Acute Effects of Different Dynamic Stretching on Power and Agility in Soccer Players

Acute preparation for agility and power should contain an optimal warm-up which includes stretching movements. Researchers reported that static stretching (SS) deteriorates performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine and compare the effects of applying static and dynamic stretching in a pre-exercise warm-up on the power and agility of the university soccer players. Nineteen university soccer players (height: 173.37 ± 7.64 m; mass: 68.12 ± 8.69 kg; age: 25.00 ± 4.56 years) were tested for agility and power using the Illinois agility test and vertical jump test respectively after different warm-up protocols: Static stretching (SS), dynamic stretching on standing position (DS), dynamic exercise combined with galloping motions (DE), and no stretching (NS). There were significant increases in vertical jump records after DS (50.37 ± 5.23 cm) compared to SS (47.31 ± 5.36 cm) and NS (48.02 ± 3.62 cm) (p < 0.002 and p < 0.01, respectively). In addition, there were significant decreases in agility time after DS (16.65 ± 0.54 s) as compared to SS (17.21 ± 0.64 s) and NS (16.97 ± 0.85 s) (p < 0.019 and p < 0.031, respectively). Discussion and It seems that DS improves fitness performance due to it higher post activation potentiation while SS impairs performance because of reducing muscle stiffness. Therefore, we concluded that university soccer players would probably enjoy better agility and power performances after DS. It is also possible that with more DE training they could adapt their bodies to this type of stretching and make use of its advantages.