The effect of different post activation potentiation methods with and without caffeine ingestion on competitive judokas performance

Post-activation potentiation (PAP) is the phenomenon by which muscular performance is enhanced in response to a conditioning stimulus. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of PAP induced by resisted, accelerated and traditional plyometric with and without caffeine ingestion on competitive judokas performance.

In a randomized, crossover design, 9 male judokas participated in this study and performed two special judo fitness test (SJFT) with 90 second between trials in four conditions: PAP with traditional plyometric+ SJFT, PAP with accelerated plyometric+ SJFT, PAP with resisted plyometric+ SJFT and warm up+ SJFT. To evaluate the effect of caffeine, 10 days after the last PAP session, the subjects participated in four conditions randomly: caffeine + PAP + SJFT, PAP + SJFT, caffeine + SJFT and placebo+SJFT. Caffeine (6 mg/kg) was administered 60 minutes and PAP (3 sets x 6 repetitions of jumping alternating lunges) was performed 5 min before the SJFT. Blood sample was taken after SJFT2. To analyze the data One-way repeated measures ANOVA and Bonferroni post-hoc test and significant level at P≤0.05 was used.

Results showed no significant difference in total throws and index of SJFT between PAP conditions. Caffeine and caffeine + PAP resulted in significant increase in total throws of SJFT and blood lactate than PAP and placebo (P≤0.05).

It seems that PAP with different plyometric methods can’t improve SJFT, but caffeine combined with accelerated PAP can be more effective to improve judo performance.