Acute effects of speed-jumping intervention training on selected motor ability determinants: Judo vs. soccer

Background and Study Aim: Material and Methods: Results: Conclusions: Judo and soccer are both representatives of complex sports where speed, power, superior motor skills, and excellent technical and tactical knowledge is of great importance. These factors strongly affect the final result of competitive performance. The purpose of this study was the effect of a short high-intensity specific speed-jumping training program on the improvement of the explosive power of lower extremities and simple, and complex responses between judo and soccer. Twenty-six athletes were divided into two groups: 13 judokas and 13 soccer players, participated in the experiment. They were tested pre-and post-implementation of the 4 weeks high-intensity specific speed-jumping training program which included various skips, bounds, hops, jumps in vertical, horizontal and mixed directions, sprints and groups of starts from lying positions on different signals: sound, visual and light. The pre-and post-experimen-tal protocol included two horizontal jumps: standing long jump and standing triple jump, and one vertical jump – lateral ski jumps to indirectly assess lower-body power, maximal running velocity; a 20 m from standing and flying start sprint. Additionally, athletes underwent a simple and complex reaction time measurement. A one–way ANOVA and an independent t-test for establishing differences between those two groups were applied. The short-term speed-jumping intervention training significantly increased the explosive power of lower extremities, both vertical and horizontal jumping improvement and complex reaction times in judokas. The substantial differences between groups occurred in the 20 m sprint from flying and standing and lateral ski jumps. Training in individual sports, such as judo, focused on improving dynamic capabilities (power and maximum speed combined with reaction time) and training in other sports, e.g., football (soccer), also focused on the dynamization of movement structures will bring similar results. In judo a short high-intensity specific speed-jumping training program could prove beneficial when intentionally used in the tapering phase with low volume and high-intensity training regime to increase explosive power and response time.