Open AccessEffects of Unilateral Versus Bilateral Plyometric Training on Endurance Running Performance
Author(s) -
Ian J. Greenwood,
Anthony D Kay,
Anthony Baross
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international journal of strength and conditioning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2634-2235
DOI - 10.47206/ijsc.v1i1.36
Subject(s) - isometric exercise , plyometrics , medicine , analysis of variance , knee flexion , physical therapy , running economy , repeated measures design , mathematics , vo2 max , jump , heart rate , statistics , physics , quantum mechanics , blood pressure
The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of an 11-week unilateral versus bilateral plyometric training intervention on maximal isometric voluntary (MVC) knee extensor torque, countermovement jump height (CMJ), running economy (RE) and 3-km time trial (TT) performance. Twenty-seven recreationally trained endurance runners (12 females and 15 males) were randomly assigned to one of three groups: unilateral plyometric training (UPT; n = 9), bilateral plyometric training (BPT; n = 9) and control (CON; n = 9). RE, VO2max, 3-km treadmill TT, isometric MVC (bilateral and unilateral) and CMJ (bilateral and unilateral) were measured prior to and after 11 weeks of training (UPT and BPT; volume equated, 20-40 minutes, 2-3 days/week). Separate two-way repeated measures ANOVAs were used to assess within and between group differences in RE, VO2max, 3-km TT, maximal isometric knee extensor torque and CMJ. Following 11 weeks of plyometric training there were significant improvements in RE (UPT 5.6%; BPT 4.9%, p 0.05). No statistically significant differences between training interventions (p > 0.05) were detected in any measure. These data demonstrate that UPT and BPT result in similar improvements in RE and 3-km TT run performance in recreational distance runners.