Table 2 Types and protocols of resistance exercises that were used in the included studies

Hoff & Almasbakk (1995)

Barbell training

9 weeks

2/week

3 × 5 or 6

85% of 1 RM

2–5 min

Bench press with maximum speed Concentric

Sabido et al. (2016)

Barbell training

4 weeks

2/week

4 × 6

2 × 30%, 2 × 50%, 2 × 70% of 1RM in each set

3 min

Bench press. Plyometric movement with known load (one group) or unknown load (other group)

Loken et al. (2021)

Barbell training

8 weeks

2/week

3 × 5 (1st week), 3 × 4 (2nd week), 3 × 3 (3rd week),

40% (1st week), 50% (2nd week), 60% (3rd week) of 1 RM

3 min

Bench press with lightly touch the chest (one group) or with ballistic movement (other group)

Abuajwa et al. (2022)

Barbell training

5 weeks

3/week

4 × 6

60% (1st group), 40 (2nd group) of 1 RM

Not reported

Bench press with low speed (one group) or high speed (other group)

Manchado et al. (2017)

Core training

10 weeks

3/week

Not reported

154–170 ECOs (1–3 weeks), 176–228 ECOs (4–7 weeks), 228–238 ECOs (8–10 weeks)

Not reported

7 exercises each session (rectus abdominis, external and internal oblique muscles, lumbar and gluteal muscles). Weeks 1–3 (low difficulty exercise, 20 min), weeks 4–7 (medium difficulty exercises, 15–20 min, weeks 8–10 (medium to high level exercises, 20–25 min)

Kuhn et al. (2018)

Core training

6 weeks

2/week

2 × 45 s each exercise

3—8 kg

1 min

Core and rotational exercises. Progression: Static to dynamic movements, low load to high load, low level of instability to high level of instability

Ozmen et al. (2020)

Core training

6 weeks

2/week

20 s (isometric exercises) and 20 reps (isotonic exercises)

Progressively increase difficulty of exercise

Not reported

Exercises focusing in abdominal, pelvic and low back muscles

Maroto-Izqierdo et al. (2020)

Weight machine training

6 weeks

2/week

4 × 7

Not reported

Not reported

Flywheel or Pneumatic device. Lateral raise, internal and external shoulder rotation with a flywheel device (one group) or with a pneumatic device (other group)

Hermassi et al. (2010)

Barbell trainingRT

10 weeks

2/week

2 to 4 × 3 to 6 (moderate resistance training), 3 to 6 × 1 to 3 (heavy resistance training)

55–75% of 1RM (moderate resistance), 80–95% of 1RM (heavy resistance)

1–1.5 min (moderate resistance), 3–4 min (heavy resistance)

2 exercises (pull over and bench press). Subjects in heavy resistance training group performed the exercises at a slow velocity, while the subjects in moderate resistance training group performed the exercises as rapidly as possible

Madruga-Parera et al. (2022)

Weight machine training)

8 weeks

2/week

3 × 8 to 12

6 to 9 of scale rated of perceived effort

Not reported

Acceleration, Lateral squat (stage 1), Single leg hop, Acceleration, Lateral lunge (stage 2), Crossover step, Acceleration, Lateral step & unilateral countermovement jump (stage 3), crossover step, acceleration, 180° turn (stage 4)

Hermassi et al. (2015)

Medicine ball training

8 weeks

3/week

2 to 4 × 75 to 85 throws (regular throwing), 2 to 4 × 10 to 20 throws (medicine ball throwing)

3 kg medicine ball

2 min

Overhead throws with the medicine ball (one group) or with normal ball (other group)

Ignjatovic et al. (2012)

Medicine ball training

12 weeks

2/week

3 × 10 to 30 throws

1 to 3 kg medicine ball

10 to 30 s

Medicine ball exercises in standing, sitting and lying position and with jump

Raeder et al. (2015)

Medicine ball training

6 weeks

3/week

3 × 6 to 10 throws (medicine ball throwing), 1 × 8 to 12 throws (regular throwing)

1 to 2 kg medicine ball

60 to 90 s (medicine ball throwing), 5 s (regular throwing)

Exercises focusing in overhead throw, side throw, combination of throw with squat and single-arm throw

Hammami et al. (2020)

Plyometrics

10 weeks

2/week

10 × 6 (upper limb), 2 to 3 × 6 (lower limb), 10 s sequence each exercise

60 to 90 contacts number

30 s

Push up, hurdle jump, lateral hurdle jump, stretched leg jump, jump with 180 rotation, horizontal jump

van Den Tillar et al. (2020)

Plyometrics

12 weeks

2/week

2 to 5 × 8 to 30 jumps (plyometric training), 3 × 6 squats (strength training)

156–195 jumps per session (plyometric training), 40–45% of 1RM (strength training)

Not reported

Plyometric-strength to strength-plyometric after 6 week of training

Ettema et al. (2008)

Weight machine training

8 weeks

3/week

3 × 6 (pulley device throwing), 81 throws with normal ball (regular throwing)

85% of 1RM with 27.8 Newtons (pulley device throwing)

Not reported

Pulley device mimicking throwing. Both groups performed the experimental training sessions in combination with normal handball training

Hermassi et al. (2019a)

