The post-activation performance enhancement effect of a parallel back squat on male jumping and sprinting athletes

Abstract

Although the literature has described different ways and methodologies of producing chronic neuromuscular enhancements in athletes, less is known about warm-up activities aiming to optimize short-term performance. To address these gaps, investigations into post-activation performance enhancement (PAPE) effects are necessary. As such, this work aimed to analyse the PAPE effect of different parallel squat (PS) protocols with and without whole-body vibration (WBV) employing different volumes (low and high) and rest periods (of one and four minutes) on jumping performance. Seventeen elite sprinting and jumping male athletes participated in this study. The athletes completed one PAPE protocol on a weekly basis, according to the following conditions: PS with 80% one-repetition maximum (1RM) without vibration (NV-PS) and with WBV (WBV-PS). Each exercise was performed at a high and low volume, and after short or long recovery periods (of one and four minutes). A countermovement jump (CMJ) and drop jump (DJ) without an arm swing were executed before and after each PAPE protocol. Higher CMJ and DJ performances after WBV-PS exercises were found (effect size (ES) = 1.065–1.319, large). Greater DJ results were observed after an NV-PS exercise with a high volume and four minutes of rest (37.78 ± 5.44 vs. 39.09 ± 5.62; p = 0.011; ES = 0.692, medium). Time x condition effects (F = 25.239, p < 0.01, η2 = 0.03) were observed, revealing higher CMJ values after a WBV-PS in comparison to baseline conditions, as well as higher DJ values after NV-PS and WBV-PS in comparison to baseline conditions. The findings indicate that these types of PAPE protocols in elite male athletes and WBV-PS PAPE protocols in particular can enhance CMJ and DJ performance, while the NV-PS (using a high volume and four minutes of rest) resulted in improvements for the DJ. No other improvements were reported using NV-PS combinations.