The Effect of Preliminary Activity on Maximal Motor Performance

Abstract

This study assessed the effect of five selected treatments of preliminary activity on performance in the 60-yard dash, the cricket ball throw for distance, the jump reach, and the bicycle ergometer test of leg speed. The effect of such preliminary activity at different levels of achievement in the same performance tests was also investigated. An experimental sample of 15- to 17-year-old schoolboys (N = 45) underwent a testing program involving four consecutive days, with two sessions daily. On the basis of measures of pretreatment status, the subjects were matched into groups and subsequently exposed to the treatments. The treatments included identical maximal, identical submaximal, general strengthening, general flexibility and control routines. The statistical analysis of the results involved analysis of variance techniques. There was no evidence available indicating either that the treatments had an effect on the chosen motor performances or that there was a difference in this response at certain levels of achievement. As no measures of physiological function were taken, an assessment of the likely reasons for these findings could not be made.