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The integration of balance and plyometric training has been shown to provide significant improvements in sprint, jump, agility, and other performance measures in young athletes. It is not known if a specific within session balance and plyometric exercise sequence provides more effective training adaptations. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of using a sequence of alternating pairs of exercises versus a block (series) of all balance exercises followed by a block of plyometric exercises on components of physical fitness such as muscle strength, power, speed, agility, and balance. Twenty-six male adolescent soccer players ( 13.9 +/- 0.3 years) participated in an 8-week training program that either alternated individual balance (e. g., exercises on unstable surfaces) and plyometric (e. g., jumps, hops, rebounds) exercises or performed a block of balance exercises prior to a block of plyometric exercises within each training session. Pre- and post-training measures included proxies of strength, power, agility, sprint, and balance such as countermovement jumps, isometric back and knee extension strength, standing long jump, 10 and 30-m sprints, agility, standing stork, and Y-balance tests. Both groups exhibited significant, generally large magnitude (effect sizes) training improvements for all measures with mean performance increases of approximately > 30%. There were no significant differences between the training groups over time. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of combining balance and plyometric exercises within a training session on components of physical fitness with young adolescents. The improved performance outcomes were not significantly influenced by the within session exercise sequence.
We quantified the acute and chronic effects of whole body vibration on athletic performance or its proxy measures in competitive and/or elite athletes.
Systematic literature review and meta-analysis.
Whole body vibration combined with exercise had an overall 0.3 % acute effect on maximal voluntary leg force (-6.4 %, effect size = -0.43, 1 study), leg power (4.7 %, weighted mean effect size = 0.30, 6 studies), flexibility (4.6 %, effect size = -0.12 to 0.22, 2 studies), and athletic performance (-1.9 %, weighted mean effect size = 0.26, 6 studies) in 191 (103 male, 88 female) athletes representing eight sports (overall effect size = 0.28). Whole body vibration combined with exercise had an overall 10.2 % chronic effect on maximal voluntary leg force (14.6 %, weighted mean effect size = 0.44, 5 studies), leg power (10.7 %, weighted mean effect size = 0.42, 9 studies), flexibility (16.5 %, effect size = 0.57 to 0.61, 2 studies), and athletic performance (-1.2 %, weighted mean effect size = 0.45, 5 studies) in 437 (169 male, 268 female) athletes (overall effect size = 0.44).
Whole body vibration has small and inconsistent acute and chronic effects on athletic performance in competitive and/or elite athletes. These findings lead to the hypothesis that neuromuscular adaptive processes following whole body vibration are not specific enough to enhance athletic performance. Thus, other types of exercise programs (e.g., resistance training) are recommended if the goal is to improve athletic performance.