Proposta para determinação das alturas de barreiras e do volume de saltos numa sessão de treinamento pliométrico: um estudo com jovens atletas universitários

Abstract

Introduction: Plyometric training (PT) is primarily used to develop muscular power and is essential in sports involving explosive activities, such as jumping. The effectiveness of PT depends on the proper management and individualization of training load components; a specific example is the determination of optimal hurdle height (OHH), as well as training volume. Objective: To individualize hurdle height and jump volume in a PT session. Methods: Eleven university athletes, Physical Education students aged between 18 and 30 years and engaged in team sports, were evaluated. The experimental design consisted of five sessions: two familiarization sessions, two sessions to determine OHH measured using contact mats, and one session to determine jump/rebound volume using individualized hurdles during the training session, with heights ranging from 20 to 100 cm. OHH was calculated based on the highest ratio between rebound height and contact time, classified as the Reactive Strength Index (RSI), with jump volume adjusted according to individual capacity. After data collection, a database was created in Microsoft Excel and then transferred to SPSS version 20.0 for exploratory analysis. The ICC 3,1 model was used to assess data reliability between the 3rd and 4th sessions and also during the training session to verify intraset and interset reliability. A two-way ANOVA test was applied to identify possible performance differences between sets during the training session, or its nonparametric equivalent when appropriate. Jump volume was determined by the frequency of jumps performed within the training session sets. The adopted significance level was 5% (p < 0.05). Results: OHH1 demonstrated moderate relative reliability (0.67), whereas OHH2 showed good reliability (0.81). RSI1 and RSI2 presented moderate and good reliability levels, respectively. The relative reliability of the training session reached excellent levels (≥ 0.90) for both intraset and interset comparisons, while the number of contacts (set 1 vs. set 2) showed moderate reliability. When both sets were considered (intraset and interset), variability reached low values (10% and 13%, respectively), which are considered satisfactory given the task and sample characteristics. Total jump volume showed high interindividual variability (52.08% and 52.24% for set 1 and set 2, respectively), with hurdle height variations of up to 70 cm and volumes ranging from 9 to 117 total contacts. The mean total number of contacts during the training session was 75 ± 33.31. Conclusion: It was possible to determine individualized hurdle heights, although moderate relative reliability was observed for hurdle height 1. The individualized training session demonstrated excellent reliability and low variability when both training sets were considered. The method used to determine optimal heights through RSI as a parameter proved to be highly satisfactory, considering that the reliability result observed for OHH1 is expected to improve with a larger sample size.