Investigation of the effect of foam roller exercises applied in different time and sets on muscle flexibility and anaerobic performance

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of foam roller (FR) exercises applied in different time and sets on muscle flexibility and anaerobic performance. Thirty nine healthy male athlete volunteered to participate in this study. Participants were assigned randomly four groups (foam roller long time (FRLT); 9, foam roller medium time (FRMT); 11, foam roller short time (FRST); 11, control group (CG); 8). Foam roller exercises were applied to quadriceps, hamstring, gluteal and triceps surae muscle groups of the experimental groups and for each muscle group as 4 sets - 30 seconds for FRLT, 3 sets - 20 seconds for FRMT, 2 sets - 10 seconds for FRST. All participants were performed vertical jump (VJ) test, sit-and-reach test and range of motion (ROM) test before and 5 minutes after FR exercises. One way ANOVA for repeated measures was used for statistical analysis of data. As a result of the study, no statistically significant difference was found in VJ (peak pover) performances in all comparisons. While a statistically significant difference was observed in Flexibility Test (FT) when comparing Exercise Groups (EGs) with CGs, no significant difference was found as a result of comparing the difference between FT values of EGs. A statistically significant increase was observed in ROM (right and left) values when EGs were compared with CG. As a result of the comparison of the difference between the ROMs (right and left) values of the EGs, a significant difference was found in favor of FRMT in the ROM (left) values (F(3.35)=3.249; P= 0.033). As a result, it was observed that foam roller exercises did not affect VJ performance, but increased ROM and Flexibility. According to the result of the difference of the EGs, it was observed that the FRMT group increased ROM and increased Flexibility numerically. In terms of effectiveness, FRMT applications can be recommended. KEYWORDS: Foam Roller, Vertical Jump Performance, Flexibility, Range of Motion.