Evaluating the Effect of Six Weeks Strength Training on the Speed of Sprinters Among Debre Markos University Male Sport Science Students, Ethiopia

This study attempted to explore the effect of strength training on the speed of sprinters among Debre Markos University sport science students. Purposive sampling technique was used to select six male student athletes from the total population of 32 male their year sport science department students. The subjects under this study took part in training programs performed in strength and speed training for consecutive six weeks. The variables selected for this study were measurement of calf, thigh, chest, biceps and triceps circumference and speed of 100m and 200m pre and post six weeks training. The data were analyzed by using SPSS soft wear and paired t-test with comparison of means at 95% confidence interval by using pre and posttest. The results indicated there wear significant improvement on selected variables weight, biceps and triceps muscle circumference and speed of 100m and 200m (p< 0.05). In other variables like calf, thigh, chest had a change but not much significance like above variables. The mean differences (MD) between pre and post tests for weight wear 1.4, biceps triceps 2.5, chest 0.5 thigh 0.833, calf 0.5 and speed of 100m 0.143, 200m 0.6. This study confirmed that conditioning exercise training with active rest was significant to improve the speed, coordination, agility, balance, power and reaction time variables. The study showed that student athletes who were exposed to strength exercise retraining have revealed positive outcomes on speed. Keywords: - agility, athlete, balance, coordination, reaction time, speed, strength, training DOI: 10.7176/JTHS/48-01 Publication date:March 31st 2020