Tuesday, January 7, 2025

Clench your jaw for more bat speed?

The Effects of Concurrent Activation Potentiation on Bat Swing Velocity of Division II College Softball Athletes

Mace, A. P., & Allen, C. R. (2020). The effects of concurrent activation potentiation on bat swing velocity of division II college softball athletes. International Journal of Exercise Science13(1), 1630.




This study investigated the effects of concurrent activation potentiation (CAP) on bat swing velocity (BSV) in Division II college softball athletes, employing a Zepp sensor to measure the swing's velocity. Thirteen female athletes performed swings using two conditions: with maximal jaw clenching and with relaxed jaw muscles. The Zepp sensor recorded a mean swing velocity of 28.02 m/s (62.68 mph) in the relaxed condition compared to 29.42 m/s (65.82 mph) during the jaw clenching condition, revealing a statistically significant increase of 1.4 m/s (3.14 mph) (p = 0.003). This study demonstrated that maximal jaw clenching effectively enhances BSV, suggesting that athletes may improve their hitting performance through this simple yet impactful technique. Importantly, individual variations in response to the jaw clenching strategy were noted, with ten out of thirteen participants showing improved BSV, highlighting the necessity for athletes to experiment with RVC methods suitable for their unique performance needs. These findings underscore the potential of CAP as a practical ergogenic strategy that can be easily adopted in training for enhanced athletic outcomes across various sports requiring powerful swings.

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