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The comparison of the unilateral and bilateral resistance training in young handball players

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Abstract

Purpose

Performing resistance exercises unilaterally, athletes must activate stabilizing muscles to maintain balance position, and for the same relative load, compressive forces on the spine are reduced providing more safety. Our aim was to compare the effects of resistance training when bilateral and unilateral exercises were used.

Methods

Twenty-six young handball players first participated in a 6-week control phase consisting of handball training only, and were later divided into a unilateral and a bilateral group in the experimental phase. Before and after the control and experimental phases, tests of horizontal and vertical jumping, lateral running with change of direction, standing and jump shots with the dominant and nondominant arms were performed.

Results

Simultaneous performance of handball and resistance training resulted in greater progress in power and agility compared to handball training alone. The average progress of the unilateral group was greater on all measured variables. However, the differences reached statistical significance only in triple jump and throwing with the non-dominant arm (p < 0.05).

Conclusion

Young handball players achieved similar or greater power and agility with unilateral resistance exercises than with bilateral resistance exercises. Considering the benefits unilateral resistance exercises bring, this type of training is highly recommended.

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Funding

No financial or material support of any kind was received for the work described in this article. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Sport, Gortanova 22, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Primož Pori, David Martinc, Marko Šibila & Igor Štirn

Authors
  1. Primož Pori
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  2. David Martinc
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  3. Marko Šibila
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  4. Igor Štirn
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Igor Štirn.

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Conflict of interest

The authors certify that there is no conflict of interest with any financial organization regarding the material discussed in the manuscript.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in the study involving young athletes were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional (University of Ljubljana) research commite and with the 164 Helsinki declarations and its later amendments or comparable standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from the participants and their legal guardians.

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Pori, P., Martinc, D., Šibila, M. et al. The comparison of the unilateral and bilateral resistance training in young handball players. Sport Sci Health 19, 691–700 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-022-00950-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-022-00950-z

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