Research Impact: The drop jump (DJ) is a fast stretch-shortening cycle (SSC) exercise and is commonly used by strength and conditioning (S&C) coaches as a plyometric training modality and as a tool to assess an athlete’s SSC capabilities. This study examined the effect of internal (focus on body parts), external (focus on environment) and neutral attentional focus strategies on DJ performance. The results indicated that external instructions (such as ‘Imagine the ground is a hot surface when jumping’) result in the DJ being performed with greater reactive strength index, leg spring stiffness and ground reaction force in comparison to the neutral instructions.
Comyns, T.M., Brady, C.J. and Molloy, J., 2019. Effect of Attentional Focus Strategies on the Biomechanical Performance of the Drop Jump. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000003009
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