EFFECT OF PLYOMETRIC-WEIGHT TRAINING AND SPECIFIC SKILL TRAINING ON SELECTED PHYSICAL FITNESS COMPONENTS, PHYSIOLOGICAL VARIABLES, AND PERFORMANCE OF FENCERS: A MINI REVIEW

Abstract

Fencing is a very specific Olympic combat sport that involves a combination of physical fitness, physiological efficiency, technical proficiency, tactical intelligence, and psychological readiness. An athlete’s fencing success is determined by his or her ability to make explosive movements, to change direction quickly, and to attack and defend precisely, all in fractions of a second. Thus, contemporary fencing training programs focus on the use of scientifically planned conditioning methods such as plyometric training, resistance (weight) training and sport specific skill training to maximize performance. The goal of this brief review is to investigate the impact of plyometric-weight training and particular skill training on chosen physical fitness components, physiological variables and fencing performance. The literature study available shows the increasing trend of sports science research towards the effectiveness of combination training programs. Research over the past 20 years has repeatedly shown that plyometric and resistance training programs significantly improve speed, agility, explosive power, muscular strength, response time, cardiovascular efficiency, and sport-specific performance. Furthermore fencing-specific skill training has been demonstrated to improve technical execution, movement economy, tactical decision making and competitive effectiveness. While an increasing number of research have investigated these training approaches separately, few studies have investigated their combined impact on novice and teenage fencers. Thus, the present study aims to illuminate current trends in research, to synthesize main findings of earlier investigations, and to identify relevant gaps justifying further research on integrated training techniques in fencing.