Static Stretching and Combined Stretching and Post-Activation Potentiation: An Evaluation of Their Acute Effects on Bench Press Strength

The optimization of warm-up strategies is essential to maximize athletic performance, especially in resistance training. While prolonged static stretching is associated with reduced power output, post-activation potentiation is known to increase it. However, the effects of short-term static stretching and its interaction with post-activation potentiation remain unclear. This study examined the acute effects of short-term static stretching alone and static stretching combined with post-activation potentiation on bench press power in trained individuals. The experimental method was used in this study. Twenty-four resistance-trained males successfully completed four sessions. The findings showed that static stretching alone significantly increased both peak and mean power compared to baseline. Combining static stretching with post-activation potentiation further increased the peak and mean power compared to baseline, but not by significantly more than static stretching alone. As a main conclusion, short-term static stretching can notably increase upper body strength, and although the addition of post-activation potentiation provides a numerical benefit, it does not outperform static stretching alone in this regard. Both static stretching and static stretching + post-activation potentiation may be viable warm-up strategies to improve acute bench press performance in trained individuals.