Acute Effect of Heavy Load Back Squat and Foam Rolling on Vertical Jump Performance

Purpose: In a rested state, foam rolling has been shown to improve blood flow to the working tissues. When inducing post-activation performance enhancement (PAPE), previous research suggests a longer recovery period between the conditioning activity and performance assessment in weaker participants (back squat <2.0 × body mass). It is possible that a cool-down effect may take place between the conditioning activity and performance assessment for these participants. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was to determine if foam rolling could help mitigate any cool-down effect to help participants capitalize on PAPE. Methods: Seventeen physically active participants completed baseline jumps followed by rest (control), back squat exercise (heavy squats), rest and foam rolling (FR), and heavy squats followed by foam rolling (combo). VJ performance was assessed three times post-treatment with 2 min between each assessment. Results: VJ height and impulse were greater at baseline than at any other time point across all sessions (p < .001). Impulse for the control and FR sessions were greater than the squats session (p < .015). Impulse for the combo session was less than the FR session (p = .04). Conclusions: Foam rolling did not have a significant impact on attenuating any cool-down effect. In addition, our heavy squats protocol appears to induce too much fatigue that possibly masked the effects of PAPE.