The Reliability of the Prowler in High School Male Football Players

Horizontal plane muscular power output is important in sports such as football especially for down lineman who must engage an opponent and push them for a number of yards. The Prowler resistance sled is a commonly used apparatus that aids in the development of horizontal plane muscular power output. However, there is limited documentation regarding the Prowler＇s role as a strength and conditioning training modality as well as its potential use as an assessment tool for measuring horizontal plane muscular power output. Hence, the purpose of this study was to assess the reliability of the Prowler sled push in High School male football players. High School male football players （n = 16） performed two trials of the Prowler sled push 91 kilograms （200 pounds） for a distance of 9.1 meters （10 yards）. Each trial was timed with a handheld stop watch with a 2-3 minute rest period between trials. The trial 1 and 2 scores were 5.14 ±0.95 and 5.15 ±0.88 seconds respectively. The interclass and intraclass reliability coefficients were r = 0.93 and ICC = 0.93. The standard error of the measure was SEre = 0.25 seconds with 90% confidence limits Of UL： 0.36, LL： 0.20. The mean difference between trials was 0.01 ±0.36 seconds （90% confidence limits Of UL： 0.17, LL： -0.14）. Within the parameters of this study, the Prowler sled push is a highly reliable field test for measuring horizontal plane muscular power output.

Post Activation Potentiation in North American High School Football Players

Post activation potentiation （PAP） is an acute enhancement of muscular power production resulting fi＇om a high intensity potentiating exercise. Practical applications of the PAP phenomena as a warmup strategy are the focus of ongoing research. This study compared the effects of a dynamic and a PAP warm up strategy on speed and horizontal plane muscular power output. High School male football players （n = 16） participated in a repeated measures cross over design study consisting of 3 testing days. Day 1： one repetition maximum （1-RM） back squats were established. Day 2： half of the participants completed a dynamic warmup consisting of dynamic movements （ex. high knees, butt kickers, frog jumps, cherry pickers, lateral slide, karaokes, back pedal） while the other half of the participants performed a PAP warmup consisting of back squats culminating in a set of 4 repetitions at 85% of 1-RM. Following the warmups （4-minutes）, the participants performed 3 trials of a weighted sled push 91 kilograms （200 pounds） over a 9.1 meter （10 yards） linear path. Following the sled pushes, the participants then performed three trials of 18.2 meter （20 yards） sprints. Day 3： participants crossed over with respect to the warmup procedures and again performed the three sled push and sprint trials. Dependent t-tests were used to compare the sled push and sprint times between warm up conditions. Both the 18.2 meter sprint （P 〈 0.01） and the 91 kilogram sled push （P 〈 0.01） showed a significant improvement when PAP was utilized as a warmup, rather than the dynamic warmup. Within the parameters of the study, it is concluded that PAP as a warm up strategy enhances sprint ability and horizontal plane muscular power output.