Chronobiological Insights in Plyometric Jump Training: Optimizing Sport-Performance Adaptations for Volleyball Players

Abstract

Purpose: The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of morning versus evening plyometric training (PT) on performance adaptations in male volleyball players.

Methods: A total of 30 collegiate national-level young male volleyball players (age = 21.9 [2.1]; height = 186 [4.1]; body mass = 82.4 [4.6]) were randomly divided into 3 groups: morning PT (MPT), evening PT (EPT), and an active control group, each group consisting of 10 subjects. The players engaged in PT sessions twice weekly for a period of 6 weeks. The evaluation of biomotor abilities such as countermovement vertical jump, standing long jump, spike jump, block jump, 10-m sprint, T-test, sit and reach, and Y-balance test took place in the morning and evening before and after the intervention.

Results: Both the MPT and EPT groups indicated significant (P < .05) improvements in all biomotor abilities from pretraining to posttraining during both the morning and evening testing sessions. Furthermore, the MPT group displayed greater adaptive responses in the vertical jump (P = .001), standing long jump (P = .023), and Y-balance test (P ≤ .01) compared to the EPT group. Time-of-day fluctuations were the same between the MPT and EPT groups at the pretest. Conversely, EPT demonstrated significantly more daytime variations than MPT in the jump, sprint, and balance tests at postintervention (P < .05).

Conclusion: Engaging in PT at specific times of the day has a significant impact on biomotor ability adaptations, with a focus on morning being more favorable than the evening for achieving greater gains in jump and balance performance of volleyball players.

Keywords: athletic performance; biomotor abilities; circadian rhythm; power; training timing.