Effect of plyometric training in land surface aquatic medium & aquatic medium with a weighted vest on the aerobic capacity of athletes

Abstract

Background: It is already established that plyometric training is a powerful training means for speed and power development; however, very few studies have attempted to know the impact of Plyometric Training on aerobic capacity so far. Sufficient studies were not found by the researchers on plyometric training in land and aquatic medium with & without weight vests for the development of aerobic capacity. Consequently, it was planned to investigate the impact of plyometric training in land and aquatic medium on aerobic capacity from a comparative standpoint. Purpose: Therefore, the present experimentation was aimed to compare the effectiveness of plyometric training programs for 14 weeks on the aerobic capacity of the athletes conducted in three different conditions in land and aquatic medium. Approach: Forty-eight (N = 48) middle-distance track athletes were finally selected based on simple randomization. The selected participants were divided into four equal groups of strength (n=12) each: i) Land Plyometric Training Group (LPTG) ii) Aquatic Plyometric Training Group (APTG) iii) Weighted Vest Aquatic Plyometric Training Group (APTGWV) and iv) Control Group (CG). The same plyometric training was performed for fourteen weeks on the respective training groups in different conditions on dry land surfaces (without a weighted vest) and aquatic medium (without a weight vest & with a weighted vest). Aerobic capacity in terms of maximum oxygen consumption i.e. VO2max (ml.kg-1.min-1) was measured through Queen’s-College-Step-Test (QCST). To draw a statistical inference on aerobic capacity among the groups in baseline & post-intervention conditions, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used. Tukey's post-hoc LSD test was employed to identify the location of difference among the groups. Statistical inferences were drawn at p