Effect of Plyometric Training on University Student Latin Dancers' Lower Limbs Explosive Strength and Skill Performance

The purpose of this study is to find out if plyometric training has an effect on lower limb explosive strength and skill performance in Latin dancers.

The aim is to answer the following questions:

1. Does augmented style training increase dancers' lower limb explosive strength.
2. Whether plyometric training promotes specialized dance skills.
3. The relationship between lower limb explosive strength and specialized dance skills.

The researchers set up an experimental group and a control group, the experimental group uses plyometric training and the control group performs traditional training, and finally, between-group and within-group comparisons are made.

Participants will:

Train for 90 minutes three times a week for eight weeks. Participants' lower limb explosive strength and skills will be measured before the start of the experiment and at the end of the experiment.

1. Detailed Description The Intervention Protocol of this research used part of the research protocol of Chinese scholar Du Min (Du, 2020). This research utilized augmentative training as an intervention, with the dependent variables being the subject's lower limb explosive power and Latin dance skill performance. Through extensive literature review, countermovement jumps, standing long jump, and 20m-sprint were identified as measures of lower limb explosive power(Chen et al., 2023). The experimental and control groups will be tested on the same Cha Cha Dance Gold Medal solo routine and recorded with a video camera. Score athletic performance according to 'the Latin Dance Technical Quality Elements of the World DanceSport Federation（WDSF） 2.1 Evaluation System'. Lower limb explosive power is closely related to the skill performance of cha-cha dance, and the review of the relevant literature was determined to be posture, balance, footwork, preparation-movement-reduction, spinning and rotation, dynamic performance, and line extension as the test indicators of elementary skill (pei, 2023). In order to make the experiment more rigorous and scientific , to reduce the interference of uncontrollable factors , this research is Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial (CRCT) design , the students come from different areas . This experiment lasted for 8 weeks, 1.5 hours each time (Du, 2020), including one hour of physical fitness training and half an hour of specialized technical training. The sample was a population of university students who had been studying Latin dance for one year as well as more than one year, from Guangxi Normal University (Guilin) and Guilin University of Electronic Technology (Beihai), a total of 48 people. Dancers were randomly assigned to two different training locations and divided into experimental and control groups. Both groups will be trained in the Cha Cha Dance Single Gold Medal Moves. The experimental group will undergo plyometric training and the control group will undergo general training. This study measured the dependent variable three times throughout the intervention: baseline before the experimental intervention, post-test 1 after 4 weeks, and post-test 2 after 8 weeks. Finally, statistical analysis was conducted on the three test results.
2. Protocol Design The experiment will last a total of 8 weeks in order to familiarize the experimenter with the plyometric training protocol and to make the whole process more fluid. It is necessary to ensure correct technique during the jumping exercises to minimize the occurrence of injuries. This research will monitor heart rate to ensure that the training load is the same for the experimental group (plyometric training) and the control group (general training). Both groups will have the same heart rate for each session of training load from the preparation phase - training phase - stretching and relaxation phase during the intervention. The experimental and control groups will undergo 3 interventions a week, with one session lasting 90 minutes. The experimental group will perform 15 minutes of dynamic stretching, 30 minutes of Latin dance-specific technique training, 30 minutes of plyometric training, and 15 minutes of relaxation stretching. The control group will perform 15 minutes of dynamic stretching, 30 minutes of Latin dance-specific technique training, 30 minutes of general training, and 15 minutes of relaxation stretching.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

1. Have at least one year and more hours of Latin dance study.
2. Must be a current university student.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Athletes who were systematically training their explosive strength.
2. Athletes with sports injuries such as ankle or waist injuries who could not follow the entire training schedule for two months.