Effects of Lower Limb Concentric versus Eccentric Dynamic Resistance Training on Agility and Speed in Badminton Players

Background: The performance of footwork is analyzed by the ability of an athlete to move forward and backward on the court. Plyometric training is the simplest and most effective method for increasing agility. Objective: To determine the effects of lower limb concentric training versus eccentric dynamic resistance training on speed and agility in badminton players. Methodology: A clinical trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT06509607) was conducted for 10 months using purposive sampling to recruit participants from badminton clubs and sports centres in Faisalabad. About 64 participants were recruited and randomly allocated into two groups of 34 each using the lottery method. It included male and female badminton players aged 18 to 35 years, having one year of experience in badminton. All participants who were pregnant or had musculoskeletal disorders were excluded from the study. All participants were provided written informed consent in both English and Urdu. Group A had a structured concentric resistance training program. Group B was administered an eccentric training program of identical time and frequency. The eccentric protocol was of wall sits, straddle sitting single-leg holds, and full squats. Agility was measured through the lateral change of direction change of direction test. A stopwatch or an automatic timing gate was used to measure time. Due to non-parametric data, comparisons of pre- to post-intervention scores within groups were carried out using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, while comparisons of groups were conducted using the Mann-Whitney U test. Results: The training group has an average age of 26.09±3.76. Within-group analysis has shown a significant improvement in agility for the concentric group (p=0.000); however, eccentric exercises have shown a similar significant trend in pre- and post-values. There is no significant difference in the performance of the concentric and eccentric training groups on both outcome measures (p=0.780). Conclusion: Both training groups showed statistically significant change in pre- and post-values for agility and speed. But when it came to agility, concentric training performed marginally better than eccentric training. However, speed performance was improved in both groups with no significant differences between them..