TY - JOUR

T1 - Optimizing isometric midthigh pull testing protocols

T2 - impact on peak force and rate of force development and their association with jump performance

AU - Buk Jørgensen, Tobias

AU - Mejer, Peter M

AU - Kvorning, Thue

AU - Thomas, Richard

AU - Breenfeldt Andersen, Andreas

AU - Junge, Nicklas

AU - Nybo, Lars

AU - Lundbye-Jensen, Jesper

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - BACKGROUND: Isometric strength testing is widely applied in sports science. However, we hypothesized that traditional testing procedures with a dual focus on both peak force (PF) and rate of force development (RFD) may compromise the true assessment of early RFD measures and lower the associative value towards vertical jump performance.METHODS: Therefore, PF and RFD were assessed for 47 active participants (24 females, 23 males) with a traditional isometric midthigh pull (IMTP) protocol ("push as hard and fast as possible" over 4 s) and an RFD-specific protocol ("push as fast as possible" over 2 s). IMTP measures were compared to squat (SJ), countermovement (CMJ) and drop-jump (DJ) performance.RESULTS: The RFD-specific protocol provided higher RFD (P<0.05) for time domains up to 100 ms but lower PF (P<0.001). Independent of protocol, SJ and CMJ performance displayed significant, but low-to-moderate correlations with all RFD measures (r=0.30-0.52) as well as PF (r=0.44), whereas DJ did not show any correlation.CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, an RFD-specific protocol appears relevant for the assessment of RFD in the time domain up to 100 ms. However, the observed associations between RFD/PF measures and vertical jump performance remained low-to-moderate independent of the IMTP test protocol.

AB - BACKGROUND: Isometric strength testing is widely applied in sports science. However, we hypothesized that traditional testing procedures with a dual focus on both peak force (PF) and rate of force development (RFD) may compromise the true assessment of early RFD measures and lower the associative value towards vertical jump performance.METHODS: Therefore, PF and RFD were assessed for 47 active participants (24 females, 23 males) with a traditional isometric midthigh pull (IMTP) protocol ("push as hard and fast as possible" over 4 s) and an RFD-specific protocol ("push as fast as possible" over 2 s). IMTP measures were compared to squat (SJ), countermovement (CMJ) and drop-jump (DJ) performance.RESULTS: The RFD-specific protocol provided higher RFD (P<0.05) for time domains up to 100 ms but lower PF (P<0.001). Independent of protocol, SJ and CMJ performance displayed significant, but low-to-moderate correlations with all RFD measures (r=0.30-0.52) as well as PF (r=0.44), whereas DJ did not show any correlation.CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, an RFD-specific protocol appears relevant for the assessment of RFD in the time domain up to 100 ms. However, the observed associations between RFD/PF measures and vertical jump performance remained low-to-moderate independent of the IMTP test protocol.

U2 - 10.23736/S0022-4707.24.15672-1

DO - 10.23736/S0022-4707.24.15672-1

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 38953761

VL - 64

JO - Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness

JF - Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness

SN - 0022-4707

ER -