Within-subject consistency of unimodal and bimodal force application during the countermovement jump

Lake, JP; McMahon, JJ

Abstract

Countermovement jump (CMJ) force data are often time-normalized so researchers and practitioners can study the effect that sex, training status, and training intervention have on CMJ strategy: the so-called force⁻time curve shape. Data are often collected on an individual basis and then averaged across interest-groups. However, little is known about the agreement of the CMJ force⁻time curve shape within-subject, and this formed the aim of this study. Fifteen men performed 10 CMJs on in-ground force plates. The resulting force⁻time curves were plotted, with their shape categorized as exhibiting either a single peak (unimodal) or a double peak (bimodal). Percentage-agreement and the kappa-coefficient were used to assess within-subject agreement. Over two and three trials, 13% demonstrated a unimodal shape, 67% exhibited a bimodal shape, and 20% were inconsistent. When five trials were considered, the unimodal shape was not demonstrated consistently; 67% demonstrated a bimodal shape, and 33% were inconsistent. Over 10 trials, none demonstrated a unimodal shape, 60% demonstrated a bimodal shape, and 40% were inconsistent. The results of this study suggest that researchers and practitioners should ensure within-subject consistency before group averaging CMJ force⁻time data, to avoid errors.

Citation

Lake, J., & McMahon, J. (2018). Within-subject consistency of unimodal and bimodal force application during the countermovement jump. Sports, 6(4), 143. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports6040143

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 5, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Nov 8, 2018
• Publication Date: Nov 8, 2018
• Deposit Date: Nov 26, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 26, 2018
• Journal: Sports
• Publisher: MDPI
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 143
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/sports6040143
• Keywords: force platform, jump monitoring, jump strategy, temporal phase analysis
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/sports6040143