Date

4-29-2026

Department

School of Health Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Health Sciences (PhD)

Chair

Michael Olson

Keywords

Olympic lifting, post-activation potentiation, pitching velocity, TrackMan, baseball performance, crossover study, PAP warm-up, collegiate baseball, kinetic chain, neuromuscular potentiation

Disciplines

Physiology | Sports Sciences

Abstract

This quantitative study evaluated the acute effect of an Olympic lifting-based post-activation potentiation (PAP) warm-up on fastball performance in collegiate baseball pitchers. Using a randomized, counterbalanced within-subjects crossover design (N = 13), each participant completed two warm-up conditions in a single indoor session: (a) a standard dynamic baseball warm-up and (b) the same standard warm-up followed by a brief Olympic-lifting PAP sequence (1 x 3 clean pulls at 80% predicted one-repetition maximum [1RM], 1 x 3 power cleans at 80% predicted 1RM, and 1 x 3 power jerks at 60% predicted 1RM, with 2-minute rests between sets) and a 3-minute recovery period. Condition order was randomized and a 5-minute seated rest separated the two pitching trials. After each condition, pitchers threw 10 maximal-effort fastballs from a regulation mound. TrackMan technology captured pitch velocity, spin rate, and induced vertical and horizontal break, and strike percentage was operationalized as the proportion of pitches that contacted a standardized strike target. Paired analyses indicated no statistically significant differences between the standard and PAP conditions for velocity, spin rate, vertical break, horizontal break, or strike percentage, with small effect sizes. Under the loads, volume, and recovery intervals used in this protocol, the Olympic lifting PAP sequence did not produce a group-level acute performance advantage over a standard warm-up, although individual responses varied.

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