Effects of Warming Up With Lower-Body Wearable Resistance on Physical Performance Measures in Soccer Players Over an 8-Week Training Cycle

This study aimed to examine the effects of adding wearable resistance (WR) lower-limb loading to a warm-up on physical performance measures in soccer athletes. Thirty-one national-level soccer players (aged 16–18 years) were matched for speed and allocated to either a WR training (WRT = 15) or an unloaded (CON = 16) group. Both groups performed the same warm-up 2–3x·wk−1 for 8 weeks with the WRT group wearing 200- to 600-g loads on their calves. Pre-training, mid-training, and post-training data were collected for 10- and 20-m sprint times, repeated sprint ability, and vertical countermovement jump (CMJ) and horizontal countermovement jump (standing long jump [SLJ]) performance. Wearable resistance training improved pre-training to post-training 10- and 20-m sprint times more than the unloaded training (effect size [ES] = −1.06 to −0.96, respectively; 60.0–66.7 vs. 18.8–37.5%> smallest worthwhile change [SWC]). Both groups decreased CMJ over the first 4 weeks (ES ≥ 0.45) and increased CMJ performance over the second 4 weeks of training (ES ≥ 0.27). Both the WRT and CON groups improved SLJ performance after the 8-week training block (ES = 0.85 and 0.93, respectively; 86.7 and 62.5%> SWC, respectively), yet no differences were identified between groups. These findings indicate that 8 weeks (23 sessions) of WR training appears to elicit practically meaningful improvements in accelerated sprinting and horizontal jumping performance. Strength and conditioning pr...
Source: Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research - Category: Sports Medicine Tags: Original Research Source Type: research