Post-Activation Performance Enhancement as a Strategy to Improve Bench Press Performance to Volitional Failure

Post-Activation Performance Enhancement (PAPE) has been commonly used as a strategy to improve acute force production, although its effects on performance to volitional failure are still unknown. The aim of this study was to analyse the influence of a PAPE protocol on bench press performance in a training set to volitional failure in trained individuals. Fourteen participants with at least two years of resistance training experience (age 24.57 ± 2.7 years; body mass 77.47 ± 12.2 kg; body height 174.21 ± 7.4 cm; medium grip bench press 1 repetition maximum (1RM): 101.6 ± 25.8 kg), of which 14 completed the control protocol and 12 completed the experimental protocol, took part in the study. After a standardised warm-up, participants completed three sessions: 1) a 1RM test for the medium grip bench press, 2) a control condition consisting of a set of the bench press to volitional failure with 80% 1RM (CON), and 3) an experimental condition consisting of a set of the bench press to volitional failure with 80% 1RM after a PAPE protocol (PAPE). The PAPE protocol consisted of a heavy set of one repetition with their 93% 1RM as the conditioning activity. Under the PAPE condition, participants performed significantly more repetitions than under the CON condition (p = 0.008, ES = 0.5, small effect), their last repetition was slower (p = 0.02, ES = 0.52, small effect) and presented a higher velocity loss (p = 0.004, ES = 0.75, moderate effect). These results suggest that a traditional PAPE protocol improves the number of repetitions performed to volitional failure.