Variations of explosive strength for the students of the faculty of physical education and sports depending on the type of sports activities

Abstract

Explosive strength has a decisive role in the rapid execution of movements and in achieving sports performance. The purpose of the study is to identify the differences in the level of explosive force for the upper and lower body, depending on the involvement in curricular physical activities, leisure physical activities or physical efforts in various sports disciplines. The participants are students of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport/bachelor’s degree: 147 men (age = 20.82 years old). The study was based on a transversal research, with the division of students into 3 distinct investigation groups (as an independent variable), according to sports majors: IS (individual sports), TSG (team sports games) and NA (non-athletes). 7 lower body explosive force evaluation tests and 6 upper body explosive force evaluation tests were applied. The use of ANOVA/Analysis of variance and the comparison on pairs of sports specializations indicate statistically significant differences for most of the tests, between the TSG and NA, respectively IS and NA groups, with the superiority of the athletes. No significant differences are reported between the TSG and IS groups, with 2 exceptions: in the 30s-Plyometric Push-Ups the IS group has significantly better values, respectively in the 30s-lateral hop for the TSG group (p ≤ 0.05). The results of our study are in line with the average performance values provided by other research in the field (although they are weaker than those of elite athletes). The superiority of the individual values of volleyball players and sprinters/Track and field for the power of the lower body, respectively of combat sports practitioners and practitioners of sports games—which use the muscle groups of the trunk and arms in training—for the power of the upper body is confirmed, so the specificity of the effort also influences the explosive force values.