THE DURATION OF THE POST ACTIVATION POTENTIATION OF A HEAVY RESISTANCE TRAINING ON RUNNING VELOCITY

PhD ANTONOPOULOS CH., PhD RITZALEOU MAGDALINI, PhD XRISTOFORIDOU K., PhD YIANNAKOS A., PhD ZAGGELIDIS G., PhD ALEXIOU K.

Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki , Department of Physical Education & Sport Science, Thessaloniki, Greece

Key words: Strength, sprint, acceleration

 Introduction

Numerous studies in the past have investigated the acute effect of a proceeded training stimulus on the performance of motor tasks. It was shown that when a warm up (Stewart et al., 2003, Bergh and Ekdlom, 1979, O'Brien et al., 1997) or a heavy resistance training (Verkhosianski, 1973, Gourgoulis et al., 2003, Jensen and Ebben, 2003, Grant et al., 2002, Gullich and Schmidtbleicher, 1995, 1996, Young et al., 1995, Evans et al., 2000) were preceded, then the power and the performance of the fast dynamic movements was enhanced. This acute effect phenomenon after a high resistance stimulus was called Post Activation Potentiation (PAP). It was attributed to the fact that after a high innervation which is caused by high resistance stimulus the sensitivity of the released by reticulum formation Ca⁺⁺ is increases, affecting thus positively the performance of the contractile machinery (Sale 2002)

This PAP effect of HRT was extensively studied in jumping (Ebben and Watts, 1998, Fatouros et al., 2000, Verhosianski, 1973) and throwing performance (Hoff and Almasbak, 1995, Voigt and Klausen, 1989, Toji et al., 1997). It was also found that PAP after a heavy resistance training (HRT) seems to be depended on various factors, such as the given interval between resistance and task performance (Jensen and Ebben, 2003), the fitness level (Gourgoulis et al., 2003), and the action type and velocity of the selected movement (Ferguson et al., 2002).

However, there is limited information about the PAP effect of HRT on running velocity (RV). Chadwick et al. (2001) reported that HRT affected positively cyclic velocity. Specifically, Chadwick et al (2001) evaluated the acute effect of HRT (PAP effect) on cyclic velocity and they found that it increases after 5 and it decreases after 20min. However, they did not give any information about the PAP effect at the intermediate intervals between 5-20 min. This missing information is very important if we consider that according to Gullich and Schmidtbleicher (1995, 1996) the PAP increases H-reflex and task(jumping) performance up to 20min. Additionally, the use of cyclic velocity as a testing variable cannot provide information about the intermediate phases of RV such as initial and intermediate acceleration (see Delecluse, 1997). This issue is very important for running velocity training and evaluation considering that a training stimulus has a selective effect on the intermediary running phases.

Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to investigate the duration of the PAP effect on Running velocity and the secondary one, its effect on running velocities phases (initial and intermediate acceleration).

Methodology . Participants

Fourteen healthy male students of the Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences (Age 20-23y, height 1.85 ± 0.08 m, weight 87 ± 8 kg) volunteered to participate in the study. Students were moderate trained amateur athletes.

The experiment was conducted in accordance to the ethic guidelines of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Participants were informed about the details of the program and the possible risks associated with their involvement in the study. They filled out a medical history questionnaire and signed an informed consent document before testing took place and they were free to withdraw in any case they would requested it.

 Procedure

The experimental procedure was performed in two phases. During the first phase participants were familiarized in the experimental procedure and their 1 RM was evaluated for the selected exercise. Seven days later, during the second visit they performed the proposed testing procedure including the 1 RM reassessments.

All participants were required to refrain from any high-intensity exercise on the day before testing to reduce the possible effects of decreased performance (Gullich and Schmidtbleicher, 1996).

Maximal Strength Evaluation. The 1 repetition maximum (1RM) was determined using a half back squat exercise. Initially, participants executed a general warm up and afterwards a specific one including submaximal lifting performance of the selected exercise at 50%, 60%, 70% and 80% of the predicted 1 R M The relevant repetitions for each selected intensity were 15, 12, 8 and 3 respectively (three set per selected intensity). Afterwards, resistance was gradually increased to a critical value 5% below the expected 1 R M After each successful performance the intensity was gradually increased approximately by 2%, until the participant failed to lift the load. Failure was defined when participants were not able to execute the full range of motion of the selected exercise on at least 2 attempts. The interval between repetitions was 3 min. For the final estimation of 1RM 3-6 trials were performed. All testing procedures were closely supervised and encouraged according to the American College of Sports Medicine guidelines (2000).

