Guided Article Critique: Polymetric Training Assignment 2
In any sport having speed, agility, and power are essential to perform the task needed to
succed. The article “Short Term High Intensity Plyometric Training Program Improves Strength,
Power and Agility in Male Soccer Players” is an excellent example of programming workouts
for atheltei is essential to have better speed and power. This article took into consideration a six
week training program that looks at speed, agility and power with a focus specifici to soccer
within poymetric training. The overall hope of this project was to help improve lower-level
extremity power, and macimal knee extensor strength. Having proper agility in sports in essential
when it comes to direction changes and increase and decrease of movemtns. Another study
conducted “The Effects of a 6-week Polymetric Training Program on Agility” was conducted
and confirmts that training can have an effect (Miller et al, 2006). Both of these studies show an
increases in agility in terms of a 6-week program. Soccer is a complex sport, that requires a
unique skill set and the ability to control ones agility while moving. This is why poytmetic
training is essential in the sport, can help with proper training and works on explosive
movements and increase muscular performance. While many studies have focused on polumetic
training, this is one of the only ones that also has intensity and volume involcced to increase
performance.
This study looked at twenty-four male athletes, these particiaopenst were put into oen of
the two groups by random selection. One group had an average age of “21.9 ± 1.7 years, a body
mass 75.9 ± 2.7 kg, and overall height of 180.1 ± 4.0 cm. While the other group, known as the
control group had an average age of 22.7 ± 1.4, a body mass of 78.6 ± 3.1 kg, and overall body
height of 180.6 ± 3.7 cm” (Váczi, 2013). All of the partipants were selected from two Hungarian
soccer leagues with an average of seven years within the sport itself. These players participates
in atleast three regular training sessions per week and were in atleast one game during the
Guided Article Critique: Polymetric Training Assignment 3
weekend while this program was being conducted. There wasn’t any reports of injuries within
the spine or lower extremities reported before the expericnement was conducted.
Within this study, two different test were completed to test the particpatis agility, one of
them being the T agility test or TAT. This is used to measure the agility when a directional
change has occurred, such as shuffles or sprints. The next test used was the Illinois agility test of
IAT, which is used to measure during sprints that had direcational change without stopping.
Along with this, depth vertical jump height was also measured, and used to evalue the power
generated by muilt-joint in the lower extremitires. 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 study conduted by Váczi and colleagues looked at a very specific sport, population
size, and plyometric training activities. Which is the opposite of the study done by Maciejczyk
and colleagues, however it did conduct a similar study with a small population size, similar
plyometric program, and similar time frame. In the other study, the particaptsn were female
ahteltes, which does hold some difference with gender in studyies. In both studies, the population
size, experience of the athletes, age, and positions played was very similar to eachother. Having
populations of testing this size could hender the results, as with a greater number the changes of
a difference in testing are increased. This could lead to a broader range of results, and help
conduct a more usedful training program in the future. However, but studies did show that
plyimetic training does show an improvements on agility when the results are concluded.
The results show there was a slight increase in changes from the pre to post test in terms
of agility. The “ANOVA revealed significant group by time interaction effects for TAT (F1,22 =
8.49, p< 0.01), IAT (F1,22 = 5.09, p< 0.05), DVJ (F1,22 = 16.8, p< 0.01), and MVC (F1,8 =
Guided Article Critique: Polymetric Training Assignment 4
11.2, p< 0.01)” (Váczi et al., 2013). Within the results, there was small but still signifiant
improvements within the TAT and IAT test, but the control group didnt show any significant
changes during the study. The other study in comparison also found improvements to agility
within the athletes during a plyomtetic training session through the IAT test. In both studies,
there was an increase to the athtles agility when using a specific plyometic training program
tailored to each group of individuals. Overall, but studies showed an increased in agility and
proves that training programs can have an effect on an athletes abilities.
The researchers predicted that their six-week program focused on plyometric exercises, along
with certain activities, would greatly impact an athlete's strength, power, or flexibility. The
results confirmed that these specific training methods did infact lead to an increase. They
observed an increase in vertical jump height, a 9 percent rise in lower power levels attributed to
the intense plyometric workouts. To assess agility, which involved quick acceleration,
deceleration, and changes in direction, they employed TAT and IAT tests. However, these tests
revealed minimal improvements, with TAT scores increasing by 2.5% and IAT scores by 1.7%.
In conclusion, the researchers noted that the study's sample size was limited, and the
specific tasks, training methods, and study design varied significantly from other research.
Another study employing plyometric training observed enhancements in speed and agility among
athletes of various ages. Plyometrics have also been shown to boost athletic performance in
soccer players over eight weeks, particularly among elite youth athletes (Aloui et al., 2022). This
approach has been effective in enhancing field performance. (Váczi et al., 2013) focused on
using plyometrics to increase field strength in athletes.
Guided Article Critique: Polymetric Training Assignment 5
References
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, 17–26. https://doi.org/10.2478/hukin-2013-0002
Miller, M. G., Herniman, J. J., Ricard, M. D., Cheatham, C. C., & Michael, T. J. (2006). The
effects of a 6-week plyometric training program on agility. Journal of sports science &
medicine,5(3), 459–465.
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
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