Reactive Countermovement Jump Mechanics Across Basketball Experience Levels

Countermovement jumps are usually tested as self-initiated maximal efforts, although many sport actions require athletes to react to an external event and still jump as high as possible. Background and Objectives: We examined how this rapid-initiation requirement was associated with CMJ mechanics, whether the pattern was similar across levels of basketball-specific experience, and whether arm swing altered the response.

Methods

Forty-four men (15 physically active non-basketball controls, 15 mid-level basketball players, and 14 high-level basketball players) performed countermovement jumps with and without arm swing in four fixed-order blocks. Trial-level linear mixed-effects models included 564 valid attempts.

Results