THE FIVE-JUMP TEST FOR DISTANCE AS A FIELD TEST TO ASSESS LOWER LIMB EXPLOSIVE POWER IN SOCCER PLAYERS KARIM CHAMARI, 1 ANIS CHAOUACHI, 1 MOURAD HAMBLI, 1 FETHI KAOUECH, 1 ULRIK WISLØFF, 2 AND CARLO CASTAGNA 3,4 1 Research Unit on Evaluation, Sport, Health, National Centre of Medicine and Science in Sport, Tunis, Tunisia; 2 Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; 3 School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Tor Vergata University, Rome, Italy; 4 Scuola Regionale dello Sport delle Marche, Italian Olympic Committee, Ancona, Italy ABSTRACT The 5-jump test (5JT) was proposed to evaluate lower limb explosive power of athletes competing in various disciplines. Although 5JT performance is usually expressed in absolute terms as the overall distance covered (i.e., in meters), subject size can play a significant role in the performance. The aims of the present study were to test the relationship of 5JT absolute performance with laboratory tests for explosive power and to develop performance notations useful to improve the diagnostic value of 5JT. Fifteen elite soccer players, members of the Under-23 Tunisian national team, were tested for 5JT, force platform vertical jumping (squat jump [SJ] and arm-aided countermovement jump [Arm-CMJ]), and concentric isokinetic leg extension/flexion (90°Ás 21 and 240°Ás 21 ). 5JT performance was expressed in absolute terms (meters), relative to leg length (5JT-relative) and with body mass–dependent notations (Body mass 3 5JT, 5JT–body mass). 5JT performance was significantly correlated with SJ height and scaled (WÁkg 20.67 ) peak power (0.72 and 0.77, respectively, p , 0.01). 5JT-relative values were significantly related to SJ and Arm-CMJ height (0.61 and 0.71, respectively, p , 0.05) and scaled peak power (0.57 and 0.59, respectively, p , 0.05). 5JT–body mass revealed significantly related of SJ (0.82, p , 0.0001) and Arm-CMJ peak power (0.54, p , 0.05) and to SJ and Arm-CMJ peak force (0.67 and 0.65, respectively p , 0.05). 5JT-relative and 5JT–body mass correlated significantly with knee extensors 240°Ás 21 (0.60, p , 0.05) and knee flexors 90°Ás 21 (0.67, p , 0.01) isokinetic acceleration time, respectively. The results of this study suggest that the 5JT may be regarded as an explosive strength diagnostic tool under field conditions in elite soccer players. The use of performance notation accounting for body size differences may improve the diagnostic ability of 5JT. KEY WORDS soccer, vertical jump, isokinetic, allometric scaling, explosive strength, football INTRODUCTION S occer is a multifaceted team sport that requires well-developed speed and power to be played at an elite level (12,39), given that a number of laboratory and field tests have been proposed to assess explosive power of selected population of soccer players (38). Recently, vertical jump height was shown to be significantly related to short sprint performance (10–30 meters) in well-trained elite soccer players (39). Furthermore, Arnason et al. (1) showed that vertical jump performance was related to team success in semiprofessional soccer players. Despite its wide use in soccer (38), vertical jump (height jumped) testing requires specific testing setup and devices (i.e., force platform and switch mats) that may limit its use in field conditions. Additionally, Rampinini et al. (29) showed that vertical jump performance was not related to actual match activities in elite-level professional soccer players. Recent studies have proposed the 5-jump test (5JT) for distance as a practical alternative to estimate lower limb explosive power of selected population of athletes (5,9,28, 34,35,37) including soccer players (31,36). The 5JT consists of 5 consecutive strides with joined feet position at the start and end of the jumps. With respect to other tests, the 5JT is very easy to perform and does not require any sophisticated equipment. 5JT performance is usually expressed in absolute terms as the overall distance covered (i.e., in meters) and is then very easy to perform. Nevertheless, the height of the subject can play a significant role in the performance since, with equivalent slit, the strides are proportional to the length of the lower limbs, favoring tall athletes. Furthermore, because 5JT involves a body mass Address correspondence to Carlo Castagna, castagnac@libero.it. 22(3)/944–950 Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research Ó 2008 National Strength and Conditioning Association 944 Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research the TM