Acute effect of post-activation potentiation on sprint and vertical jump at low and high loads

Abstract

A search of PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, Dialnet, SpringerLink and Google Scholar yields studies demonstrating acute positive effects of post-activation potentiation on variables such as countermovement jumping (CMJ) and sprinting. Some studies examine the effect of accommodative resistance on post-activation potentiation in rugby players, while others examine post-activation potentiation with a half squat at maximal speed on sprint and change of direction performance in 12 basketball players. The aim of this study is to compare the acute effects of a post-activation potentiation (PAP) protocol based on low and high load squats on linear sprint and countermovement jump performance. A quantitative and experimental study was designed. It was conducted at the Universidad Nacional, Medellín, and had a longitudinal design with two randomly assigned groups (experimental and control). Each group had seven players. Subjects performed dynamic activation followed by CMJ pretests (3 CMJ) and a 20m sprint. Group A performed squats at 40% of their 1RM (one repetition maximum) at 1.28 m/s until they lost 15% of that velocity. Group B used 80% of their 1RM at 0.68 m/s until they lost 30% of that velocity, using the effort index of Rodríguez-Rosell et al. (2020) CMJ post-tests and 20 m sprints were then performed. After the intervention, none of the groups showed significant differences in sprinting; however, group B showed significant differences in CMJ, but these differences were negative, as CMJ performance decreased significantly in this group. These findings are not consistent with other studies. The post-activation potentiation protocol showed no significant differences between high and low loads. It failed in favor of the null hypothesis in the between-subjects comparisons in the post-test. In the case of the high load group, the intervention showed statistically significant negative values in the CMJ.