Post Activation Potentiation (PAP): Novel Scientific Evidence and Practical Application in Team Sports

Aim: This study aimed to assess the acute effects of vertical and horizontal drop-jump-based post activation potentiation (PAP) protocols on neuromuscular abilities in tasks such as jumping, sprinting, and change of direction (COD).

Methods: Eighteen handball players were assessed before and after PAP regimens, consisting of either vertical (VDJ) or horizontal (HDJ) single-leg drop-jumps, on countermovement jump (CMJ), linear sprint, shuttle sprint, and agility performance.

Results: The HDJ led to greater improvement of the COD performance in comparison with the VDJ (-6.8% vs. -1.3%; p0.05), while the VDJ caused greater improvement in the CMJ task compared with the HDJs (+6.5% vs. +1%; p0.05). Moreover, the VDJ regimens compared with HDJ induced greater changes in most of the kinetic variables associated with vertical jumping performance, such as peak ground reaction forces (+9.6% vs. +1.3%), vertical displacement (-13.4% vs. -5.3%), leg-spring stiffness (+18.6% vs. +3.6%), contact time (-9.2% vs. -1.3%), and reactive strength index (+7.3% vs. +2.4%) (all comparisons with p0.05). Conversely, the HDJ regimens were able to improve the COD performance only by reducing the contact time on COD more than the VDJ (-13.3% vs. -2.4% with p0.05).

Discussion and Conclusion: The results showed that both PAPs were able to improve the performances that specifically featured similar force-orientation production. This investigation showed the crucial role that different and specific PAP regimens play in optimizing related functional performances. Specifically-oriented vertical and horizontal single-leg drop-jump protocols represent viable means for achieving enhanced explosive-based tasks such as jumping and COD.