Effects of CrossFit training on physical adaptations, strength, and skill development in basketball players

Abstract

Introduction: Basketball is a sport that requires the female players to have certain physical qualities and physiological skills and technical expertise that will help them to carry out their responsibilities even when they are engaged in strenuous activities. Purpose: The research evaluated the effect of an 8 weeks high-intensity functional training (HIFT) program that was based on CrossFit on female basketball players aged 17-20. Procedure: The study participants were distributed randomly into two groups: experimental (EG; n = 15) and control groups (CG; n = 15). The experimental (EG) and control (CG) groups underwent supervised CrossFit and traditional basketball conditioning programmes respectively and adapted four times a week respectively; these matched the frequency and time duration respective to the training. Results: The experimental group (EG) obtained a higher score than the control group (CG) using all assessment measures that had included reduced BMI of -5.78% and reduced FM of -11.96% and increased FFM of +4.26% and improved vertical jump of +15.04% and medicine ball throw distance of +17.01% and VO 2max of +11.98% and faster footwork of - 12.68% and shooting accuracy of +21.88%. In this study, the intervention proved to be effective based on the large effect sizes that ranged between ES = 0.76 and ES = 0.93 and based on the Group x Time interactions which were statistically significant. Conclusions: The research proves that the basketball-based CrossFit program can help female athletes to improve body composition and physical performance and sport-specific skills. The application of functional movements along with contextualized skill training achieve efficient entry points through which the athletes can project their training to real games.