Optimising University Athletes Cardiovascular Health using Lower and Upper Body Plyometric Training

Abstract

Although plyometric training has been a useful training technique for developing optimal sports performance in most popular sports, yet the information about this type of training on cardiovascular variables, especially on BP, is not completely understood. The study examined the effectiveness of lower and upper body plyometric training in optimising university athletes' cardiovascular health.30 male athletes who voluntarily participated in the study were purposively selected and drawn from university male athletes body mass index (BMI) within the range of underweight to normal weight (≤18.5±24.9)(height, x=1.50±1.17cm; body weight, x=50.31±70.15kg), all athletes whose age-range fall between 18 and 25 years old.The volunteered athletes were apparently healthy, physically active and free of any lower and upper extremity bone injuries for past one year and they had no medical or orthopedic injuries that may affect their participation in the study. The Quasinone randomised pretest posttest control group experimental design was used for the study.  The participants were randomly assigned to one of the three groups: lower body plyometric training (LBPT), upper body plyometric training (UBPT) and control (C).Training consisted of six plyometric exercises: lower (ankle hops, squat jumps, tuck jumps) and upper body plyometric training (push-ups, medicine ball-chest throws and side throws) with moderate intensity. The general data were collated and analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS version 22.0). Mean and standard deviation were used to describe the data collected for the study, Analysis of co-variance (ANCOVA) were used to test the hypotheses. The results revealed that athletes who were trained using LBPT and UBPT had reduced HR, SBP, DBP, MAP and RPP better than those in the control group. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) also showed that athletes who were trained using LBPT and UBPT indicated lack of significant differences following ten weeks plyometric training and those in the control group in all the cardiovascular variables. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that coaches should include both LBPT and UBPT as part of athletes' overall training programme from primary to tertiary institution to optimise performance as well as reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases and promotes good healthy lifestyle.