Training linear deceleration ability would seem an important pre-requisite to improving change of direction performance, however, there is a paucity of research that has undertaken such a focus. The purpose of this study was to quantify the change in magnitude of the unilateral eccentric vertical and horizontal ground reaction forces (GRF) associated with a cable pulling exercise. Twelve recreational athletes ([mean ± SD] age 23.4 ± 4; mass 85.8 ± 11.2 kg; leg length 91.0 ± 6.00 cm) performed a series of unilateral landings across a spectrum of loads (0-16% bodyweight) whilst attached to a harness and cable pulley weight stack. Repeated measures ANOVA and post hoc analyses were used to determine between load effects. The main findings of this study were that horizontal GRFs significantly (p < 0.05) increased with increasing external load (% change = 0-54%; ES = 0.6 - 1.96), whereas no significant change was observed in the vertical GRFs (% change = -0.8-2%; ES = -0.04 - 0.16). It seems that eccentric horizontal braking/deceleration forces can be overloaded using the methods described in this study, which has interesting implications for performance and injury prevention or rehabilitation.
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