A comparison of the effects of six weeks oftraditional resistance training, plyometric training, and complex training on measures of power

The purpose of this work was to compare the effects of resistance, plyometric, and their combination (complex training) on countermovement vertical jumps (CMVJ) and broad jumps (BDJ). Design: Longitudinal study design with repeated measures and group comparisons. Methods: Thirty four recreationally trained college aged males trained using one of three methods; resistance (RT; n = 13), plyometric (PT; n = 11), or complex (CT; n = 10) training twice weekly for six weeks and were assessed pre (W1), mid (W5), and post (W9) training. Measures included: CMVJ height (cm), CMVJ peak ground reaction force (pGRF; N), peak power (Watts), peak power per kilogram (Watts/kg), peak power per kilogram of fat free mass (Watts/kg FFM), BDJ distance (cm), and BDJ peak ground reaction force (pGRF; N). Results: Body mass significantly increased from W1 (83.85 20.54 kg) -W5 (85.26 20.29 kg) for RT and from W1 (81.25 10.43 kg) -W9 (82.49 10.19 kg) for PT. Body fat percentage significantly increased from W5 (18.0 8.0 %) -W9 (20.0 7.0 %) and W1 (18.0 8.0 %) -W9 (20.0 7.0 %) for RT and from W5 (18.0 5.0 %) -W9 (22.0 4.0 %) for PT. Results indicated no statistical differences between groups for any measure at any testing time point. Statistical increases in CMVJ pGRF (PT: W1 (2059.97 314.83 N) -W5 (2145.02 317.00 N); CT: W1 (2255.48 375.79 N) -W5 (2323.19 340.61 N)), CMVJ peak power/kg FFM (PT: W5 (78.32 4.86 Watts/kg FFM) -W9 (82.09 5.59 Watts/kg FFM)), and BDJ distance (PT: W1 (202.0 27.0 cm) -W9 (214.0 19.0cm)) were identified.