The effect of strength and plyometric training in physical power of prepubertal children

There is an important problem for children to use resistance training to help them for achieve peak performance. The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of strength and plyometric training in physical power of prepubertal children. The subjects of this research were 20 prepubertal boys with mean age, height and weight of 11.36±0.85 y, 148.38±7.45 cm and 42.05±7.51 kg. The experimental group trained 2 days per week for 8 weeks of strength and plyometric training. The strength and plyometric exercises included bench press, leg extension, vertical jump, depth jump and medicine ball throwing. Physical and performance variables were measured at the beginning and at the end of the training period. Data were analyzed by Wilcoxon and Mann- Whitney U tests. After 8 weeks of training significant differences in strength, vertical jump performance, vertical jump power, medicine ball throwing performance between both experimental and control groups were observed (p <0.05). Resistance training is not only a relatively safe activity for children but that it also is useful to increase muscular strength and power.