ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1676079
This article is part of the Research TopicWomen in Sports and Exercise: Public Health and PromotionView all 8 articles
The effect of complex training and ballistic exercise on the time-course adaptations of lower extremity explosive strength in elite female field hockey players
Provisionally accepted
- 1Hebei Sport University, Shijiazhuang, China
- 2Jiangsu Vocational College of Agriculture and Forestry, Jurong, China
- 3Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China
- 4SCapital University of Physical Education And Sports, Beijing, China
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Objective: To compare the short-and long-term effects of complex training (CT) and ballistic exercise (BE) on lower-limb explosive performance in elite female hockey players and to identify temporal adaptation patterns. Methods: Twenty-four athletes were randomized to CT (n=8), BE (n=8), or control (CG, n=8). Interventions lasted 8 weeks (3 sessions/week). Performance outcomes included countermovement jump (CMJ), 30-m sprint, and squat 1RM, assessed at baseline, week 4, and week 8. Results: At week 4, the BE group improved CMJ (P<0.01, d=1.85), sprint (P<0.01, d=0.90), and 1RM (P<0.05, d=0.39), with no further gains by week 8 (P>0.05). The CT group improved sprint (P<0.01, d=0.60) and 1RM (P<0.01, d=0.92) at week 4, while CMJ remained unchanged. By week 8, CT demonstrated significant improvements in CMJ (P<0.05, d=1.24), additional sprint gains (P<0.01, d=0.51), and continued 1RM increases (P<0.01, d=1.72). The CG declined in CMJ (P<0.05, d=0.44) and 1RM (P<0.01, d=1.03), with no sprint changes. Between groups, BE outperformed CG in CMJ at week 4 (P<0.05). At week 8, both CT (P<0.01) and BE (P<0.05) exceeded CG in CMJ; sprint favored CT and BE over CG (P<0.05); and 1RM favored CT over BE (P<0.05) and CG (P<0.01). Conclusion: BE induces rapid short-term improvements in jumping and sprinting but plateaus after 4 weeks. CT produces slower yet sustained gains across all indicators by 8 weeks, with superior strength development. BE is suited for pre-competition phases, whereas CT is preferable during preparatory periods for integrated strength–power adaptation.
Keywords: Complex training, ballistic exercise, lower limb explosive power, Time-efficiency, FemaleHockey Athletes
Received: 30 Jul 2025; Accepted: 24 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Chen, Zhang, Zhang, Xing and Shi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yan Shi, 2019002@hepec.edu.cn
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