Effect of different stretching strategies on the kinetics of vertical jumping in female volleyball athletes

Abstract

Purpose: The present study aimed to examine the effect of static stretching (SS) and a sport-specific dynamic stretching (DS) session at two specific post-stretch time intervals in highly trained female athletes (age 19.90 ± 1.60 years; height 1.80 ± 0.06 m; mass 76.87 ± 9.95 kg) on kinetic parameters of peak force, time-to-takeoff, and rate of force development. Methods: The data were collected over 3 days (randomized within subject design with control session). Following each stretch session (SS vs. DS vs. control) of equal duration (7 min total: 30 s per targeted muscle group) participants performed countermovement jumping on a force platform at 1 and 15 min after stretching. Results: The DS session significantly improved upon kinetic variables of rate of force development, peak force, and time-to-takeoff relative to SS at 1 min after stretching. No significant effect was found at 15 min. Conclusion: Together these findings suggest that when training and competing to jump quickly and maximally the female athlete should incorporate DS instead of SS as part of their pre-competition warm-up, but conduct performance within 15 min of their warm-up to elicit maximal gains.

Keywords

• Dynamic stretching
• Female athletes
• Rate of force development
• Static stretching
• Time-to-takeoff