As intimated in a previous post change of direction (COD) ability is fundamental to success in many sports. Rydsa et al. (2020) stated that top class football players perform ~600, 0 to 90o turns in a match. That’s a lot! The ability to decelerate, turn, and reaccelerate would seem very important in soccer at least.

In a previous post the effect of vest loading was talked as a means of multiplanar movement overload. Rydsa et al. (https://lnkd.in/g5ekYha) compared the effects of thigh vs shank loading (1-5% BM – body mass), and concluded that lower limb wearable resistance loading had an acute effect on COD performance in male football players. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that distal placement (shank vs thigh) with similar BM load had a larger effect on COD performance, most likely due to the greater rotational inertia.

The take home, use shank loading during training to overload COD performance i.e. specific strength training/overload for multiplanar movement. Unload for competition and theoretically bet