Peak Vertical Jump Power Estimations in Youths and Young Adults

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a regression equation to estimate peak power (PP) using a large sample of athletic youths and young adults. Anthropometric and vertical jump ground reaction forces were collected from 460 male volunteers (age: 12-24 years). Of these 460 volunteers, a stratified random sample of 45 subjects representing 3 different age groups (12-15 years [n = 15], 16-18 years [n = 15], and 19-24 years [n = 15]) was selected as a validation sample. Data from the remaining 415 subjects were used to develop a new equation ("Novel") to estimate PP using age, body mass (BM), and vertical jump height (VJH) via backward stepwise regression. Independently, age (r = 0.57), BM (r = 0.83), and VJ (r = 0.65) were significantly (p < 0.05) correlated with PP. However, age did not significantly (p = 0.53) contribute to the final prediction equation (Novel): PP (watts) = 63.6 × VJH (centimeters) + 42.7 × BM (kilograms) - 1,846.5 (r = 0.96; standard error of the estimate = 250.7 W). For each age group, there were no differences between actual PP (overall group mean ± SD: 3,244 ± 991 W) and PP estimated using Novel (3,253 ± 1,037 W). Conversely, other previously published equations produced PP estimates that were significantly different than actual PP. The large sample size used in this study (n = 415) likely explains the greater accuracy of the reported Novel equation compared with previously developed equations (n = 17-161). Although this Novel equation can accurately estimate PP values for a group of subjects, between-subject comparisons estimating PP using Novel or any other previously published equations should be interpreted with caution because of large intersubject error (± >600 W) associated with predictions.

Comparison and analysis of three different methods to evaluate vertical jump height

“…Sargent (1921), the vertical jump has been a commonly used method of assessing muscular power in the lower limbs (McLellan et al, 2011;Quagliarella et al, 2011;Shalfawi et al, 2011;Perez-Gomez & Calbet, 2013). The maximum jump height achieved by an individual, which is an indicator of leg muscular power, can often provide key information regarding their functional capacity (Ditroilo et al, 2011;Gonz alez-Rav e et al, 2011;Amonette et al, 2012;Farias et al, 2013) and performance in many sports (Gabbett, 2002;Duncan et al, 2006;Borr as et al, 2011;Ransdell & Murray, 2011). Over the years, many methods have been proposed to perform this test, including the Sargent jump (Nuzzo et al, 2011;Ransdell & Murray, 2011;Buckthorpe et al, 2012), contact mat (Dias et al, 2011;Nuzzo et al, 2011;Buckthorpe et al, 2012;Kenny et al, 2012), video camera (Dias et al, 2011;Picerno et al, 2011), force plate (Dias et al, 2011;Salaj & Markovic, 2011;Buckthorpe et al, 2012) and, more recently, optical system (Glatthorn et al, 2011).…”

Effect of Four Weeks Detraining on Strength, Power, and Sensorimotor Ability of Adolescent Surfers

“…Displacement and force were not filtered. Athletes were instructed to complete three trials dipping to a self-selected depth while holding a light wooden dowel in contact with the back of their shoulders and then jumping vertically for maximum height [1]. During each jump, if the wooden dowel lost contact with the shoulders, the jump was discarded and repeated.…”

Validation of a force platform clinical for the assessment of vertical jump height

“…The instruction involved standing on the force platform and becoming familiar with the test, which consists of a demonstration by the investigator and later, technical training for 5 minutes (which is guided by a graphical real-time projection of vertical reaction forces on the platform). Next, the subject performed 3-5 minutes of a general warm-up that consisted of light continuous exercise (i.e., treadmill or overground running) followed by dynamic stretching (Amonette et al, 2012). No static stretching was performed because of its possible interference with power production, speed, agility and disruption of the elastic components (Bishop andMiddleton, 2013, Kruse et al, 2015).…”

“…The height (in meter; m) reached in a vertical jump is generally considered the gold standard of determining the muscular power of the lower extremities (Earp et al, 2010; Rouis et al, 2015) and is also an indicator of anaerobic fitness (Ostojić et al, 2010). In addition, jump height can provide information concerning the functional capacity of different populations (Amonette et al, 2012;Farias et al, 2013) and physical performance in several sports (Ziv and Lidor, 2010a;Ziv and Lidor, 2010b). …”