Back half squat at 90. The Smith machine, which was used in the present study, has adjustable brackets, which do not allow the bar to travel past a set point. During the familiarization session, the brackets were positioned to allow each subject to attain a knee angle of 90^o. Participants positioned themselves under the bar, in an upright position, looking forward, firmly grasping the bar by the two hands and supporting it upon their shoulders. Participants were then instructed to lower themselves, flexing the hip, knee and ankle joints, while maintaining a neutral position of the spine. Both heels were required to have permanent contact with the ground throughout the movement. Knee angle was evaluated by a goniometer, with the brackets positioned below the bar to prevent any further descent below the specified 90^o. After that the participant raised himself to the upright position with the lower limbs completely extended. The position of the brackets was recorded for subsequent testing sessions.

Running Velocity (RV). RV was evaluated by using 4 pairs of photocells and reflectors (Tag Heuer) connected with an electronic timer. They were placed at shoulders height and were positioned at the start and at the 10, 20 and 30m runaway. Running trials were executed starting from a standing start position.

Experimental design

The participants performed a general warming up program including 10 min cycling on a Monark cycling ergometer and stretching exercises. After that they preformed a specific warm up including few running with sumbaximal and maximal speed for the selected distances. Afterwards, they performed four maximal trials with a 3min interval between the m The best trial (pre-best) was recorded for further comparisons.

In terms of resistance training, 10x1 at 90% of 1 RM were performed with a 3min interval between them according to Chadwick (2001). Three min after resistance training, four maximal running trials (30m) were performed with 3min interval between the m

The experimental procedure was conducted in a sport hall area with an ambient temperature varying 25-28⁰C.

Statistical analyses

 Four separate one-way repeated measures analyses of variance were conducted on each depended variable (0-10m, 10-20m, 20-30m, and 0-30m). The Tukey post hoc procedure was used to detect significant differences between the five measures (pre-best, post-3´, post-6´, post-9´, and post-12´). The best value of the four pre-training trials was used as pre-measure value (pre-best). For all statistical analyses the level of significance was set at p ≤ .05.

Results

Table 1

Means and standard errors for all measures

Distance     Measure 0-10m 10-20m 20-30m 0-30m Pre-best 1.89 ± .02 1.35 ± .03 1.27 ± .03 4.53 ± .08 Post-3´ 1.90 ± .03 1.36 ± .02 1.28 ± .02 4.55 ± .08 Post-6´ 1.84 ± .02 1.33 ± .02 1.26 ± .02 4.44 ± .06 Post-9´ 1.82 ± .01 1.32 ± .02 1.24 ± .02 4.40 ± .06 Post-12´ 1.81 ± .02 1.30 ± .01 1.22 ± .02 4.34 ± .05

Results for 0-10m

A quick perusal of the means showed that the best score was post-12 followed by post-9, post-6, and pre-best, while the lowest score was post-3 (Figure 1). A repeated ANOVA for the 0-10m scores revealed significant differences among the five measures (F4,52 = 11.62, p < 0.01). The Tukey post-hoc test indicated that post-12, post-9, and post-6 were significantly better compared to post-3 and pre-best (best of the four pre-measures).

 Results for 10-20m

 Post-12 showed the best mean followed by post-9, post-6, and pre-best (Figure 2). The ANOVA for repeated measures on the 10-20m scores revealed significant differences among the five measures (F4,52 = 5.86, p < 0.01). The Tukey test indicated that post-12 was significantly better than post-3 and pre-best.

Figure 1 - Sprint times (sec) of 0-10 m *: significant differences between the measures

Figure 2 - Sprint times (sec) of 10-20 m *. Significant difference between post-12 and post-3/pre-best

Results of 20-30m

 The best score was post-12 followed by post-9, post-6, pre-best, and post-3 (Figure 3). The ANOVA for repeated measures on the 10-20m scores revealed significant differences among the five measures (F4,52 = 7.56, p < 0.01). Tukey showed that post-12 was significantly better compared to post-6, post-3, and pre-best.

Figure 3 - Sprint times (sec) of 20-30 m *: significant differences between post-12 and post-6/post-3/pre-best

Results of 0-30m

 The best score showed post-12 followed by post-9, post-6 and pre-best. Post-3 showed the worst mean (Figure 4). The repeated measure for 0-30m revealed significant differences among the five measures (F4,52 = 15.51, p < 0.01). The Tukey test indicated that post-12 was significantly better compared to post-6, post-3, and pre-best. Furthermore, post-9 and post-6 were significantly better compared to pre-best and post-3.

Figure 4 - Sprint times (sec) of 0-30 m *: significant differences between post-12 and post-6/post-3/pre-best. +: significant differences between post-6/post-9 and pre-best/post-3

Discussion

The main finding of this study was that running velocity increased 6 min after a high resistance stimulus, and this effect lasted at least 12min. This acute effect was different in the intermediate running phases. Specifically, initial acceleration (0-10m distance) improved after the 6^th min, while in the other intermediate phases performance improved in the 12^th minute.

