title: Peak vertical jump power estimations in youths and young adults.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a regression equation to estimate peak power (PP) using a large sample of athletic youths and young adults. Anthropometric and vertical jump ground reaction forces were collected from 460 male volunteers (age: 12-24 years). Of these 460 volunteers, a stratified random sample of 45 subjects representing 3 different age groups (12-15 years [n = 15], 16-18 years [n = 15], and 19-24 years [n = 15]) was selected as a validation sample. Data from the remaining 415 subjects were used to develop a new equation ("Novel") to estimate PP using age, body mass (BM), and vertical jump height (VJH) via backward stepwise regression. Independently, age (r = 0.57), BM (r = 0.83), and VJ (r = 0.65) were significantly (p < 0.05) correlated with PP. However, age did not significantly (p = 0.53) contribute to the final prediction equation (Novel): PP (watts) = 63.6 × VJH (centimeters) + 42.7 × BM (kilograms) - 1,846.5 (r = 0.96; standard error of the estimate = 250.7 W). For each age group, there were no differences between actual PP (overall group mean ± SD: 3,244 ± 991 W) and PP estimated using Novel (3,253 ± 1,037 W). Conversely, other previously published equations produced PP estimates that were significantly different than actual PP. The large sample size used in this study (n = 415) likely explains the greater accuracy of the reported Novel equation compared with previously developed equations (n = 17-161). Although this Novel equation can accurately estimate PP values for a group of subjects, between-subject comparisons estimating PP using Novel or any other previously published equations should be interpreted with caution because of large intersubject error (± >600 W) associated with predictions.
authors.affiliation: Human Performance Laboratory, Fitness and Human Performance Program, University of Houston-Clear Lake, Houston, Texas, USA. amonette@uhcl.edu
authors.forename: William E
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Amonette
authors.forename: Lee E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: John K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: De Witt
authors.forename: Terry L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Dupler
authors.forename: Tai T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Tran
authors.forename: James J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Tufano
authors.forename: Barry A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Spiering
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055641:Mathematical Concepts; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D053580:Muscle Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D055815:Young Adult