Strength profile in young male and female trail runners

Abstract

Strength plays a very important role in the development of athletes and their evolution. With regard to mountain running, different studies have proved the existence of correlations between the strength of certain lower body segments and a better running performance on different slopes or a reduction in energy expenditure. However, there are hardly any studies that analyse the strength profile in young runners. Besides, in the case of trail running, there is no literature in this regard. The aim of this work is to analyse the strength profile of young trail runners, look for possible connections between the results and establish the characteristics and differences in both genders. Data related to jumps (SJ, CMJ, DJ from 40 cmand 15-second multijump) and 1RM in half squat were taken from a total of 18 technified athletes (13 men, 5 women) between 15 and 23 years old. The data showed mean values of 30.1 cm, 26.7 cm, 26.0 cm and 20.0 cm height in CMJ, SJ, DJ and multijump for men, while for women, the values were 24.1 cm, 21.7 cm, 20.3 cm and 18.6 cm respectively. Regarding the calculation of MRI, men moved a total of 110.9 ± 24.1 kg and women 55.8 ± 5.3 kg. In general, were found quite a lot of variation within subjects in terms of explosive strength results. The results generally show mean values below other sports modalities, which may be due to a lack of experience in this type of work. The results of the jump test and 1RM show different significant correlations for the total sample. However, this varies when segmenting the sample by gender, where only the CMJ and 1RM/weight variables significantly correlate in the case of men, although strong and very strong connctions are found between those obtained in various tests.