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Show COLLEGE OF HEALTH EFFECTS OF WARM UP ON CYCLING POWER Nicole Leonard (James Martin) Department of Exercise and Sport Science University of Utah Warm ups are often used to increase power in cycling. There is controversy over what form of warm up is the most effective. Post activation potentiation (PAP) is a warm up phenomenon found in other physical activities that increases performance after a few high intensity trials some period of time before the performance. This has not yet been studied in cycling. The purpose of m y experiment was to determine whether a high intensity warm up is more beneficial to power than one of lower intensity. I compared a maximal intensity warm up protocol, intended to elicit PAP, to a control warm up in trained cyclists. For the PAP inducing protocol, subjects performed a 5 minute basic warm up at 90 rpm on an isokinetic ergometer followed by two preliminary power tests on an inertial load ergometer. Next, they performed a maximum effort sprint at 60 rpm for 15 seconds. This is a low pedaling rate and high force condition for cycling. After 6,8, and 10 minutes, additional power tests were performed on the inertial load ergometer. The control protocol performed on another day was the same except that the sprint was replaced with a 30 second effort at half of their personal maximum power at 60 rpm, thus producing the same amount of work. Results indicated that the PAP warm up increased the post power tests by an average of 2.3% and power decreased by an average of 1.3% after the control warm up. I conclude that the higher intensity warm up was more beneficial to maximum power than the one of lower intensity. Relating my study to PAP found in other activities, there was a strong trend of increased power after the high intensity trial that will likely become significant after more subjects are tested. This would suggest that PAP can contribute to an increase in power in cycling as well as it does in other sports. Change in Maximum Power 4.00% 3.00% 2.00% 1.00% 0.00% -1.00% -2.00% -3.00% I PAP I Control Nicole Leonard James Martin |
