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Speed/Power Development

(38) NORMATIVE FORCE PRODUCTION VALUES FOR MEN’S AND WOMEN’S POWER FIVE DIVISION I SPORTS

Thursday, July 11, 2024
2:00 PM – 3:30 PM East Coast USA Time
Location: Exhibit Hall

    Poster Presenter(s)

  • Hannah B. Swirple, BS (she/her/hers)

    Head Strength Coach
    Morgantown High School
    Morgantown, West Virginia, United States

    • Author(s)

  • LW

    Lauren E. White

    Head Strength Coach
    Clay-Battelle High School
    Morgantown, West Virginia, United States

  • Joshua H. Gibson, MSc, USAW-L2 (he/him/his)

    PhD Student
    West Virginia University
    Morgantown, West Virginia, United States

  • KR

    Kyle Rochau

    PhD Student, Graduate Teaching Assistant
    West Virginia University
    Morgantown, West Virginia, United States

  • JB

    Jarrod D. Burton

    Strength Coach
    Tazewell High School
    Tazewell, Virginia, United States

  • AL

    Andrew S. Layne

    Assistant Professor
    Department of Human Performance - Exercise Physiology, West Virginia University
    Morgantown, West Virginia, United States

  • WH

    William Guyton Hornsby

    Assistant Professor
    College of Applied Human Sciences, West Virginia University
    Morgantown, West Virginia, United States

Abstract Details:

Background: The isometric mid-thigh pull (IMTP) is commonly used to assess an athlete's maximal and explosive strength and has steadily increased in popularity (Stone et al., 2019). However, normative values have not yet been established for male and female strength-power athletes.

Purpose: To bring forth normative data to create force production standards across collegiate male and female student-athletes at the Power Five Division I level.

Methods: Subjects: Eighty-two female (67.6 ± 9.3 kg) and ninety-two male (84.6 ± 13.3 kg) collegiate athletes participated in this study. Athletes came from seven different NCAA Power 5 Division I sports: Women’s Swim, Women’s Gymnastics, Women’s Rowing, Women’s Track & Field, Men’s Baseball, Men’s Wrestling, and Men’s Swim & Dive. This study was conducted to aid in ongoing athlete monitoring and for observational research purposes. The study was given approval by West Virginia University's Institutional Review Board (#2111463309). Methodology: A three-part force plate testing battery, consisting of the squat jump (SJ), countermovement jump (CMJ), and IMTP, was performed in this study. Each athlete completed a standard warm up. After SJ and CMJ testing, athletes performed an IMTP to measure force-time characteristics. Statistical Analysis: Peak force (PF) and rate of force development (RFD 0-250 N/ms) averages were calculated from each athlete's top two absolute PF IMTP attempts and then allometrically scaled (PFa). Male and female PF, PFa, RFD 0-250 ms, and body mass averages were calculated. Skewness was assessed via the skewness coefficient. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 29.0.0.0).

Results: Average PFa is 220.0 ± 32.2 N/(kg^(⅔)) for male athletes and 158.8 ± 26.8 N/(kg^(⅔)) for female athletes. Average RFD is 6980.1± 1953.6 N/s for male athletes and 4380.8 ± 1327.7 N/s for female athletes. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this dataset is one of the largest to provide stable means and standard deviations of force production characteristics in NCAA Power 5 Division I student-athletes. The data can be used as normative force production characteristic values and in creating national force production standards for student-athletes at the Division I level. The sample sizes of male and female athletes in this study are large enough to have stable means and standard deviations for each group based on the skewness of the data per the sample size equation from Piovesana and Senior (2018). PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: The force production characteristics from IMTP testing are used to establish descriptive and normative performance values among strength-power Division 1 athletes that have otherwise not been available. Normative values can help sport coaches and strength and conditioning professionals assess strength levels and prescribe appropriate training for strength and power development.


Acknowledgements: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this abstract and declare no conflict of interest. The authors would like to thank all student-athletes for their effort and participation in testing.