Acute Responses to a Potentiation Warm-up Protocol in Female Football Players.

The intervention protocol consisted of i) 1st set - six hurdle jumps, with a distance of 70 cm between each, followed by a 15-m sprint with COD; (ii) 2nd set - six lateral hurdle jumps (three to the left and three to the right) followed by a 10-m sprint with COD; (iii) 3rd set - six bouncy strides, followed by a 15-m sprint with COD; (iv) 4th set - six broad jumps followed by a 10-m sprint with COD. All COD circuits had different configurations, changing the sprint distance and the angle of the COD curve. All repetitions and sets were separated by 90-second recovery intervals, and each set was performed three times.

The usual warm-up consisted of (i) The first phase included dynamic stretching and drills to increase body temperature. This phase lasted 5-min and included slow jogging, light skipping, and dynamic stretches for hip flexors, glutes, quads, hamstrings, abductors, gastrocnemius and lower limb joints. (ii) The second phase was composed of exercises that intended to mimic specific movements of the football match, both with and without ball possession. This phase lasted 15 minutes and included exercises with and without possession of the ball, such as acceleration, COD, jumping over hurdles, and playful games with ball possession. In this group, the players only rested in a slow jog when they moved from the first to the second phase.