Impact of Plyometric Training Program on Physical Performance in Girls Age 12 to 15 Years

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a 6-week plyometric training program on physical performance (leg muscle power, explosive leg power, 20 m sprint and agility). With ethical approval, twenty-four girls (mean ±SD: age 13.4 ± 1.4 yr; body mass: 55.2 ± 3.1 kg; stature: 1.54 ± 0.06 m; BMI 21.5 ± 2.3 kg.m²) from a local school. Participants were randomly assigned to either an experimental (EXP, n = 12) or a control (CON, n = 12) group. The training program duration per session for both groups was 60 min. After a familiarisation session, participants performed the following tests, before and after a 6 week intervention: 1) vertical jump height (VJH, to measure leg muscle power); 2) standing long jump (SLJ, to measure explosive leg power); 3) 20 metre sprint (to measure speed) and 4) the Illinois agility test (to measure specific agility). The EXP group made significantly (p < 0.05) greater improvements than CON in vertical jump height (9.30 vs. 2.56), standing long jump (13.70 vs. 0.92), speed over 10 m (-5.41 vs. 2.10) and agility time (-2.75 vs. -0.25) following training. Thus 6-weeks performing the plyometric training program can enhance physical performance in experimental group, while generally no effect was observed on a series of performance tests in a control group of adolescent female using the usual training program.