Resistance, Plyometrics and Combined Training in Children and Adolescents’ Volleyball Players: A Review Study

The health enhancing properties of physical activity are evidence-based and widely accepted for children and adolescents. Today many children and adolescents are engaged in specific sports and that causes great attention of coaches to use safe and appropriate methods. Volleyball is of the most popular sports among this group. Because of powerful and explosive movements as well as high-repeated jumps and landings suitable training program should be considered to improve performance and prevent injuries in children and adolescents. The aim of this study is to review studies about resistance training, plyometric training and combined training and effects of these training methods on physical fitness in children and adolescents. Our investigation begun with search engine and scientific databases with keywords in three section; title and abstracts, articles and finally references. Primary research articles were selected if they (a) included outcomes of a resistance, plyometric and combined training intervention, (b) included volleyball training protocols, (c) included children and adolescents 8–18 years of age. Review show that resistance training would enhance physical performance as well as plyometrics training. Improvements in motor performance skills, such as jumping, are widely stated as indicators of improvements in sporting performance. Although combination of resistance and plyometrics is a useful methods for jumping improvement little is available about the effects on children and adolescents.