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Abstract

International Journal of Exercise Science 13(1): 1630-1637, 2020. As an ethical and practical ergogenic strategy, concurrent activation potentiation (CAP), achieved by remote voluntary contractions (RVC) such as jaw clenching, has been proposed to acutely enhance muscular and athletic performance characteristics. The effects of CAP on bat swing velocity (BSV), an important component for successful hitting in sports such as baseball and softball has yet to be reported in the literature. The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of maximal jaw clenching on BSV in collegiate division II softball players. Thirteen (n = 13) division II softball athletes volunteered to participate in this study. Subjects completed five maximal effort swings targeting a softball on a tee during two experimental conditions: jaw musculature maximally clenched and relaxed jaw musculature. An inertial measurement unit (Zepp Sensor, Zepp Labs, Inc.) attached to the knob of the bat recorded BSV and all trials for each experimental condition were averaged for analysis. Paired sample t-tests were used to determine differences between the two conditions. Mean BSV was 28.02 m/s (62.68 mph) for the jaw relaxed condition and 29.42 m/s (65.82 mph) for the jaw clenched condition, producing a statistically significant mean difference of 1.4 m/s (3.14 mph) (p = 0.003). Maximal jaw clenching is an effective strategy to improve BSV in division II college softball players.

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