Effects of a 12-Week Technology-Assisted Neuromuscular Training Program on Judo-Specific Fitness, Shuttle Agility, and Plantar Pressure Distribution in Adolescent Judoka: A Pilot Study

Background: Judo performance is multifactorial; judo-specific anaerobic fitness and shuttle agility speed have already been investigated separately in adolescent judoka. What remains unexplored is whether a technology-assisted neuromuscular training program can concurrently influence these established performance measures alongside plantar-support biomechanics during throwing techniques such as ippon-seoi-nage. Pilot data integrating these domains are lacking in adolescent judoka. Methods: Twenty-four male judoka (aged 15–17 years; ≥3 years of experience) were allocated to an experimental group (EG, n = 12) or control group (CG, n = 12). The EG performed a 12-week technology-assisted neuromuscular training program (BlazePod light-sensor system) before each session; the CG continued standard uchi-komi. Three outcome domains were assessed at baseline and post-intervention: (i) judo-specific anaerobic fitness (SJFT); (ii) specific shuttle agility (BlazePod protocol); and (iii) static plantar pressure (BTS P-WALK baropodometer). Results: Retention was 100% with no adverse events. A 2×2 mixed-design ANOVA (group × time) showed a significant interaction for BlazePod shuttle agility perfor-mance (Total Hits: p = .026; Total Average Reaction Time: p = .009), an effect that re-mained significant after a sensitivity analysis controlling for baseline anthropometric imbalance between groups. A significant interaction was also observed for the SJFT in-dex (p = .028), but this effect did not survive the same sensitivity analysis (p = .10). No significant group × time interaction was detected for any of the six static plantar pres-sure regions assessed (all p > .09). Conclusions: This pilot study demonstrated full feasibility and provided preliminary evidence of a group × time effect on judo-specific shuttle agility performance that re-mained significant after adjustment for baseline anthropometric imbalance, a less cer-tain effect on anaerobic fitness, and no detectable effect on static plantar pressure dis-tribution. These preliminary, hypothesis-generating findings support conducting a de-finitive, randomized, weight-stratified controlled trial.