Effect of acute dietary nitrate intake on post-activation performance enhancement in male long jumpers.

Authors

Zhanming Xu, Jiawei Sun, Shiyi Xu, Jianing Gu, Shuwen Jiang, Jing Guo, Ju Lin, Laikang Yu

Published in

Frontiers in nutrition. Volume 13. Pages 1823053. Epub Jun 25, 2026.

Abstract

This study aimed to determine whether acute dietary nitrate supplementation enhances the post-activation performance enhancement (PAPE) response induced by squats performed with a 5% velocity loss (VL) threshold.
A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design was employed. 20 male long jumpers completed three experimental conditions: placebo (PLA), 5%VL, and beetroot juice (BRJ) + 5%VL. Approximately 2 h following the ingestion of 100 ml of BRJ containing 9.22 mmol of nitrate or a nitrate-depleted placebo, participants performed a squat conditioning protocol at 85% their one-repetition maximum (1RM), employing a 5%VL threshold. Countermovement jump (CMJ) performance was assessed at baseline and at 4, 8, 12, and 16 min post-intervention.
At 4 min post-intervention, all three groups showed significant improvements from baseline in CMJ height, peak power output (PPO), and momentum (P < 0.05), with no significant differences observed between the groups. The total number of squat repetitions performed across two sets was significantly higher in the BRJ + 5%VL group compared to both the 5%VL (P = 0.002) and PLA groups (P = 0.027).
Squats performed with a 5% VL threshold effectively elicited a PAPE response in male long jumpers, resulting in improved short-term explosive performance. In contrast, acute BRJ supplementation did not enhance the PAPE response or further improve single-jump performance. However, BRJ supplementation was associated with a greater number of squat repetitions completed at 85%1RM, suggesting a potential benefit for squat repetition tolerance and strength-endurance capacity. These findings indicate that low-volume activation protocols may be useful for acutely enhancing explosive performance, whereas acute dietary nitrate supplementation appears unlikely to augment PAPE but may contribute to improved resistance exercise tolerance.

PMID:
42428607
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 10 Jul 2026.

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