Barbell training

8 weeks

2/week

3 to 4 × 3 to 8

55 to 85% of 1RM (weekly increase)

3 min

4 exercises (clean and jerk, bench press, snatch, pull-over)

Hermassi et al. (2019b)

Barbell training

10 weeks

2/week

3 × 5 to 10

60% of 1RM (first 2 weeks), 70% of 1RM (week 3 to 5), 75–85% of 1RM (week 5 to 10)

3 min

4 exercises (clean and jerk, bench press, snatch, half-squat) with 2 weeks tapering intensity by 60%

Hermassi et al. (2019c)

Barbell training

10 weeks

2/week

3 to 5 × 6 to 10 (squat, bench press, pull over), 2 × 10 to 30 throws (medicine ball), 4 to 5 × 5 to 10 (drop jumps), 4 × 16 to 20 (hurdle jumps) 1 to 4 × 8 to 14 (one legged balance training)

50—75% of 1RM (squat, bench press, pull over), 45 to 60 cm (drop jumps), 50 to 70 cm (hurdle jumps), 3 kg medicine ball

Not reported

Bench press, squat, pull-over with or without Handball specific drills. Handball drills consists of ball shots and crossing exercises and lasted 30–45 min

Hermassi et al. (2019d)

Circuit training

10 weeks

2/week

2 × 6 to 12 (frontal jumps over barrier), 3 × 6 to 8 (bench press, pull-over), 3 × 4 to 10 (squats), 2 × 8 to 12 (frontal sprint), 4 × 16 to 20 (hurdle jumps), 4 to 12 × 5 (zig zag sprint), 4 × 5 to 10 (depth jumps)

40–60 cm height (frontal jumps over barrier), 60–80% of 1RM (bennch press, squats, pull-over), 10–20 m (frontal sprint), 30–50 cm height (depth jumps)

3 min

Progression with decreasing the rest intervals between sets. The duration of the circuit training was 30–35 min

Aloui et al. (2019)

Elastic band training

8 weeks

2/week

3 × 12 to 15

black elastic band 250% elongation-78.4 N (1–4 sessions), silver elastic band 250% elongation-113 N (5–8 sessions), gold elastic band 200% elongation-149 N (9–12 sessions), gold elastic band 250% elongation-178 N (13–16 sessions)

90 s

3 exercises for shoulder focusing in internal rotation and adduction and 1 exercise for elbow focusing in extension

Bauer et al. (2021)

Elastic band

9 weeks

3/week

3 × 8 (weeks 1, 4 and 7), 3 × 10 (weeks 2, 5 and 8), 3 × 12 (weeks 3, 6 and 9)

Green elastic band 4.6 libres and 100% elongation

Not reported

All elastic band exercises were performed to the shoulder joint

Hammami et al. (2022)

Elastic band training

10 weeks

2/week

3 to 5 × 10

Red elastic band (week 1), green elastic band (week 2–4), blue elastic band (week 5–7), black elastic band (week 8–10). 250% elongation in all bands

30 s

8 exercises (flies, row with high elbows, trunk rotation, standing press, knee extension, knee flexion, half-squat, hip adduction),

Kusuwamati et al. (2022)

Elastic band training

8 weeks

3/week

Not reported

Light resistance

Not reported

Exercises for the forearms

Mascarin et al. (2017a)

Elastic band training

6 weeks

3/week

3 × 10 to 20

blue elastic band (lower resistance), black, silver and gold elastic band (greater resistance,

30 s

Shoulder internal rotation from 90˚ shoulder abduction and in neutral position. Progressively increase difficulty of the exercise with the number of set repetitions, the band colour and borg scale

Mascarin et al. (2017b)

Elastic band training

6 weeks

3/week

3 × 10 to 20

blue elastic band (lower resistance), black, silver and gold elastic band (greater resistance,

30 s

Shoulder external rotation from 90˚ of shoulder abduction and in neutral position. Progressively increase difficulty of the exercise with the number of set repetitions, the band colour and borg scale

Genevois et al. (2014)

Body weight training

6 weeks

4 × 6 repetitions (week 1–5) and 5 × 6 (week 6)

115 to 95 cm distance from wall (scapular retraction with external rotation), 105 to 85 cm distance from wall (scapular retraction)

90 s

TRX exercises (one group) or regular training (other group)

After 6 weeks the program was reserved between groups

Hermassi et al. (2011)

Barbell training

8 weeks

2/week

3 × 3 to 5

90% of 1 RM (week 4–5), 95% of 1RM (week 6–8),

3–4 min

3 exercises (bench press, pull-over, half-back squat) with low velocity contractions

Liu & Li (2021)

Functional training

8 weeks

3/week

4 × 10 to 15 (isotonic exercises), 4 × 60 s (isometric exercises)

20—40% ratio

60—120 s

Functional recovery and movement mode correction (2 weeks), functional improvement and special advancement stage (4 weeks), functional stability and special promotion stage (2 weeks)

Bouagina et al. (2022)

Weight machine training

8 weeks

2/week

8 repeated consecutive sequences of ball propulsion

Not reported

3 min

Arm/shoulder specific strength device. Progression made by increasing the number of sets the first 3 weeks. In order to decrease the muscle damage, the sets was decreased the 4th week