Study on the effects of lower body plyometrics and dynamic stretching on vertical jump in female collegiate volleyball players

Usman Thattarauthodiyil; K. Bhaskar Shenoy; Mohammad Jaffar Sadiq Mantargi

doi:10.4103/sjsm.sjsm_10_19

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Year : 2019 | Volume : 19 | Issue : 2 | Page : 51-55

Study on the effects of lower body plyometrics and dynamic stretching on vertical jump in female collegiate volleyball players

Usman Thattarauthodiyil¹, K. Bhaskar Shenoy², Mohammad Jaffar Sadiq Mantargi³
¹ Department of Musculoskeletal and Sports Injury Rehabilitation, Batterjee Medical College, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
² Department of Applied Zoology, Mangalore University, Mangalore, Karnataka, India
³ Department of Pharmacology, Batterjee Medical College, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Date of Submission	18-Jun-2019
Date of Decision	16-Aug-2019
Date of Acceptance	03-May-2020
Date of Web Publication	07-Jul-2020

Correspondence Address:
Dr. Usman Thattarauthodiyil
Department of Musculoskeletal and Sports Injury Rehabilitation, Batterjee Medical College, North – Obhur, Jeddah 21442
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None

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DOI: 10.4103/sjsm.sjsm_10_19

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of plyometric training and plyometric exercises with dynamic stretching program on vertical jump height (VJH) in female student volleyball athletes.
Materials and Methods: This randomized controlled study was performed for an 8-week period, with a total number of 90 female volleyball athletes ranging from the age group of between 18 and 22 years. The participants were randomly arranged as two experimental groups and one control group with 30 members in every group. All the participants were analyzed their vertical jump performance with Sargent jump test before starting the exercise training. The performance of VJH was reassessed at the end of every 2 weeks till the completion of training program.
Results: The present study results showed a significant improvement on VJH at the end of every 2 weeks in both experimental groups. The maximum effect of VJH was noticed at the end of 8^th weeks. The obtained effects of both experimental groups were significantly higher as compared to the control group (P < 0.05). However, the dynamic stretching with plyometric training group had a significantly better performance on VJH as compared to the experimental Group 1 (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: This study results express that the dynamic stretching with plyometric exercises can be the more advantageous training program for a better vertical jump performance in female college student volleyball athletes.

Keywords: Female students, vertical jump, volleyball athletes

How to cite this article:
Thattarauthodiyil U, Shenoy KB, Mantargi MJ. Study on the effects of lower body plyometrics and dynamic stretching on vertical jump in female collegiate volleyball players. Saudi J Sports Med 2019;19:51-5

How to cite this URL:
Thattarauthodiyil U, Shenoy KB, Mantargi MJ. Study on the effects of lower body plyometrics and dynamic stretching on vertical jump in female collegiate volleyball players. Saudi J Sports Med [serial online] 2019 [cited 2023 Jun 5];19:51-5. Available from: https://www.sjosm.org/text.asp?2019/19/2/51/289155

Introduction

The explosive strength of lower body musculature is an essential part of many athletic activities, especially for the vertical jump performance in volleyball. The buildup of muscle power and specified technical skills are particularly essential for young volleyball players and especially to the female athletes.^[1] Although the different kinds of training programs were practiced for the improvement of vertical jumping ability, the plyometric training is a choice of technique when aiming to enhance the vertical jump height (VJH) and the power of leg muscles.^{[2],[3],[4],[5]}

The various exercises of plyometrics consist of jumping, skipping, hopping, and bounding are introduced to improve the muscular actions.^[6] The procedure of plyometric exercises training includes a rapid deceleration of the body movements followed by an immediate fast acceleration in the opposite direction.^[7],[8] A combination of this peculiar muscular activity of plyometric exercises includes the stretch-shortening cycle, which plays an important role in developing muscle strength, muscle power, speed of action, joint function, balance and stability, and control of neuromuscular actions on landing.^{[9],[10],[11]} An 8-week study of plyometric training program conducted by Lehnert et al.^[12] with female youth volleyball players twice in a week showed the significant enhancement of explosive power and speed. Stojanovic et al.^[13] conducted a 6-week training program on plyometric exercises with 2–3 sessions per week and reported that significant improvement in jumping agility. Zhang^[14] have reported an enhancement of the ability of single-leg vertical jump and the overall performance of muscle power and endurance in basketball players.

