Strength, power, and agility are key components to an athlete's success within their
chosen sport. The Article “Short-term High intensity plyometric training program improves
strength, power and agility in male soccer players”, was chosen because it has a direct
connection with programming a workout for athletes to enhance speed and or agility (Váczi et
al., 2013). The article looked at a six-week plyometric training program on power, agility, and
knee extensor strength. The article clarified how a short-term six-week program that focused on
soccer-specific plyometric training. The use of that specific training program was to improve
lower-level extremity power, maximal knee extensor strength, and agility. Agility plays a major
role in changing direction while accelerating or decelerating in soccer. Another case study
conducted confirms that plyometric training can increase athletes' agility (Čaprić, 2022).
Similarly, to the original assigned study, they found that within the first 6 weeks of the program,
there was an increase in the subject's agility that ranged from 2% to 14.63% (Čaprić, 2022).
Soccer requires a lot of acceleration and deceleration while maintaining agility. Plyometric
training has been seen to be a popular way to train soccer athletes. Plyometric exercises that
involve explosive movements like jumping, skipping, and bounding, can increase the dynamic of
muscular performance (Váczi et al., 2013). Multiple studies focused on plyometric training
programs for soccer, within 6-weeks. However, these studies also depend on the intensity,
volume, and other impact factors to improve agility within the athletes.
(Váczi et al., 2013) took a population of 24 male athletes to participate in the six-week
training program. The athletes were separated into either the control group or the plyometric
group. The athletes had at least seven years of training and came from two Hungarian third-
league soccer teams. The study used a six-week-long periodized plyometric program on agility
and power among male adult soccer players (Váczi et al., 2013). The article had the subjects
participate in three to four soccer training sessions a week with one game per weekend. This
case study had the athletes test their agility with the T agility test (TAT), which is used to gauge
the athlete's change in directions by having them conduct a forward sprint, left and right
shuffle, and a backpedal. The Illinois Agility test (IAT) gages the athletes sprint forward and back,
then down and back weaving through cones, and then finishing with a down-and-back sprint.
They also conducted a vertical Jump performance test. The training was broken into phases; the
preparatory phase weeks 1 and 2, followed by increased volume during weeks 3 to 5, and
concluded with a decrease in volume to end the 6-week program (Váczi et al., 2013). The
program had very specific activities within its program that consisted of double-leg jumps, and
high-intensity single-leg exercises conducted in both sagittal and lateral directions. During the
training, the athletes were instructed to minimize ground contact and maximize jumping height
(Váczi et al., 2013).
The study by (Váczi et al., 2013) looked at a very specific sport, population size, and plyometric
training activities. But like other studies that are out there, (Maciejczyk et al., 2021) conducted a
similar study with a small population size, a similar plyometric program, and a similar time
frame. Maciejczyk et al., 2021 used female athletes, unlike the original case study which used
males. Each study did a random selection of the athletes into the plyometric group and the
control group. However, the similarities of all the case studies reviewed were that population
size, experience level, age, and positions were very specific and limiting at the same time. In
opinion, there is just not a large enough population size using 24 males in the original case
study and 17 females in the above-mentioned study. The small and specific population used just
doesn’t give a variety of population diversity. The validity of evidence is decreased because of
the limited diversity of these studies. The positive outcome from this is that the female and the
male studies proved that plyometric training did show positive agility results. These studies
demonstrated similar results from plyometric training programs that could be valuable to a
large variety of athletes. However, the small sample size and lack of athlete diversity does not
definitively support this concept.
Looking at the results of the initial case study they found that there was success in
plyometric training on agility. The results concluded that the plyometric group did have small
but significant improvements in the TAT and IAT tests, and the control group did not have any
changes (Váczi et al., 2013). (Maciejczyk et al., 2021) found that to improve agility in the
athletes through the use of plyometric training through the IAT test. Both case studies showed
an increase in the athletes' agility when they adhered to the prescribed plyometric training
program of each individual research group. Study. The primary program seemed to be more
focused on improving power and speed, with minimal improvements in agility. However, the
other three studies showed significant improvements in agility, but they too showed higher
improvements in power, speed, and/or strength in their program.
The researchers had hypothesized that their six-week plyometric training program which
consisted of specific exercises they felt would have the most impact on the athlete's strength,
power, and or agility. The answer was that the sport-specific program would have major
improvements in power, strength, and agility in the test subjects they used in their study. What
they found was that there were improvements in their vertical jump, a 9% increase in lower
power, which likely resulted from the maximal intensity of plyometric training. They used the
TAT and IAT tests to measure agility, which requires acceleration, deceleration, quick stops, and
change of direction. The TAT and IAT tests demonstrated only a small improvement. The TAT had
a 2.5% increase, IAT had a 1.7% increase. Ultimately, they concluded that the test size was small,
and the specific level, exercises, and training protocol were different than most other studies.
Another study which also used plyometric training, had improvements in their athlete’s speed-
strength and speed abilities in their case study population age group. Plyometrics has been used
in an additional study which demonstrated that soccer players can improve their athletic
performance within 8 weeks by using elite adolescent soccer players (Aloui et al., 2022). Aloui
used plyometrics and short sprint training to improve those athletes' field performance. Were
as (Váczi et al., 2013) used plyometrics to improve their athletes' agility on the field.
In reviewing multiple sources of evidence, we have learned that plyometric training can
and does provide positive outcomes to the athletes' agility and or speed within a short-term
program. It's been known that the intensity, duration, and volume of plyometric training are
very successful with athletes who use this style of training. We also learned that applying
plyometric training programs has a positive effect on an athlete's agility. Plyometric training,
when incorporated with other training activities can significantly improve agility, lower
extremity power, and neuromuscular adaptations. The case studies provided tools that worked
to improve agility in the sport of soccer. They also provided evidence that short-term programs
can have a positive impact on agility. If this study is to be conducted again the researchers
should use a larger and more diverse population and conduct the same protocol with multiple
different subjects. They could provide more well-rounded results for soccer if they used a
variety of test subjects, level of experience, length of study, variety of positions, male and
female athletes, and age groups. Enhanced data would give coaches of all levels more
information, to be able to program for athletes or all ability levels, which could improve
individual and team performance.
Reference:
Čaprić, I. (2022). Effects of plyometric training on Agility in male soccer players-A ...
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/361815152_Effects_of_plyometric_training_on_agility
_in_male_soccer_players-a_systematic_review
Váczi, M., Tollár, J., Meszler, B., Juhász, I., & Karsai, I. (2013). Short-term high-intensity plyometric training
program improves strength, power and agility in male soccer players. Journal of Human Kinetics,
36(1), 17–26. https://doi.org/10.2478/hukin-2013-0002
Maciejczyk, M., Błyszczuk, R., Drwal, A., Nowak, B., & Strzała, M. (2021). Effects of short-term plyometric
training on Agility, jump, and repeated sprint performance in female soccer players. International
Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(5), 2274.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18052274
Aloui, G., Hermassi, S., Bartels, T., Hayes, L. D., Bouhafs, E. G., Chelly, M. S., & Schwesig, R. (2022).
Combined plyometric and short sprint training in U-15 male soccer players: Effects on measures of
jump, speed, change of direction, repeated sprint, and balance. Frontiers in Physiology, 13.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2022.757663
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