comparison of the effectiveness of traditional and post-activation potentiation warm-up methods on emg variables of selected lower limb muscles during squat jump

Purpose: a proper warm-up method can be used as a strategy to improve the performance of athletes in various sports fields. the present study aimed to compare the effect of two traditional and post-activation potentiation (pap) warm-up methods on electromyographic variables of lower limb muscles during squat jumps. methods: fourteen trained male athletes randomly performed three different protocols: traditional warm-up method, dynamic post-activation potentiation (pd) by implementing two dynamic halfsquat repetitions with 90% 1rm (one rep maximum), and static post-activation potentiation (ps) warm-up by implementing two static half-squat repetitions with 90% 1rm. vertical jump tests were performed five minutes after implementing each protocol (recovery time). emg activity of the rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, biceps femoris, semi-tendinous, medial gastrocnemius, and tibialis anterior was recorded. also, the co-contraction index and median frequencies were calculated. repeated measures analysis of variance (anova) was used for data analysis (p<0.05). results: the results of this study showed that the activity level of all muscles in the concentric and flight phases, the co-contraction index of the ankle and knee joints, and also median frequencies of rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, semi-tendinous, biceps femoris, and medial gastrocnemius significantly changed in the pd and ps warm-up methods compared to the traditional warm-up method (p≥0.05). also, the activity level of rectus femoris, vastus medialis, and biceps femoris muscles had a significant difference between the pd and ps compared to the traditional warm-up method in the eccentric phases (p≥0.05). conclusion: according to the study results, the pap warm-up method can improve the performance of athletes in training and competition conditions.