a fundamental aspect of successful athletic performance (e.g., [5]). When speed and agility are combined with maximum strength, power is the outcome [6]. Muscular power enables a given muscle to produce the same amount of work in less time, or a greater magnitude of work in the same time, which is important for sprinting, jumping [7] and quick changes. Public Health 2019, 16, 2960; doi:10.3390/ijerph16162960 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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