Abstract
The ability to develop muscular power is essential to the success of field-sport athletes due to its associated ability to augment jumping, sprinting, and agility performance. Accordingly, pursuit of training methods that are superior for the development of muscular power receive considerable attention and have become an integral component in the preparation of high performance athletes. Post-activation potentiation (PAP) is a phenomenon characterised by the acute facilitation of muscular performance in response to its contractile history that has gained significant attention for its potential to augment speed-strength performance (i.e., performance that requires both a velocity and force component). The expression of PAP is dictated by the delicate interplay between fatigue and potentiation that occurs in response to prior contractile activity. In order to be successfully applied to sports performance, a comprehensive understanding of the factors that modulate the fatigue-potentiation relationship, and therefore the expression of PAP is required.Purpose: The primary purpose of this series of studies was to investigate the factors that modulate the expression of post-activation potentiation and the ensuing implications on the enhancement of muscular power in highly trained field-sport athletes. Methods: The first experimental study (Chapter 5) sought to establish the efficacy of jump squats as an ecological measure of sports performance capable of reflecting muscle potentiation. This was followed by a study designed to investigate methodological considerations in the assessment of the time-course of potentiation and to elucidate if discrete jump squat kinetic and kinematic variables demonstrate a diverse temporal profile (Chapter 6).
Original language | English |
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Qualification | Doctor of Philosophy |
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Award date | 01 Nov 2013 |
Place of Publication | Australia |
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Publication status | Published - 2013 |