Acute effects of combined cycling and plyometrics on vertical jump performance in active males

The aim of this study was to analyze the acute effects of high vs low-intensity cycling efforts, combined with plyometrics, on vertical jump performance. Twenty-four physically active men (mean ± SD: 23 ± 2 years, 72.1 ± 10.1 kg, 1.73 ± 0.07 m) were randomly divided into two groups: experimental group (EXP, n=16) and control group (CON, n=8). EXP competed 2 experimental trials in a random order: (a) short high-intensity interval exercise (HI+Plyo) [5x10s of cycling (“all-out”)/50s active rest] or (b) low-intensity continuous exercise (LO+Plyo) [5min of cycling at 75% of the HRmax)], along with 3x10 plyometric bounds (drop jumps)/1min rest between sets. CON used a preconditioning activity of 13min of low intensity cycling at ~60% of HRmax. Both EXP interventions significantly increased (p ≤ 0.05) the countermovement jump (CMJ) height at 1min, 3min, 6min and 9min compared to baseline, while the CON remained unchanged. There were no significant differences in CMJ performance enhancement between HI+Plyo (largest 11.2% at 9min) and LO+Plyo (largest 15.0% at 3min) at any time-point, suggesting that the plyometric component may be most important, with HR recovery taking slightly longer following HI+Plyo. The findings suggest that CMJ performance can be enhanced following high or low-intensity cycling combined with plyometric preconditioning activities in active males, the optimum recovery period likely to be individual-specific.