Efectos del entrenamiento pliométrico sobre la resistencia cardiorrespiratoria de niños y adolescentes con síndrome de Down

Aim

To ascertain the effects of 21 weeks of circuit training, including plyometric jumps, on cardiorespiratory fitness of youths with Down syndrome (DS).

Methods

Twenty-seven children and adolescents aged 10 to 19 years with DS participated in this study and were divided in two groups: exercise (EXE, n = 14) and control (CON, n = 13). Work time, peak values of oxygen consumption, respiratory exchange ratio, heart rate and minute ventilation of the participants were measured in pre- and post-training moments with a graded exercise treadmill test.

Results

EXE group increased all their cardiorespiratory parameters compared to baseline after 21 weeks of training (all p<.05). Additionally, and despite having similar pre-training values, EXE group showed higher values than CON group in all cardiorespiratory parameters after training (all p<.05).

Conclusion

It may be concluded that youths with DS can achieve improvements in several cardiorespiratory parameters when performing 21 weeks of training including plyometric exercises.