Difference in the explosive strength of upper extremities between athletes in relation to their sport activity, type of engagement in sport and gender

Abstract

The ability to perform an explosive movement is of a great interest for athlete's performance and success in sport. Developing qualities such as strength, power and rate of force development appear to be of greater importance than training at the actual movement velocity of a task. Aim: The aim of actual research was to determine difference in the explosive strength of upper extremities between athletes in relation to their sport activity, type of engagement in sport (recreational and professional) and gender. Methods: The sample of subjects consisted of 94 athletes (74 male and 20 female), recreationally and professionally engaged in different sport activities. Measurement of explosive strength of upper extremities comprehended one set of five bench press repetitions with a load of 20 kg. Variables of explosive strength, i.e., Power (expressed in W/kg), Force (expressed in N/kg), Velocity (expressed in cm/s) were measured by a wireless accelerometer "Myotest" (Sion, Switzerland). The hypotheses were that significant differences in measures of explosive strength will occur between athletes engaged in handball, volleyball, basketball and combat sports vs. athletes engaged in soccer, swimming, athletics, other sports and recreative athletes in favor of first mentioned group, between professional vs. recreative athletes in favor of professional athletes and between genders in favor of male sex. Results: The main finding of this research is that first and the second hypotheses weren't confirmed. Results of Mann Whitney U Test confirmed the third hypothesis, i.e., showed that there are statistically significant difference in explosive strength of upper extremities in all analyzed variables in relation to the gender. Conclusion: The data neither indicate that explosive strength characteristics are specific to each group of athletes, nor to the type of engagement in sport (recreational and professional). However, current data provide a quantified look at differences between certain athletes (engaged in athletics, soccer and combat sports) which are most likely influenced by the various training protocols utilized and sexual dimorphism.