Potential use of the medicine ball throw test to reveal the upper-body maximal capacities to produce force, velocity, and power

Abstract

The aims of this study were (1) to evaluate the shape of the load-velocity (L-V) and force-velocity (F-V) relationships obtained during the medicine ball throw (MBT) test, (2) to explore the reliability of their parameters (L-V parameters: maximal load ( L0), maximal velocity ( V0(L-V)), slope of the L-V relationship ( a(L-V)), and area under the L-V relationship line (Aline); F-V parameters: maximal force ( F0), maximal velocity ( V0(F-V)), slope of the F-V relationship ( a(F-V)), and maximal power ( Pmax)), (3) to explore the concurrent validity of the two-point with respect to the multiple-point method, and (4) to evaluate the external validity of L0 and F0 with respect to the maximal strength. Twelve males performed MBTs against four loads, a bench press 1-repetition maximum (1 RM), and maximal isometric medicine ball push. The L-V and F-V relationships were strongly linear (individual r ≥ 0.886). V0 was the only variable that always showed an acceptable reliability (CV ≤ 3.4%). L0 and F0 presented trivial to moderate correlations with the bench press 1RM and maximal isometric medicine ball push performance. Therefore, the MBT test can be implemented to reveal the maximal velocity capacity of upper-body muscles, but not maximal force or power capacities due to their low reliability and external validity.