Plyometric training refers to those activities that enable a muscle to reach maximal force in the shortest possible time. Practically defined, plyometric training is a quick, powerful movement using a prestretch, or countermovement, that involves the stretch-shortening cycle. The study included 12 male male examinees, 11 of them studying at the Faculty of Sport in Ljubljana. We carried out two separate test days with three days rest in between. At the first measurement, 6 randomly selected athletes performed an active rest in the form of balance and joint stability exercises on a balance board, while the other 6 had a passive rest. On the second measurement, athletes changed the type of rest. Plyometric training consisted of 5 series of 9 repetitive vertical jumps. We used a 5 minute cycle which included rest that was a little shorter than five minutes. Proprioception or balance and joint stability exercise consisted of 3 series of 30 second standing on a balance board with 30 second rest in between. We statistically analyzed the middle three, the last three and all the jumps in the series and compared them to each other. The results showed that there were no statistically significant differences between the heights of the middle three jumps and all jumps (p = 0.675; p = 0.273), but showed statistically significant differences in the last three jumps (p = 0.045). We concluded that, in general, implementation of balance and joint stability exercises during rest does not affect plyometric training. However, statistically significant differences showed possible potentiation effect on vertical jumps when performing an active rest, when we studied the last three jumps in series.
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