On the other hand, the overall effects of plyometric exercise change when it combined with the dynamic stretching of muscles. Stretching of muscles dynamically improves the muscle power and endurance. It also increases the balance and coordination, mental preparedness, and speed of muscle action. The increased neuromuscular functions of dynamic stretching may be the reason of these improvement of performance.^[15],[16] Dynamic stretching enhances the muscular performance.^[16] Hough et al.^[17] have been reported a significant effect on the vertical jump performance. The particular effects of dynamic stretching such as increased muscle temperature, increased joint range of movements, and post activation potentiation might be the reason for the enhancement in power production following dynamic stretching.^[18],[19] Faigenbaum et al.^[20] reported that dynamic stretching of lower limb muscles increases the power and performance of lower-extremity muscles in college-aged males and children. The results of studies on dynamically stretching exercises have been reported that significant improvement of muscle power and jump performance^[21],[22] and also there is no adverse effect.^[23]

The reports of several numbers of studies have been published about the benefits of plyometric exercises and dynamic muscular stretching, but there are no published reports available on the effects of plyometric exercises combined with dynamic muscular stretching on VJH in female college student volleyball athletes. Therefore, the present study aimed to find out the advantageous benefits of plyometric exercises and plyometrics with stretching of muscles dynamically. The objective of this study was also extended to make a comparative study on both experimental training groups.

Materials and Methods

A total number of 90 student female volleyball athletes were randomly selected as the participants of this study. The average age, height, and weight of the participants are (age 19.2 + 0.86; height 168 ± 6 cm, weight 62 ± 6 kg). The Institutional Ethical Committee was approved the recruitment. All the participants were signed a written consent form before starting the training program. The recruited volleyball athletes had no any recent injuries and any known case of musculoskeletal and neurological deficits. All the participants were randomly divided into three groups with 30 players in every group accordingly:

Group 1: Experimental plyometric group
Group 2: Experimental plyometrics with dynamic stretching group
Group 3: Control group.

Procedures

The participants of experimental Group 1 and 2 underwent a pretraining session to know about the principles and procedures of plyometric exercises, and the experimental Group 2 had an extra training program to know about the procedures of dynamic stretching. The protocols of plyometric exercises for the experimental Group 1 were selected and practiced as per the guidelines of high-powered plyometrics.^[24] The plyometric exercises were performed with starting of low-intensity exercises such as squat jump and jump to box with three sets of 10 repetitions followed by three sets of 8 repetitions of moderate-intensity plyometrics (lateral hurdle jump, tuck jump, and split squat jump). Finally, the training program was completed with the high-intensity plyometrics such as single leg tuck jump, depth jump, and zig zag jump with three sets of six repetitions. The rest period allowed between the series of plyometric exercises was 1–2 min for the low intensity, 2–3 min for the moderate intensity, and 3–5 min for the high intensity. The rest time between the repetitions was 5–10 s, and also a 10-min rest period between the set of exercises. The height of the box for performing the plyometrics was maintained at 30 cm for the low intensity and 80 cm for the high-intensity exercises. The protocols and procedure of dynamic stretching training for the experimental Group 2 were performed as per the guidelines of Yamaguchi and Ishii.^[25] The participants of Group 2 were performed the dynamic stretching for the muscles of lower limbs which are responsible for the VJH. The muscle groups included for dynamic stretching are gluteal muscles, muscles of hip abductors, quadriceps, hamstrings, and the calf muscles. The training session of Group 2 started with dynamic stretching which consists of 10 dynamic stretches for each muscle groups. The right side was stretched first followed by the left side muscles, and the rest period between the right and left side was 10 s. Immediately after the dynamic stretching of both limbs, all the participants were performed the plyometric exercises which were the same protocol of experimental group 1. However, the participants of Group 3 (control group) were not permitted to do any kind of plyometrics and stretching exercises throughout the study period, they were allowed to continue their routine volleyball games. At the beginning and ending of each training sessions, all the participants were performed a 10-min warm up and 8-min cool down exercises, respectively. The training program was conducted twice in a week for 8-week period. The VJH of all the participants was measured with Sargent jump test^[26] before starting the training program, and it was re-assessed at the end of every 2 weeks of training till 8 weeks.