Previous studies pointed out that functional warm up (Stewart et al., 2003, Fergusson et al., 2002) and HRT training (Grand et al., 2002) increased the power output of various dynamic actions (e.g., jumping performance). Regarding the acute effect of warming up on power performance, the underlying mechanisms seem to be mainly located within muscles and to a lesser extent to the neural mechanism (Stewart et al., 2003). It was reported (Berg and Ekdlom, 1979, Stewart et al., 2003) that the increased temperature after warm up caused an increase in ATPase activity and in the rate of cross-bridge cycling, leading to an enhancement of muscle shortening velocity. This procedure affected mainly the very fast dynamic movements but not the slow velocity dynamic and isometric actions (Ferguson et al., 2002, Stewart et al., 2003).

According to the literature, the mechanisms responsible for the enhancement of power output after HRT are mainly neuronal (Gullich and Schmidtbleicher, 1995, 1996). Specifically, the candidate mechanisms for such procedure could probably be the enhancement of motor output, which was observed after a high intensity artificial (i.e post tetanic facilitation Hamada et al., 2000, Trimble and Harp, 1998) or voluntary (Allmann, 1985, Gullich and Schmidtbleicher, 1995, 1996) stimulus. Another factor that could also explain this phenomenon is the transfer of strength gain to a motor task performance (Bobbert and Soest, 1994, Delecluse, 1997, Sleivert et al., 1995). The obtained results showed that HRT had a positive acute effect on RV. This finding is in alignment with previous studies. Specifically, Kotzamanidis, et al. (2004) reported an enhancement of RV after a nine-week intervention progra m This program included in the same training session a high resistance stimulus combined with running performance. Additionally, Chadwick et al., (2001) reported a positive acute effect of HRT on cyclic velocity.

Moreover, based on the obtained results of the running test (0-30m), it seems that the period of 6 minutes after a HRT is a sufficient interval to cause an optimal acute effect on RV. This finding is in the same line with other studies, which reported positive acute affect in cyclic velocity (Chadwick et al., 2001) and jumping performance (Ebben and Watts, 1998) within an interval of 5 min. On the contrary, the HRT did not have a positive effect on RV at a 3min interval. This could be explained due to the occurred fatigue, as it was reported for jumping performance as well (Young et al., 1995, Jensen and Ebben, 2003).

Another interesting finding of the current study was that the velocity in 0-30m distance was gradually increased up to the 12^th min. This finding is indirectly supported by previous studies (Gullich and Schmidtbleicher, 1995, 1996), which showed that after a maximal isometric contraction neuronal activation was enhanced for a 20min period. Moreover, Chadwick et al., (2001) reported that 20 min after HRT no effect was observed on cyclic velocity. Thus, it would be interesting to be examined whether this acute effect of HRT on RV causes enhancement in longer periods than the period used in the current study.

Moreover, the obtained results indicated a selective effect of HRT on RV phases. Specifically the initial acceleration phase (0-10m) was enhanced 6 min after the HRT while the other running phases 12 min. This selective PAP effect could be attributed to differences which were observed between running velocities phases such as (a) the activation of muscles activation which are involved in running performance and (b) in kinematic and dynamic parameters of the aforementioned phases (Delecluse 1997, Mero et al., 1992). Additionally, Sleivert and Taingahue (2004) reported that the initial acceleration is mainly affected by concentric action while the other intermediate phases are affected by additional factors such as muscle stiffness (Chellye and Denis, 2001).

In summary, it seems that a preceding high intensity resistance stimulus affects running performance positively. But this effect is selective for the running phases. This PAP could be attributed to neuronal factors and to the learning transfer of resistance stimulus on running velocity. Furthermore, it seems that the time appearance of the acute effect of HRT stimulus is depended on the structure of the action of the selected phase of running performance, since it appears earlier to the initial acceleration compared to the rest intermediate phases of running velocity. Taking under consideration that the initial acceleration is enhanced earlier than the other intermediate phases, the protocol of this study could be useful for various sports that require fast acceleration in very short distances varying between 5-10m (e.g. team sports). Furthermore, it would be of great interest if future studies examine the extent to which the fitness level differentiates the acute effect of HRT on RV.

 Abstract

 The purpose of this study was to investigate the Post Activation Potentiation effect after a Heavy Resistance Training (HRT) on Running Velocity (RV). Fourteen physical education students (age 18-23y) run 30m dash and the phases of 0-10m, 10-20m, 20-30m and 0-30m were used to evaluate RV. Resistance training consisted of 10 repetitions at 90% of their 1R M Running tests were performed five times: 3 min prior the HRT, and 3, 6, 9 and 12 min after the HRT. Results showed that RV improved 6min after the HRT. Furthermore, the HRT had a selective effect at the intermediate running phases. Performance on the acceleration phase (0-10m distance) was positively affected after the 6^thmin, while the other phases (10-20m, 20-30m distances) were significantly improved after the 12^th min. The obtained results indicate that the specific HRT and 6 min time interval between HRT and sprint have a positive effect in sprint performance.

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