Investigation of the acute effects of depth jumps with different intensity on speed and agility performance

The purpose of this study was to investigate that the acute effects of different intensity depth jumps on sprint time (ST) and agility time (AT) in field hockey players. Ten male national field hockey players volunteered to participate in this study. The order of the trials was assigned to the subjects in a randomized cross-over design and the tests were performed 24 hours apart. All measurements were taken in 6 days (first 3 days: 10 meter (m) and 30 m; last 3 days: AT, respectively) and were performed before and after high-intensity plyometric training (HIPT), low-intensity plyometric training (LIPT) and control trail (CT). Both experimental trails participated in an acute plyometric training program and CT engaged in no training section. The total number of depth jumps in plyometric training was 5 depth jumps for per trail. The results showed that significant improvements were found in both experimental trails (HIPT and LIPT) for all measurements from pre- to immediately, 5 minutes (min) and 10 min post-tests (p≤0,05), except 5 min and 10 min after training for 10 m and 10 min after training for AT in LIPE trail (p>0,05). Significantly greater improvements were observed with regard to immediately after training for 10 m in HIPT compared to LIPT (p>0,05). As a conclusion, this study suggests that both HIPT and LIPT are effective at increasing important components of athletic performance for national hockey players. However, HIPT is highly recommended in order to improve and maintain for sprint and agility for lasting 10 min after acute plyometric training.