This study was conducted to investigate the effect of plyometric training on longdistance runners by comparing changes in long-distance running performance and vertical stiffness. The subjects were seven males long-distance student runners who formed part of the training group and six males who formed part of the control group. The training group performed plyometric training twice a week for eight weeks. The training consisted of one set of ten repetitions of rebound jumps (RJ), 40m of bounding exercise, and 60m of relaxed running. The entire process was repeated five times a day. To even up the amount of exercise between the training and control groups, control group did 100m of relaxed running at the same schedules. Besides this difference in plyometric training, the training and control groups performed the same training.
The main results were as follows:
1) With regard to vertical stiffness in RJ and standing quintuple jumps, the performance of the training group improved significantly.
2) The performance of the training group improved significantly with regard to vertical stiffness in long-distance running.
3) Although 5000m race time for the training and control groups reduced significantly, there was no difference between groups.
These results suggested that it was possible to improve vertical stiffness in various jumps (RJ and standing quintuple jumps) and vertical stiffness in long-distance running through plyometric training. However, the plyometric training did not further improve the long-distance running performance.

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