A Comparison of the Kinetic and Kinematic Characteristics of Plyometric Drop-Jump and Pendulum Exercises

The aim of this study was to compare the kinetic and kinematic characteristics of plyometric drop-jump and pendulum exercises. Exercises were filmed (100 Hz) from the sagittal view and manually digitized; the data were smoothed and differentiated using cross-validated quintic splines. Ground reaction force data were sampled using a Kistler force platform sampling at 500 Hz. Differences between movement amplitudes and coordination strategies were assessed using t tests and conjugate cross-correlations. Pendulum exercises involved a greater range of motion at the ankle and knee but less motion at the hip joint than drop-jumps. Although different in absolute terms, the exercises used a similar coordination strategy. Drop-jumps resulted in greater peak vertical ground reaction forces than the pendulum exercises although the latter involved a greater net impulse. The similarity between the movement patterns for the two modes of exercise led to the conclusion that pendulum exercises offer a training stimulus similar to that of drop-jumps.