Comparison of Post-Activation Potentiation Methods on Power and Sprint Acceleration

Author

Aaron Piper, Stephen F Austin State UniversityFollow

Date of Award

5-2019

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science - Kinesiology

Department

Kinesiology and Health Science

First Advisor

Dustin Joubert

Second Advisor

Eric Jones

Third Advisor

Todd Whitehead

Fourth Advisor

Jonathan Mitchell

Abstract

Post-activation potentiation (PAP) is a stimulus used to enhance performance by performing specific interventions prior to subsequent explosive movements. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of different PAP methods on power and sprint acceleration in resistance trained, college-aged men and women. A total of 13 subjects participated in the study. After determining back squat 1 repetition max, subjects returned for testing on separate days to complete one of four interventions (dynamic resistance, weighted plyometric, isometric, or control) in a randomized order. A standardized warmup was given, followed by a baseline countermovement jump (CMJ) and 20-meter sprint. Following the warmup and baseline measurements, the subjects then performed one of the four interventions. After the intervention, CMJ and 20-meter sprint measurements were completed again at 20-seconds, 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20-minutes. The results from this study showed significantly faster 0-20m sprint times, p < .05, at 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20-minutes post-intervention compared to baseline and 20-seconds post-intervention. Also, significantly faster 0-20m sprint times, p < .05, were shown for the squat intervention compared to the control at 4-minutes, the plyometric and squat intervention compared to control at 8-minutes, the isometric intervention compared to control at 12 and 16-minutes, and the isometric intervention compared to the squat at 20-minutes. These findings indicate that while any of the PAP stimuli can be effective at improving sprint performance, there may be a specific optimal time window for each.

Repository Citation

Piper, Aaron, "Comparison of Post-Activation Potentiation Methods on Power and Sprint Acceleration" (2019). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 279.
https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/279

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.