Low-intensity cycling affects the muscle activation pattern of consequent countermovement jumps

Players (eg, basketball, soccer, and football) often use a static bicycle during a game to maintain warming. However, the effectiveness of this procedure has not been addressed in the literature. Thus, it remains unknown whether low-intensity cycling movement can affect explosive movement performance. In this study, 10 male subjects performed countermovement jumps before and after a 15-minutes cycling bout at 35% of their maximal power output. Three sessions were tested for 3 different cadences of cycling: freely chosen cadence, 20% lower than freely chosen cadence (FCC-20%), and 20% higher than freely chosen cadence (FCC+20%). Jump height, kinematics, and electromyogram were recorded simultaneously during the countermovement jumps. The results showed a significant decreasing in the height of countermovement jump after cycling at freely chosen cadence and FCC-20% (p = 0.03 and p = 0.04, respectively), but not for FCC+20% cadences. The electromyographic parameters suggest that changes in the countermovement jump after cycling can be attributed to alteration of the pattern of activation and may be modulated by the preceding cycling cadence. Our study indicates that to avoid a possible negative effect of the cycling in the subsequent explosive movements, a cadence 20% higher than the preferred cadence must be used.