Post-Activation Performance Enhancement in Sprinters: Effects of Hard Versus Sand Surfaces

This study aimed to compare the post-activation performance enhancement induced by successive drop-jumps performed on hard and sand surfaces in sprint and jump performance of top-level sprinters. Athletes were tested on two occasions. On each visit they were allocated to one of the experimental protocols, which consisted of performing 2×5 drop-jumps from a box with the height of 60-cm on hard or sand surfaces in randomized order, seven days apart. Prior to and 7 and 15-min after executing drop-jumps, sprinters performed countermovement jumps and 60-m sprint tests. Differences between sprinting splits and surfaces were assessed using a two-way analysis of variance with repeated measures. No significant differences in jump height or sprint time were observed (p>0.05), regardless of the surface used (i.e., hard or sand) during the conditioning activity (effect sizes [95% confidence intervals] ranging from 0.01 [-0.84;0.84] to 0.44 [-0.42;1.27]). Performing drop-jumps on sand or hard surfaces immediately before maximum sprinting bouts does not provide any advantage or disadvantage to top-level sprinters. Sprint coaches may prescribe short-plyometric training activities on sand surfaces even close to competitions, bearing in mind that this strategy will not compromise sprint-specific performance.

Pereira, L. A., Boullosa, D., Moura, T. B. M. A., Mercer, V. P., Fernandes, V., Bishop, C., Loturco, I. (2022). Post-Activation Performance Enhancement in Sprinters: Effects of Hard Versus Sand Surfaces. Journal of Human Kinetics, 82, 173-180. https://doi.org/10.2478/hukin-2022-0062

Pereira, L. A., Boullosa, D., Moura, T. B. M. A., Mercer, V. P., Fernandes, V., Bishop, C., and Loturco, I. (2022). Post-Activation Performance Enhancement in Sprinters: Effects of Hard Versus Sand Surfaces. Journal of Human Kinetics, 82, pp.173-180. https://doi.org/10.2478/hukin-2022-0062

Pereira, Lucas et al. “Post-Activation Performance Enhancement in Sprinters: Effects of Hard Versus Sand Surfaces.” Journal of Human Kinetics, vol. 82, 2022, pp. 173-180. doi:10.2478/hukin-2022-0062.

Pereira LA, Boullosa D, Moura TB M A, Mercer VP, Fernandes V, Bishop C et al. Post-Activation Performance Enhancement in Sprinters: Effects of Hard Versus Sand Surfaces. Journal of Human Kinetics. 2022;82:173-180. https://doi.org/10.2478/hukin-2022-0062