Abstract

Introduction: Olympic lifting has become a popular training modality for improving sport performance. A study was conducted with twenty-nine male semiprofessional Australian Rules football players which showed a significantly quicker sprint for subjects who lifted a greater weight in the hang power clean. Purpose: This study sought to determine if the amount of weight deadlifted impacted sprint time among Division III softball players. Methods: The sample of the current study consisted of 13 softball players with an average age of 20. Subjects performed the deadlift 1 time a week for 4 weeks. The percent of one’s body weight deadlifted was used to measure the correlation between deadlift weight and sprint time. A high percentage indicates that the athlete is stronger and can exert more power.  Results: The average percent of one’s body weight deadlifted in this sample was 109% (SD=15.9%) and this score falls into the intermediate category. The average 60 foot sprint time was 3.22 seconds (SD=0.2) which fell into the slow category. There was no relationship between 60 foot sprint time and weight deadlifted ( r² = -0.02). Conclusion: It appears the athletes did not train frequently enough. The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) suggests that the off- season mesocycle should last two to six weeks and athletes should train 4 to 6 times per week.