Is agility related to strength qualities?--Analysis in latent space.

In this study we examined an influence of leg extensor strength qualities on agility performance in a latent space. Male physical education students (N = 168) were tested with three standard agility performance tests (lateral stepping, 20-yard shuttle run, and slalom run). Nine measures of leg extensor strength qualities including explosive strength, elastic strength, and maximal strength, were also assessed. As expected, factor analysis of all tests revealed four relatively independent factors: explosive strength, elastic strength, agility, and maximal strength. All three extracted strength factors were included into a regression analysis as predictors to evaluate their influence of the agility factor (i.e. criterion). Although the regression analysis revealed significant multiple correlation between predictors and the criterion (R = 0.41; p < 0.001), the amount of explained variance of agility performance by the strength factors was rather low (17%). We conclude that the leg extensor strength qualities are poor predictors of agility performance in physically active men.