ECSS Paris 2023: OP-AP22
INTRODUCTION: Post-Activation Performance Enhancement (PAPE) is a temporary improvement in neuromuscular performance following a high-intensity conditioning activity (CA). Previous meta-analyses suggest individuals with higher training experience and strength levels may show a greater PAPE response due to enhanced fatigue resistance and improved balance between potentiation and fatigue. While PAPE has been studied extensively in men, studies on female athletes remain limited. Therefore, this study investigated how trained men and women respond to two PAPE protocols. Understanding these variations is crucial for optimizing training interventions for both men and women. METHODS: 15 men (M, mean±SD: age=29±4 yrs; BMI= 30.3± 6.5 kg/m²), and 17 women (W, age=27±4 yrs; BMI= 25.9± 2.4 kg/m²) volunteered in this study. All participants were athletes with similar years of resistance training experience and relative strength in back squat (1RM: M=2.1±0.3 X body weight (BW); W=1.7±0.3 X BW) and power clean (1RM: M=1.4±0.3 X BW; W=1.2±0.2 X BW). Two CAs were tested: back squat (3 reps @90%1RM) and power clean (3 reps @75%1RM) each performed after warm-up. Countermovement jump (CMJ) performance was assessed Pre-CA and at 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 15 min post-CA using force plates sampling at 1000 Hz. A mixed-model ANOVA (p<0.05), with time and CA as within factors, and sex as a between factor, was applied for statistical analysis. PRE was calculated as the mean of three CMJs performed before the CA. Post-CA (POST) performance was recorded at each time point. Bonferroni correction was used for pairwise comparisons. RESULTS: Significant sex differences were observed (p<0.001; np²=0,543; large). M showed enhanced CMJ height at POST 3, 5, and 7 min for back squat (p<0.05) and POST 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 min for power clean (p<0.05). W exhibited no significant improvements at any time point for either CA. The interaction between sex and time was significant (p<0.001; np²=0,178; large). No significant differences were found between CA types (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: Men seems to benefit from standard PAPE protocols, displaying significant short-term CMJ performance enhancements. Conversely, trained women do not seem to exhibit a measurable response under the same conditions. These findings might suggest that sex-specific physiological mechanisms, such as differences in proportion of fast-twitch fibers, acute hormonal responses (e.g., testosterone), and neuromuscular activation strategies, may influence PAPE outcomes. However, these hypotheses remain speculative, emphasizing the need for further research to understand PAPE mechanisms in women. This study highlights the importance of individualized training prescriptions to maximize power output and athletic performance across sexes. A.J. Blazevich & N.Babault, Front Physiol, 2019. K. Xu et al., Sports Med, 2025.
Read CV RICCARDO BATTIOLIECSS Paris 2023: OP-AP22
INTRODUCTION: Post-activation performance enhancement (PAPE) refers to the acute improvement in neuromuscular voluntary performance following conditioning activities (CAs). Traditionally, CAs include high-intensity resistance exercises such as back squats (BS), and plyometric exercises like drop jumps (DJ) and weighted DJ (Seitz & Haff, 2016). However, a CA preceded by a general warm-up exercise appears to provide trivial-small effects on PAPE (Xu et al., 2025). Nonetheless, to the best of our knowledge, no previous studies have investigated the effect of warm-up exercise with different CAs on PAPE assessed by counter movement jump (CMJ) height, especially for individuals who do not show PAPE by warm-up exercise. Thus, we compared six CA protocols with a proper warm-up exercise for their effects on CMJ height, and between warm-up responders and non-responders, to test the hypothesis that no additional CMJ height increase would be observed after any CA following the warm-up. METHODS: Thirty-five (18 male, 17 female) participants (24.6±3.7 y, 1.71±0.10 m, and 75.7±16.1 kg) were familiarized with DJ exercises, CMJ tests, and had their BS one-repetition maximum (1-RM) assessed on the first visit (134.1±32.1 kg). The remaining seven visits were randomized for the following CAs: warm-up (WUP), BS (3 sets of 5 reps at 87% of 1-RM), concentric BS (3 sets of 10 reps at 87 % of 1-RM), eccentric