Abstract
4/2024
vol. 41
Original paper
Limb-belt resisted sprint training improves physical fitness and ball-throw velocity in pubertal handball players
- University of Sousse, Research Laboratory of Exercise Physiology and Pathophysiology (LR19ES09), Faculty of Medicine of Sousse. Sousse, Tunisia
- Research Laboratory ‘‘Education, Motor Skills, Sports and Health (EM2S, LR15JS01)’’, Higher Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Sfax, University of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
- Department of Statistics and Operations Research, Faculty of Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- Sport Sciences and Diagnostics Research Group, GSD-HPE Department, Prince Sultan University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Biol Sport. 2024;41(4):293–304
Online publish date: 2024/07/08
The study assessed the effect of six weeks of biweekly upper and lower limbs’ weighted-belt resisted sprint training (BRST) and weighted-vest resisted sprint training (VRST), or normal sprint training (NST) on muscle strength, speed, change of direction and handball-throwing velocity in young handball players. Twenty-seven pubertal male handball players aged 14.4 years were randomly assigned into BRST (n = 9), VRST (n = 8), and NST (n = 8) groups. Sprint ability (10-m and 30-m), squat jump (SJ), countermovement jump (CMJ), free-arm countermovement jump (CMJFA), standing long jump (SLJ), Five-jump test (FJT), change of direction and handball-throw velocity were assessed before and after a 6-week training in season program. Within-group interactions showed that BRST improved all tests’ performances (moderate-to-large). VRST improved sprint, SLJ, FJT and handball-throw velocity performances (small-to-large). NST improved only the change of direction performances (moderate). Between-groups comparison revealed that BRST improved all testing performances, except change of direction, compared with NST (large) and improved 30-m sprint, CMJFA, FJT and handball-throw velocity performance compared with VRST (moderate-to-large). In addition, VRST improved 30-m sprint, SJ and handball-throw velocity performances compared with NST (moderate-to-large). Throwing performance changes correlated with changes in sprint time and horizontal and vertical jump abilities (r = 0.40 to r = 0.69; p < 0.01). We conclude that while both resisted sprint training improved players’ sprint, jumping and handball-throw performances, substantial improvements were recorded with the BRST compared to VRST and NST. Thus, BRST could be recommended to male U15 handball players as a valuable training method for developing physical fitness and skill performances.
Keywords
Resisted training, Distributed load, Vertical load, Performance, Handball
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