Effects of Different Post-Activation Potentiation Warm-Ups on Repeated Sprint Ability in Soccer Players from Different Competitive Levels

Abstract

This study aimed to compare the effects of a traditional warm-up with two post-activation potentiation (PAP) warm-up strategies on the repeated sprint ability (RSA) of soccer players from national (NL) and regional (RL) competitive levels. Sixteen young players (NL, n = 8, age = 20.7 ± 1.4 y, body mass = 68.5 ± 7.0 kg, body height = 177.4 ± 5.2 cm; RL, n = 8, age = 20.8 ± 1.0 y, body mass = 68.7 ± 4.0 kg, body height = 176.6 ± 5.6 cm) were recruited to complete a traditional warm-up (CONTROL), a PAP warm-up incorporating squats with a load (~60% 1RM) that allowed a high speed (1 m/s) of movement and a high number of repetitions (PAP-1), and a PAP warm-up with a load (~90% 1RM) that allowed a moderate speed (0.5 m/s) of movement and a reduced number of repetitions (PAP-0.5). A RSA test (six 20-m sprints with 20 s of recovery) was performed 5 min after the PAP warm-up to assess the effects of the different protocols on the fastest sprint (RSAb) and the mean time of all sprints (RSAm). A meaningful improvement of RSA performance was observed with PAP-0.5, attaining a large effect on NL (RSAb, ES = -1.5; RSAm, ES = -1.3) and only a small effect on RL athletes (RSAb and RSAm, ES = -0.2). Moreover, when each RSA sprint performance was compared between NL and RL players, after PAP-0.5 greater performance for all sprints was observed in the NL players. Therefore, adding a heavy strength-based conditioning exercise during the warm-up prior to a RSA test may induce significant performance improvements in NL, but only small effects in RL players.

Proposal of a Conditioning Activity Model on Sprint Swimming Performance

“…Traditionally, swimmers warm-up is composed of moderateintensity stimuli and short stimuli at high intensity, not exceeding 1,500-m and usually the competition styles are used (Kilduff et al, 2011). Nonetheless, conditioning activity (CA) of highintensity and short-duration has been the focus of attention in swimming, especially in sprint events (Hancock et al, 2015;Sarramian et al, 2015;Barbosa et al, 2016;Cuenca-Fernández et al, 2017;Sanchez-Sanchez et al, 2018). CA is characterized by previous voluntary contractions of the requested musculature in the task of interest from complex exercises with maximum or close to maximum loads (Hodgson et al, 2005;Batista et al, 2007;Cuenca-Fernández et al, 2015).…”

Post-activation Potentiation: Effects of Different Conditioning Intensities on Measures of Physical Fitness in Male Young Professional Soccer Players

“…However, there is little research regarding the effects of heavy resistance exercise on subsequent performance in soccer (Hammami et al, 2018). Some authors indicated that heavy resistance exercise may improve subsequent jump and COD (Zois et al, 2011), repeated sprints (Low et al, 2015; Sanchez-Sanchez et al, 2018) and single linear sprint (McBride et al, 2005; Tillin and Cooke, 2009).…”

“…Moreover, it was also reported that pre-loading may increase muscle stiffness (Moir et al, 2009). Previous studies have suggested that PAP responses might be dependent on individual characteristics (Sanchez-Sanchez et al, 2018). For instance, stronger subjects exhibited a greater PAP response when compared with weaker counterparts (Seitz and Haff, 2016).…”

The Impact of Post Activation Potentiation on Achilles Tendon Stiffness, Elasticity and Thickness among Basketball Players

“…Many previous studies examining the PAP phenomenon have employed heavy (75–95% with one repeat maximum) isotonic resistance exercises as the preload stimulus, with some authors also supporting the use of maximal isometric conditioning contractions [11]. The PAP effect depends on the balance between fatigue and neuromuscular potentiation [12], which in turn depends on the type of exercise, volume, intensity, and recovery time [13].…”