Postactivation potentiation in elite young soccer players

The aim of this study was to investigate the acute effects of 16 different combinations to cause the postactivation potentiation (PAP) in elite young soccer players. Squat exercise in 4 different intensities (40%, 60%, 80%, and 100% one-repetition maximum [1RM]) was performed and its effects were evaluated in the performance of countermovement jump (CMJ), after 4 different recovery times (1, 3, 5, and 10 min). For this purpose, 25 young soccer players, underwent five experimental sessions. At the first session the control to determine 1RM in half-squat was carried out. The following four experimental sessions were comprised of four intensity combinations with four different recovery intervals in order to perform the CMJ test later, randomly determined and with 30-min interval between each combination. The conditions were compared using an analysis of variance with repeated measurements, followed by Bonferroni test, using 5% significance level (P<0.05). The different intensities investigated did not provide significant increases in CMJ height, but significant differences were noted in recovery time, where, at CMJ maximum height, 1-min interval was better than after 3 min (P<0.05), 5, and 10 min (P<0.001). On the average jump performances, 1-min interval resulted in better results (P<0.001) compared to other intervals. The 10-min recovery resulted in poorer performances compared to the other intervals (P<0.001). Our results indicate that regardless the intensity used in the half-squat exercise with elite young soccer players, the 1-min recovery time was more appropriate to promote an increase in vertical jump.