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Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Jumping; Track and field--Training;

Abstract

Power training has become a widely used activity in striving for optimal athletic performances. Plyometric training has been one of the most widely used of these power training programs. Plyometric training, specifically depth jumping, is practiced in an attempt to elicit an involuntary stretch reflex which, in conjunction with the concentric contraction of the rebound jump, develops a more powerful muscular contraction than the individual could voluntarily generate. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of controlling all but one of the depth jumping variables, platform height, to determine the significance of this variable on power generation in rebound vertical jumps. Eighteen male football athletes were involved in the study. Each subject performed two depth jumps from each of five depth jump heights, including: 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 cm, with the jump that produced the greatest power being submitted to analysis. Power generated in the rebound jump served as the dependent variable. Group means and standard deviations were computed for the power measures. A repeated measures analysis of variance was used to determine between and within group variance estimates. An F-ratio was calculated in order to demonstrate the significance of the variance estimate. A post hoc correlated t-test was used to determine the significance of the difference between each of the platform height mean power values. The results of this study provide evidence to suggest that depth jumps from 25, 50 and 75 cm developed significantly greater power than do similar jumps from 0 and 100 cm. Based upon examination of the group means the height which develops the greatest power in rebound jumps falls nearest to 25 cm with depth jump heights higher and lower demonstrating progressively less power the farther they are from 25 cm. These findings differ from other studies conducted on plyometric depth jumps. These incongruencies are attributed primarily to the measurement of the dependent variable power in this study rather than energy, vertical jump, standing long jump, leg strength or 40-yard dash time. It is recommended that for depth jump training which has the desired result of developing maximum power, then depth jumps should be performed from a platform height which falls within the 25 to 50 cm range.

Year of Submission

1986

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Department of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation

First Advisor

Whitfield B. East

Second Advisor

Larry D. Hensley

Third Advisor

Forrest A. Dolgener

Comments

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Date Original

1986

Object Description

1 PDF file (93 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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