Assignment 1.3 Peer Review – Post-Activation Potentiation

To: Hilton Ma

From: Claire Eccles

Subject: Peer review of Post-Activation Potentiation

 

Hi Hilton,

I hope you are enjoying your evening. I have peer reviewed the term that you submitted last week and enjoyed getting the opportunity to understand a definition in your field. Good job with the assignment! Please continue reading to see my thoughts and suggestions.

 

Initial Impressions:

My initial impression and understanding of your definition was that triggering post-activation potentiation leads to an increase in physical performance and muscle ability. Particularly in exercises that require explosive muscle movements. In addition, there is a fair amount of biology that is behind explaining how certain exercises affect the muscles in our body.

As I read your definition, I had three questions come to mind:

1. How long should a recovery period be between exercises?
2. Is PAP beneficial for non-explosive movements?
3. Is PAP the same as warming up your muscles to get them activated?

Comments about Purpose and Audience

Your purpose of your definition was clearly stated in your criteria. The only point I would suggest is to deliberately state your intention to make the definition more simple is so consumers who are less knowledgeable in your field can understand what it means.

The intended audience was also clearly provided. As an athlete myself, I know some information about the science behind improving my physical ability and gaining muscle. With that said, the concept of force production and optimizing muscle fibre angles is something which could be less familiar for a general audience and if possible would require more explanation. I might suggest finding a way to break it down into an example of what exactly occurs in a certain movement or involving a specific muscle group.

 

Organization

Methods of Expansion

• History (provided theories of how PAP may operate)
• It was not all that clear which other expansion methods were used, I might suggest using a title or a way to identify which method you chose to strengthen your definition
• A visual was missing

 

Suggestions

I like how you included three theories which are at the basis for how PAP occurs. To gain a deeper understanding,  I would suggest providing an compare/contrast example for situations when PAP does not occur in muscles and when it does. Differentiating between the two may make it easier to understand in general.

I would also double check all the steps from the assignment instructions in case you miss anything! Step 5 mentioned how the definitions were supposed to include a visual expansion method, as well as three other types of expansion methods from the textbook.

For a typical, non-expert client, it may help to relate to exactly why a client you are training would benefit from reaching PAP. Why should they want to achieve this muscle state? Is it the best for their health, or will they see the best results in the mirror as this occurs more frequently?

 

Technical Errors

1. A note I wanted to add is in your first sentence of the last paragraph, “inconclusive” is the proper word rather than “unconclusive”!
2. Secondly, I think I see you are using APA. For APA 7, for three or more authors you only need to include the first author with “et al.” and the date following it. If you are using APA 6, you only need to name all the authors the first time and the rest of the times you cite you would put “(Name et al., 2020).” In your reference list if this were an essay all the lines would need to be double spaced, however I am not sure if this is essential for this assignment and I would check with our instructor.

Overall Final Impressions

1. The element of this document is most in need of improvement and why?

Including a visual of sorts could have been a helpful tool in terms of explaining more of how PAP works.

2. The most effective element of this document and why?

I feel including the theories behind the PAP mechanisms is a helpful tool for your audience to gain a fundamental understanding of how PAP is initiated and what occurs in the body.

Overall it was a very interesting read and I think you did well at explaining what post-activation potentiation is. Your expanded definitions were thoughtful and detailed and provided more insight on what it means and how it occurs.

Warm regards,

Claire

 

Here is a link to your original post: ENGL-301-Assignment-1-3-1