Comparison of potentiation post-activation responses in two dominant hip strength exercises

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether an anterior-posterior (hip thrust [HT]) movement generated higher post-activation potentiation (PAP) levels on broad jump (BJ) in comparison to an axial-component exercise (deadlift [DL]). Fifteen resistance-trained rugby players participated in this study (age, 22.7 ± 1.6; body weight, 89.9 ± 10.6; height, 181.8 ± 6.5; BMI, 27.2 ± 2.3; 1RM DL 1RM, 117 ± 20.6; 1RM HT, 133.3 ± 21.5. Subjects attended four sessions to the laboratory with seven days between each session. Anthropometric measurements and one-repetition maximum (1-RM) estimations for HT and DL (grip width 72 cm) were performed in the first and third sessions, while PAP tests for both exercise protocols were performed during the second and fourth sessions (subjects performed two repetitions at 90% 1-RM with 8 minutes of recovery between HT and DL exercises, and then the BJ was performed). Data were analyzed by a general lineal model (GLM) with repeated measures and a delta analysis (Δ = post – pre) was performed to determine the 95% confidence interval (95% CI) for the mean. The GLM showed both significant difference and large effect size on BJ per Time [pre vs. post] (P > 0.001; ηp2 = 0.990), but no differences on Time x Protocol interaction (P = 0.452; ηp2=0.020) or per Group (0.748; ηp2 = 0.004) were found. There were significant changes [X ± SD, CIs 95%] on BJ after HT (5.2±5.6, 2.1–8.3; P = 0.03) and DL (6.9±5.3, 4.0–9.9: P < 0.001); however, no difference was found between the exercise protocols (P = 0.748). Our results suggest that DL and HP provided with large effects on PAP to improve the BJ outcomes, but there was no difference between these exercises.