Plyometric training intervention in young tennis players

What does the literature say about the effectiveness of this type of training highly used by physical trainers?

Introduction

Explosive reactions and efficient changes of direction (COD) could be crucial during a tennis rally (7), because they are characterised by a high number of accelerations, decelerations, and breaks. These repetitive efforts require several athletic skills, for instance: speed, quickness, and agility (5).

Plyometric training (PT) is highly used by physical trainers to improve sprinting and agility (6). This type of training involves the stretch-shortening cycle (SSC), which is expressed in movements characterised by a rapid stretch and a quick concentric action (8). This short review has investigated on the effectiveness of lower limb PT in young tennis players to improve agility, assuming positive results.

Review

Table 1 shows the studies including in this short review. The comparison between the results of these articles must be interpreted with caution due to the several differences between studies regarding experimental approach, type and length of the training intervention, level of tennis experience, age, and agility test chosen by the authors. None of the authors considered PT and agility alone leaving possible confounding variables affecting the outcomes. Moreover, these young tennis players in competitive/elite level had a dense tennis schedule with tournaments and training sessions. Therefore, the tennis training itself could have possibly affected the outcomes. Regardless of these variables, these studies generally showed that a training intervention including PT of 5-8 weeks with 2-3 sessions per week could lead to agility improvements in young tennis players (Table 2).

Interestingly, two of these studies (2;4); included in their experimental design a control group (CG) that may suggest a direct relationship between PT and agility. However, Pardos-Mainer (2) did not find any meaningful differences between Experimental (EG) and CG; possibly due to the type of training conducted by the CG based on agility and speed. According to Fernandez (3), it appears that PT must be performed in non-fatigue state. He implemented the same training intervention (including PT) before and after training in two different groups, finding in the 5-0-5 agility test likely positive and possibly negative improvements in before training (BT) and after training (AT) group, respectively.

Generally, the author of the review found a lack of accuracy and details in the plyometric interventions that are often not clear about the volume (3), the recovery between exercises (1), and type of exercise (4).

Take away message from Leandro

Although the limitations of these studies and the inaccuracy of the authors, none of these reports a negative effect of PT on agility. Given the popularity of this sport, further studies with a clearer intervention are needed to enhance the level of replicability. To sum up, it seems that an improvement in terms of agility could be reached followed a PT conducted in absence of fatigue combined with a development of accelerations, decelerations and COD. Following a progression (volume, variations, and density), 2-3 times per 5-8 weeks could be enough to improve agility in young tennis players.

Tables

Table 1 – Studies including PT and agility outcomes

Table 1. BT: before training; AT: after training; EG: experimental group; CG: control group; COD: change of direction; RSA: repeated sprint ability.

Table 2 – Plyometric intervention and agility outcomes and agility outcomes

References

1. Barber-Westin, S. D., Hermeto, A. A., & Noyes, F. R. (2010). A Six-Week Neuromuscular Training Program for Competitive Junior Tennis Players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 24(9), 2372-2382.

2. Elena Pardos-Mainer, Oscar Ustero-Pérez, & Oliver Gonzalo-Skok. (2017). Efectos de un entrenamiento pliométrico en extremidades superiores e inferiores en el rendimiento físico en jóvenes tenistas. [Effects of upper and lower body plyometric training on physical performance in young tennis players]. Revista Internacional De Ciencias Del Deporte, 13(49), 225-243.

3. Fernandez-Fernandez, Granacher, Sanz-Rivas, Sarabia Marín, Hernandez-Davo, & Moya. (2018). Sequencing Effects of Neuromuscular Training on Physical Fitness in Youth Elite Tennis Players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 32(3), 849-856.

4. Fernandez-Fernandez, J. S., Sanz-Rivas, D., Kovacs, M., & Moya, M. (2015). In-Season Effect of a Combined Repeated Sprint and Explosive Strength Training Program on Elite Junior Tennis Players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 29(2), 351-357.

5. Fernandez-Fernandez, J., Sanz, D., Sarabia, J., & Moya, M. (2017). The Effects of Sport-Specific Drills Training or High-Intensity Interval Training in Young Tennis Players. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 12(1), 90-98.

6. Jeffreys, I. (2011). A Task-Based Approach to Developing Context-Specific Agility. Strength and Conditioning Journal, 33(4), 52-59.

7. Kovacs, M., Roetert, E., & Ellenbecker, T. (2015). Efficient Deceleration: The Forgotten Factor in Tennis-Specific Training. Strength and Conditioning Journal, 37(2), 92-103.

8. Wu, Y.-K., Lien, Y.-H., Lin, K.-H., Shih, T. T.-F., Wang, T.-G., & Wang, H.-K. (2010). Relationships between three potentiation effects of plyometric training and performance. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, 20, 1.