THE EFFECTS OF UNILATERAL AND BILATERAL PLYOMETRIC TRAINING ON UNTRAINED MALE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Abstract

Introduction. In many sports the quality and efficacy of the movements performed are highly
related to the athlete’s power, strength, endurance, speed and coordination. A common example
of a movement that puts a great demand on the athlete’s physical abilities is jumping. There
are many examples of sports in which jumping movements and exercises are highly utilized,
and these sports typically require an athlete to have excellent explosive leg power (Adams et
al., 1992; Chu, 1996).
The study objective was to determine the effects of unilateral and bilateral plyometric training
on leg power, speed and back and leg strength in male university students.
Methodology. Twenty-four untrained but physically active male university students (age 19
24 years) were recruited and randomly assigned into 2 groups, the Unilateral Group (n=12) and
Bilateral Group (n= 12). Height, weight and body mass index (BMI) of subjects along with leg
power (vertical jump and broad jump), speed (30 m sprint) and back and leg strength (pull
dynamometer) were done before and after the 6-week program for pre- and post-test. The
unilateral and bilateral groups underwent plyometric training for the period of 6 weeks, with a
frequency of 2 sessions per week. The unilateral group did only unilateral plyometric exercises
(single leg) whereas bilateral group did only bilateral plyometric exercises (both legs
simultaneously). Data was processed with SPSS software version 26.0 for paired and
independent t-test.
Results. After 6 weeks of training the unilateral group had significant increases in vertical jump
and back and leg strength (p<0.05), whereas the bilateral group had significant improvements
in all tests (p<0.05). There were however no significant differences between the groups in the
results of the unilateral group and bilateral group for all tested variables (p>0.05). The results
suggest that both types of plyometric exercises were effective in improving vertical jump and
strength of untrained individuals. However, there may be a slight benefit in bilateral plyometric
exercises over unilateral exercises in untrained individuals. Overall, it is advised to incorporate
both types of exercises in a jump training program.