Learning from Baseball
If you have ever played baseball, you know that baseball players like to do warmup swings with a weighted ring at the end of the bat. A player will then take the weight off the end of the bat right before they go up to bat. When the weight is removed, the bat feels lighter so that the batter has better bat speed. This same concept can be applied to lifting weights. The technical term for this phenomenon is referred to by some as PAP which stands for Post Activation Potentiation. It simply means that if you work up to a heavy weight and then take some weight off to do a lighter set, the lighter set will feel easier than normal because your nervous system has been fully engaged (or turned on) from the previous set when you used heavier weights. I’ll give you two methods of turning on your nervous system by using the Post Activation Potentiation phenomenon.
Using Post Activation Potentiation
In the last article, I discussed how to pyramid your poundages with warm-up sets without burning out your muscles before you reach an actual work set. If you were to include Post Activation Potentiation with the pyramid method, you would add in one extra step during the pyramid process. The extra step would be to add an extra one or two warm-up sets with a very heavy weight for just one rep. After doing this, decrease the weight to the amount of weight you would normally use for your work set. You may find that after decreasing the weight that your work set feels lighter and easier. I’ll give a more thorough explanation.
If we go back to the last article where the pyramid method of increasing weight from one set to the next was discussed, the following example was given:
First set: 1 x 12 reps using 25% to 30% of your one rep max weight.
Second set: 1 x 8 reps using 35% to 40% of your one rep max weight
Third set: 1 x 5 reps using 50% to 55% of your one rep max weight
Forth set: 1 x 8 reps: Use a weight (70-75%) where you hit your marker rep on your 8th rep.
If a lifter were using Post Activation Potentiation, the first three sets would look exactly the same as the example listed above, but he would also add on a fourth and fifth warm-up set with heavier weights before decreasing the weight for his work set which would be his sixth. This example is shown below:
First set: 1 x 12 reps using 25% to 30% of your one rep max weight.
Second set: 1 x 8 reps using 35% to 40% of your one rep max weight
Third set: 1 x 5 reps using 50% to 55% of your one rep max weight
Fourth set: 1 x 1 reps using 75% of your one rep max weight
Fifth set: 1 x 1 reps using 80%-85% of your one rep max weight
Sixth set: 1 x 8 reps using a weight (70-75%) where you hit your marker rep on your 8th rep.
The weight should feel easier to lift when this warm-up sequence is used. I still want to emphasize that the warm-up sets should not cause fatigue or interfere with the work set that is done at 70%, but it should enhance the lifter’s ability to do the work-set. This method of warming up to a heavy weight and then cutting back in weight can also be very effective as a preparation method for speed work and explosive lifting with lighter weights.
Including a Heavy Lockout in the Warm-up
An optional method would be to do the first three warm-up sets as listed and then put your one rep max weight on the bar and do a one inch partial rep where you hold the bar in a lockout position for 3 to 5 seconds. This should turn on your nervous system so that it is fully activated. Follow this with a work set with a lighter weight within two minutes.
Using Post Activation Potentiation is not an essential element of achieving consistent strength gains, but it is something that you may find that improves the quality of your workouts. If you use Post Activation Potentiation in your warm-up, don’t overdo it with too much warming up and lose out on the quality of your actual work sets. Use it wisely. If you should choose to try it, and it makes a noticeable difference in your workout performance, it’s worth using on a regular basis. Best of Training to you.