Effect of post-activation potentiation in different time intervals on the explosive power of athlete girls

Warm-up is one of the factors that influence the success and improvement of athletes record. The post-activation potentiation can be considered as one of the new methods of warm-up. During fast and dynamic activities, there is a high level of neuromuscular activation, so the exercises with maximum loads can activate the central nervous system tocreate suitable condition for explosive activity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of post-activation potentiation in different rest periods on the explosive power of athlete girls.

In this semi-experimental study, 12 female athletes (mean body mass index 21.1 ± 4.40 kg/m2, and age 23.28 ± 1.98 years) performed a countermovement Jump test using force plate. Then, they performed the squat movement with three repetitions, with 85% of one maximum repetition, and after 30 seconds of passive rest, they repeat the same countermovement Jump test. After that, the same test was carried out with one, two, three, and five minutes passive rest. For statistical analysis, theShapiro-Wilk normality test and analysis of variance with repeated measure method and Bonferron's post hoc test were used. All statistical analyzes were performed by SPSS softwareand significant level set at p < 0.05.

The results indicated that the reverse countermovement  Jump in post-tests were significantly higher at 30 second (p=0.001), 1 minute (p=0.001), 2 minutes (p=0.001) and 3 minutes (p=0.001) compared to pre-test, butdespite a slight increase in countermovement Jump with 5 minutes rest, this test did not change significantly (p=0.43) compared to the pre-test.

It seems that the use of squat movement after warm-up will increase the explosive performance, which can be beneficial in power, speed and explosive power sports.