Distinct temporal organizations of the strength- and power-training loads produce similar performance improvements

This study aimed to compare the effects of distinct temporal organizations of strength and power training loads on strength, power, and speed improvements. Sixty soldiers with at least 1 year in the army volunteered for this study. The subjects were divided into 4 groups: control group (CG: n = 15; age: 20.18 ± 0.72 years; height: 1.74 ± 0.06 m; and weight: 66.7 ± 9.8 kg); successive-mesocycle group (SMG: n = 15; age: 20.11 ± 0.7 years; height: 1.72 ± 0.045 m; and weight: 63.1 ± 3.6 kg); successive-week group (SWG: n = 15; age: 20.36 ± 0.64 years; height: 1.71 ± 0.05 m; and weight: 66.1 ± 8.0 kg); and simultaneous daily group (SDG: n = 15; age: 20.27 ± 0.75 years; height: 1.71 ± 0.068 m; and weight: 64.0 ± 8.8 kg). In the SMG, heavy resistance training (HRT), jump squat exercise (JS), and countermovement jumps (CMJ) were performed in successive mesocycles of 3 weeks each. In the SWG, HRT, JS, and CMJ were trained in 1-week blocks into 3 mesocycles of 3 weeks each. In the SDG, HRT, JS, and CMJ were trained daily in all the 3 mesocycles of 3 weeks each. Total volume was equalized between groups. The following dependent variables were analyzed: squat 1RM, CMJ height, 20-m sprint speed, mean power, and mean propulsive power in the squat exercise (60% of the squat 1RM) and in the JS (45% of the squat 1RM). Significant improvements for all the dependent variables were detected from pretraininig to posttraining in all the training groups (p ≤ 0.05), without any between-group differences. Our data suggest that the temporal organization of the training load is not critical for performance improvements in this population.