Abstract: An acute increase in maximum strength, power, or speed following a conditioning contraction known and post activation performance enhancement has been previously determined to be better performed when the initial exercise is of the same movement pattern. However, no research has been performed studying the effects of a hex-bar farmer’s walk on subsequent sprinting speeds. Therefore, this research examined the effects of different loads of a hex-bar farmer’s walk completed at 20-meters and their effect on subsequent 20-meter sprinting performance.
Through a randomized and counterbalanced design, resistance and running trained men and women (n = 12) performed 5 20-meter sprints (with 10-meter splits) at baseline, 4, 8, 12, and 16-minutes after a body weight control (C), light farmer’s walk (LFW) and heavy farmer’s walk (HFW), utilizing 70% and 80% users hex-bar deadlift 1-RM respectively. Mean sprint velocities over 10-meter and 20-meter distances were Similar at baseline. At 20-meters, sprint velocity significantly increased during the LFW condition at 8 minutes (M = 5, 10, SE=0.2, p=0.010), when compared with C (M = 5.01, SE = 0.12, t(11) = 3.08, p<0.05, r = 0.97). No change to sprinting velocity was witnessed across either of the C conditions or HFW conditions. These results help to substantiate the use of a load at near maximum capacities during the warm-up preceding sprinting to acutely increase muscular force.
(This also applies to the use of a load, such as the hex-bar farmer’s walk, completed immediately preceding the sprinting action to increase muscular force. An acute increase in maximum strength, power, or speed following such a conditioning contraction, known and post activation performance enhancement, has been determined to be more effective when the initial exercise is of the same movement pattern (Chimenti, et. al. 2023).
Source: Chimenti, Jeffrey. Changes to Sprinting Velocity Through Post Activation Potentiation with a Hex-Bar Farmer’s Walk The William Paterson University of New Jersey. Nov. 2022. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2023. 30244479.
