title: Should postactivation potentiation be the goal of your warm-up?
abstract: Athletes expect improved high-intensity performance following warm-up, and postactivation potentiation (PAP) is assumed to contribute to this improvement. However, the scientific evidence supporting this assumption is incomplete. PAP is known to result from prior muscle activation, and should enhance maximal effort contractions of very short duration. However, PAP dissipates over 4-6 min after the PAP-inducing contraction, so PAP should not contribute to enhanced performance more than 5 min after the warm-up.
authors.affiliation: University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada. brian@kin.ucalgary.ca
authors.forename: Brian R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Macintosh
authors.forename: Marie-Eve
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Robillard
authors.forename: Elias K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Tomaras
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D054874:Athletic Performance; D006801:Humans; D017774:Long-Term Potentiation; D009119:Muscle Contraction; D018763:Muscle Fatigue; D005082:Physical Exertion; D013997:Time Factors