Statistical analysis

The data are expressed as mean ± standard deviation (SD). The mean and SDs were calculated with using of standard statistical methods. The statistical analysis of effects of training was conducted with the repeated measures of ANOVA with post hoc analysis by Bonferroni test. The statistical significance of level was set at P < 0.05 for all the analysis.

Results

The plyometric and dynamic stretching training results on VJH are presented in [Table 1]. The VJH enhancement was observed after the 2^nd week of training program in experimental Groups 1 and 2, and also these increasing effects on VJH were significantly continued throughout the training period. The maximum effect on VJH was observed after 8 weeks of training. Statistical analysis of repeated measures of variance showed that the achieved results of training in Group 1 and Group 2 were significantly higher than the control group (P = 0.010). In addition, compared to the Group 1, the enhancement effects on VJH were statistically significantly higher in experimental Group 2 in every 2^nd week of analysis (P < 0.001) showing that the training program effects are more responsive in experimental Group 2 [Figure 1].

Table 1: Change in vertical jump height of female volleyball athletes during 8 weeks study period

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Figure 1: Comparison of mean change (mean difference) in vertical jump height (cm's) of group-1 and group-2

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Discussion

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of plyometric exercises training on VJH in female student volleyball players and also to find out any differences on the effects between plyometrics and plyometrics with dynamic stretching training on vertical jump performance. This study results proved that plyometric exercise training program two sessions in a week for a period of 8 weeks duration can enhances the VJH of Group 1 and 2 players from the 2^nd week onward. Furthermore, these enhanced results were increased with the increased duration of training. However, these enhancements of VJH were not found in control group players (Group-3).

The results of this study are in line with the published results of Markovic et al.,^[5] they concluded that the ability of vertical jump increases with plyometric training. Another study on plyometric training reported that plyometric exercises significantly enhance VJH.^[27] A study results of Usman and Shenoy^[28] concluded that lower body plyometric training two sessions in a week for 8 weeks period significantly increase the VJH of male and female collegiate volleyball players. The obtained results of VJH in our study showed that an effect of neural adaptations of plyometric exercises, because the neural adaptation predominate the strength and power at the early stages of training.^[29] Contribution of the other factors for this improvement of VJH may be due to a better synchronization of body segments, increased levels of segmental coordination, and a higher production of muscular force.^[30] Considering all these factors, the reported results of our study could be a relevant practical applications for the sport athletes who performs vertical jump.

Another interesting point of our study results that the participants of experimental group 2 showed a better performance on VJH. These improvements demonstrate the effectiveness of combined training with plyometrics and dynamic stretching. An increased neuromuscular function may be the reason for this enhancement of VJH. The development of postactivation potentiation is considered to be the reason for increasing the rate of force development, thereby the speed and power production also increases.^[8] The phenomena associated with increased VJH after dynamic stretching is mainly due to the increased muscle spindle activity and repeated muscle stretch causing a lengthening of agonist muscle and contracting with a bigger force.^[31]

Our study results are in accordance with the studies, Yamaguchi and Ishii,^[25] they have reported that compared to static stretching and no stretching, a 5-min dynamic stretching of hip and knee flexors and extensors produces a better leg extension power. A study conducted byMcMillian et al.^[32] concluded that 8 min dynamic stretching of major muscle groups showed improved 5-step jump performance compared to a static and no stretch condition.

As a limitation of this study showing the fact that an immediate evaluation of VJH performance was not included in our study protocol. Curry et al.^[33] reported that a significant improvement on power performance immediately after dynamic stretching in untrained females. Therefore, we recommend the future investigators to focus on determining the performance effect immediately after the training, and also, all our participants in this study were female players so the future study may be conducted with male volleyball players.

Conclusion

Our results showed that two sessions of plyometric training in a week for 8 weeks duration significantly enhances the vertical jump performance. Furthermore, plyometric exercises combined with dynamic stretching training for 8 weeks period can be the better effective form of training program for the best performance of vertical jump in female student volleyball athletes. From this point of view, we conclude our study with a recommendation that dynamic stretching exercises of the major muscle groups of lower limbs which participate a main role for vertical jumping before the plyometric exercises must be an essential elements of physical conditioning to boost up the VJH in various sports which involved with vertical jump.

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

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