Effect of french contrast training on selected performance parameters and isokinetic muscle strength in football players

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of the French contrast training method applied for two weeks on selected physical and technical performance parameters of male amateur football players. In this regard, 33 male football players between the ages of 18-24 participated voluntarily in the study. Football players were randomly divided into three groups: French contrast training group (n: 11), traditional strength training group (n: 12) and control group (n: 10). Participants' speed, anaerobic capacity, agility with and without the ball, football-specific vertical jump and isokinetic muscle strength measurements were performed as pre-, interim and post-tests. Statistical analyses were performed using Bayesian approaches. Bayesian One-Way ANOVA was used to assess differences between groups. Bayesian paired sample t-tests were applied to evaluate the within-group time effect. In order to evaluate the reliability of the measurements, the intraclass correlation coefficient was calculated using a two-way mixed effects model. All statistical procedures were performed using JASP software (version 0.19.1.0, Amsterdam, The Netherlands). In conclusion, the findings revealed that French contrast training can have positive effects on certain sub-parameters in terms of speed and isokinetic muscle strength performance, while the results on agility and anaerobic performance overlap with the literature to a limited extent, indicating improvements due to neural adaptation. In terms of football-specific vertical jump performance, the expected improvements were not achieved due to the short training duration and the incompatibility between the test-training structure. In general, it was concluded that although the two-week intervention period enabled some rapid adaptations at the neuromuscular level, the training period needed to be extended to achieve significant and lasting improvement in complex motor skills.