Does the Repeated-Bout Effect Influence Post-Activation Performance Enhancement in Recreational Runners?

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This study examined how a low dose of an eccentric-oriented lunge exercise could induce the repeated-bout effect (RBE) and affect the subsequent post-activation performance enhancement (PAPE) in recreational runners. Methods: Twenty male recreational runners (32.1 ± 2.8 years; 173.4 ± 6.1 cm; 73.3 ± 11.5 kg; 57.8 ± 7.2 mL·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹) were divided into control (N = 10) and experimental (N = 10) groups. In the first and fourth weeks, the groups were assessed for jump capacity, dynamic balance, and submaximal running kinematics before and after an incremental shuttle-run test until exhaustion. The experimental group was also submitted to two sessions of the eccentric-oriented lunge exercise (3 sets of 10 repetitions with 2 min of passive recovery) in the second and third weeks. Results: We observed that the first session promoted muscle damage, which was significantly (p < .05) reduced after the second training session, thus indicating an RBE. Meanwhile, there was no effect of the RBE on dynamic balance and submaximal running kinematics in the post-intervention. However, there was a significant increase in countermovement jump height (p = .008) for the experimental group when compared to the control group, although no PAPE was observed. Conclusions: The current results demonstrate that a simple, low-dose eccentric-oriented exercise may induce an RBE, leading to reduced muscle damage and a possibly improved lower limbs’ muscle power in recreational runners. However, the absence of PAPE effects suggests that the RBE may not directly influence the potentiation/fatigue balance after fatiguing running exercises.

KEYWORDS:

• Jump capacity
• muscle damage
• post-activation potentiation
• running

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the subjects for all their commitment.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Daniel Boullosa was supported by Grant [RYC2021-031098-I] funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, by “European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR”, and by a productivity research grant (317126/2021-0) from CNPq (Brazil).