EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT POST-ACTIVATION POTENTIATION STRATEGIES ON EXPLOSIVE PERFORMANCE IN FOOTBALL PLAYERS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW.

PAP Strategies in Football Players. Systematic Review.

Abstract

There is increasing evidence that strength strategies before competition improve performance in explosive actions in football. A time delay between strength strategies and competition could nullify or favor the positive metabolic effects of the Post-Activation Potentiation. The purpose of this review article is to systematic search for published articles that investigated the effect of Post-Activation Potentiation (PAP) in football players.

A comprehensive literature, electronic search was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines on the following databases: PubMed and Web of Science. Keywords such as “PAP” or “Post-Activation Potentiation” and “Football” or “soccer” and “Strength Training” or “priming” were use in the primary search. The search applied to articles published between January 2003 to March 2023 and restricted to English language.

The comprehensive search identified 13 eligible articles that met the criteria for the review. Players performing maximal strength, plyometric, eccentric or maximal isometric exercises improve performance in explosive actions such as sprinting, jumping, agility and deceleration.

The use of different potentiation techniques, with optimal rest times, could increases jump height and length, and decreases sprint, agility, and deceleration time. These strategies could be interesting to improve the athlete's performance.