BS (3 sets of 10 reps at 87 % of 1-RM), 40-cm DJ (3 sets of 5 reps), loaded 40-cm DJ (10% of body mass added by a weight vest, 3 sets of 5 reps), and eccentric-only loaded 40-cm DJ with 10% body mass load (3 sets of 10 reps). At each visit, participants performed a standardized warm-up consisting of aerobic exercise, dynamic stretching, and bodyweight exercises for approximately 10 minutes, followed by three CMJs, the CA of the day, and three CMJs after the CA. Individuals who presented an increase in CMJ height greater than the CMJ height measurement error (3.2% based on the baseline CMJ measures after the standardized warm-up) were considered as warm-up responders. A two-way repeated measures ANOVA was used to compare conditions for changes in CMJ height from pre- to post-CA. RESULTS: The baseline CMJ height was 36.7±9.3 (male: 26.7-70.1, female: 19.5-49.6) cm among the participants. Considering the entire sample, WUP increased (p<0.05) CMJ height by 3.3±4.0% (-3.6-14.1%), but no other CA induced a significant increase. Warm-up responders showed an increase (p<0.05) in CMJ height by 6.7±3.2% (3.3-14.1%) after WUP only, whereas non-responders did not demonstrate any significant change in CMJ in any conditions. CONCLUSION: These results showed no additional effects of any of the CA than WUP on acute CMJ performance enhancement. It appears that the PAPE effect is within the warm-up effect. Seitz & Haff (2016). Sports Med. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-015-0415-7 Xu et al. (2025). Sports Med. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-024-02170-6
Read CV Gabriel Felipe Arantes BertochiECSS Paris 2023: OP-AP22
INTRODUCTION: Acute increases in athletic performance are goals of practitioners in sports. Previous studies reported that vertical jumping (1) and sprint running (2) and cycling (3) performance was increased following submaximal or maximal voluntary muscle activations. This phenomenon is known as post-activation potential enhancement (PAPE) and is of great interest to practitioners (4). Mechanisms contributing to PAPE is unclear, whearas evidence proved that the potential is related with increased neural drive/muscle activation, improved muscle-tendon stiffness, decreased muscle pH, greater muscle temperature, and so on (4). Moreover, the magnitude of acute improvement is modulated by several factors, such as age, sex, training status. For example, stronger individuals have been reported to attain greater potentiation of performance in comparison to weaker individuals . However, from a practical perspective, it is important to determine whether other individual characteristics, such as muscle power, also influence the ergogenic benefits of contrast training protocols. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of power-strength-ratio (PSR) on acute athletic performance. METHODS: Thirty-six male college players with well-trained background were recruited in this study. Before and 4 min after intervention, all participants performaned three maximal isometric squats (IS), CMJ and 30 m sprints in randon order, with 2-3 min rest interval between trials and 5 min interval between tests. The intervention consisted of 3 sets of 4 repetitions of 90% 1RM back squat.The power-strength-ratio was defined as the ratio of maximal power-output derived from CMJ and maximal concentric strength of IS. The participants were classied as high PSR group and low PSR group using media spliting. The one-way ANOVA was used to analyze the differences in improvements of athletic performance between groups and LSD was used for post-hoc analysis. RESULTS: Following intervention, significant increases (p < 0.05) were observed in CMJ height (46.5 ± 3.7 cm vs 49.2 ± 4.2 cm), 30 m sprint time (4.34 ± 0.32 s vs 4.15 ± 0.12 s), jump peak power (3832.32 ± 562.34 w vs 4267.23 ± 531.23 w), maximal isometric strength (3723.32 ± 287.13 N vs 4102.18 ± 327.16 N). Compared to participants with low PSR, participants with high PSR exhibited significantly greater improvements (p < 0.05) in CMJ height and jump peak power. However, no significant differences in changes in sprint time and maximal isometric strength between both groups (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Power-strength ratios also affect PAPE, so differences in individual strength-strength ratios should be considered when designing acute intervention programs.
Read CV GaoJun LiECSS Paris 2023: OP-AP22