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Background and Study Aim. Athletic jumps are specific cyclically-acyclic movements that despite the good performance of the techniques require from competitors a high level of motor, specific-motor and functional abilities. The aim of this study was to examine the response effect of vertical and horizontal plyometric training on explosive capacity and kinetic variables in long jump athletes. Material and Methods. The participants of this study were twenty professional jumpers (22.5 ± 4.2 years; 178.4 ± 9.8 cm; 70.3 ± 7.6 kg) who were divided into two groups: experimental (plyometric training) and control (standard training). They participated in the last track and field championship in country, moreover, three of them participated in the last Asian games, and one athlete participated in the world track and field championship. The experiments were conducted on June-July 2019 in twenty professional athletes. All tests were performed after a standard warm up protocol. The place of camera was always determined wisely around the jumping field to attain best photography. Organizing and controlling the imaging and motor analysis processes were done by a biomechanics expert. Results. Post training results in experimental group showed more improvement in 30 m sprint, vertical jump, horizontal velocity at take-off, and long jump completion, comparing the control group. Significant between group differences in all variables were detected post training. No significant post training improvements in flight time and take off duration were reported in control group. Conclusion. Vertical and horizontal plyometric training protocol was shown to be more effective in promoting improvement in explosive capacity than kinetic variables.

This study aimed to investigate the facilitative effect of observational practice combined with mental imagery on learning of soccer dribbling. 140 young boys with the average age of 14,52 (±2,96) and mental imagery score of 48,69 (±5,1), who were unfamiliar with the research task, voluntarily participated in this study. The participants were assigned to homogenous groups according to their pre-tests results as follow: 1- physical practice; 2- observational practice; 3-mental imagery practice; 4-physical-observational practice; 5-physical-mental imagery practice; 6- observational-mental imagery practice and 7- physical-observational-mental imagery practice. Then the participants completed three sessions including ninety trials. At the end of the final training session, an immediate retention test was conducted that followed by a delayed retention test after 48 hours. The results of One-Way ANOVA test indicated that in both immediate and delayed retention tests, the physical-observational-mental imagery group and the physical group had a better performance compared with other groups (p<.05). Furthermore, the combined physical-mental imagery group obtained higher scores in soccer dribbling task in comparison with the combined physical-observational group. The findings support the beneficial effects of cognitive interventions as well as physical practice.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to quantify the effects of a training protocol on physical and cognitive condition in a sample of individuals dwelling in a health care center for older persons. Material: A 12 weeks mixed motor cognitive training with 8 weeks follow up was performed by 20 individuals with dementia and 20 individuals with intact cognitive state (mean age= 76 ± 7). Main outcome measures included body mass index, performance-oriented balance, frailty, performance in daily activities and mental abilities. Results: At post intervention tests performance-oriented balance improved in both group. There was also a reduction in BMI in the normal group. These changes lasted after 8 weeks of no training. Analysis over time and between groups after the intervention showed a significant change in FR test (p=0.001). Performance-oriented balance was improved in both groups regardless to initial cognitive state and somehow it was affected more in cognitively intact individuals. Conclusion: Although these findings support the dominant effect of our training protocol on physical aspects, the benefits of training on cognition is not decisive.