Researchers from Jishou University (China), University of Freiburg (Germany), and an international team of collaborators have identified the most effective resisted movement training modalities for improving change-of-direction (COD) speed—a critical determinant of athletic performance in multidirectional sports such as soccer, basketball, tennis, and rugby. Their findings, which were made available online in the Journal of Sport and Health Science on April 13, 2026 provide the first network meta-analytic evidence comparing 10 different training approaches across 24 randomized controlled trials.
“Change-of-direction speed is what separates good athletes from great ones in most field and court sports,” says Mingyang Zhang (also called Charming Young), doctoral candidate at Jishou University and lead author of the study. “But until now, coaches and conditioning specialists have had to rely on trial and error when choosing between weighted vests, sleds, elastic bands, or combined approaches. Our analysis provides a clear evidence-based hierarchy.”
Using Bayesian network meta-analysis—a statistical approach that allows simultaneous comparison of multiple interventions within a single model—the research team ranked 10 training modalities based on their effectiveness for improving COD speed. Vertically resisted plyometric training, which involves explosive jumping movements performed while wearing a weighted vest, achieved the highest probability of being the most effective intervention (SUCRA = 93.0%). Vertically resisted sprint training ranked second (80.7%), followed by combined plyometric plus strength training (57.6%). In contrast, horizontally resisted modalities such as sled sprints ranked considerably lower (41.2%), and traditional strength training alone ranked near the bottom (39.8%). The analysis encompassed data from 744 recreationally active and trained participants—ranging from adolescent athletes to elite-level competitors—with training interventions lasting 4 to 10 weeks.
“What surprised us most was that the turning angle , whether an athlete was making a sharp 180-degree cut or a subtle 45-degree directional adjustment , did not influence the effectiveness of the training,” explains Professor Urs Granacher, corresponding author from the Department of Sport and Sport Science at the University of Freiburg. “Using multilevel meta-regression, we tested both linear and nonlinear relationships between COD angles and training adaptations, and found no modulating effect. This means the neuromuscular adaptations from vertically resisted training appear to generalize across all change-of-direction geometries. For practitioners, this simplifies programming considerably: you don't need different resisted drills for different cutting angles.”
The researchers attribute the superiority of vertical resistance to its alignment with the body's natural deceleration and re-acceleration patterns. When an athlete plants their foot to change direction, they must absorb and redirect vertical ground reaction forces. Weighted vests increase the loading demands during this braking-propulsion transition, enhancing the efficiency of the stretch-shortening cycle—the muscle's ability to rapidly switch from an eccentric (lengthening) to a concentric (shortening) contraction. This optimizes reactive strength, a key quality for rapid directional transitions. In contrast, horizontally resisted modalities like sleds operate in a body-fixed reference frame, where the direction of applied resistance varies with body orientation during turns, potentially reducing transfer to multiplanar COD maneuvers.
“These findings have immediate translational value,” adds Charming. “For a soccer player who makes hundreds of directional changes per match, adding a weighted vest during plyometric drills could provide the extra stimulus needed to break through performance plateaus. At the same time, our results highlight that highly trained and elite athletes require greater force-vector specificity to achieve continued gains—what works for a recreationally active individual may not be sufficient for an Olympic-level athlete. This is consistent with the law of diminishing returns in athletic training.”
The research team notes that further high-quality randomized controlled trials are needed, particularly those incorporating three-dimensional motion capture and electromyography to examine the mechanistic underpinnings of resisted training adaptations at the joint and muscle level. Additionally, with only 9.4% of the analyzed participants being female, sex-specific trials are warranted to explore potential hormonal influences on training responsiveness, given estrogen's known role in tendon remodeling and stretch-shortening cycle function. Nevertheless, the current findings—rated as moderate-certainty evidence using the GRADE framework—offer the most comprehensive evidence synthesis to date on resisted movement training for COD speed, equipping coaches and practitioners with a clear, evidence-informed framework for designing agility training programs across diverse sporting populations.
Reference
Titles of original papers: Effects of resisted movement training on change-of-direction speed in recreationally active and trained individuals: A systematic review with network meta-analysis and meta-regression
Journal: Journal of Sport and Health Science
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jshs.2026.101141
Journal of Sport and Health Science
Meta-analysis
Not applicable
Effects of resisted movement training on change-of-direction speed in recreationally active and trained individuals: A systematic review with network meta-analysis and meta-regression
19-Jun-2026
The authors declare that they have no competing interests