Post activation performance enhancement effects on countermovement jumps in men and women

The present study investigated the post-activation performance enhancement (PAPE) effects of six different conditioning activities on countermovement jump (CMJ) height and compared the PAPE effects between sexes. We recruited 18 male and 17 female participants (age: 24.6 ± 3.7 y, height: 1.71 ± 0.10 m, body mass: 75.7 ± 16.1 kg) with at least one year of resistance exercise experience. They performed a familiarization session in which the one-repetition maximum back squat (1-repetition maximum back squat: 134 ± 32 kg; 1- repetition maximum back squat/body mass: 1.8 ± 0.4) was assessed. This was followed by six visits for six different conditioning activities in a randomized order; back squat, concentric-only back squat, eccentric-only back squat, drop jump, drop jump with a weight vest (10% body mass), and eccentric-only drop jump with the weight vest. At each visit, participants performed a standardized warm-up for 10 minutes, followed by three CMJs, the conditioning activity of the day, and after 4 minutes, three CMJs. Thus, post activation performance enhancement was assessed by the change in CMJ height (average of three trials) from pre- to post-conditioning activity. The changes were compared among the six conditioning activities by a 6x2 repeated measures analysis of variance. In the six conditions, no condition x time (pre-post) interaction effect (F[3.89,34]=1.71; p = 0.153; ղ2p=0.048) was evident for all participants, and this was also the case for men (F[5,17]=1.54; p = 0.185; ղ2p=0.083) and women (F[5,16]=0.362; p = 0.873; ղ2p=0.022), without significant differences between sexes. These results showed no PAPE after the conditioning activities within a 4-minute window for moderately trained individuals, and no difference between men and women. It appears that the PAPE effect is small when the conditioning activities are proceeded by warm-up exercise, and no sex difference exists for the effect. In practice, sports and exercise practitioners need to consider the individual characteristics that can influence the PAPE response when isolating the conditioning activity from the warm-up.