Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jun 24:16:1612611.
doi: 10.3389/fphys.2025.1612611. eCollection 2025.

Acute effects of the RAMP warm-up on sprint and jump performance in youth soccer players

Fatma Gözlükaya Girginer  1 , Sinan Seyhan  2 , Görkem Açar  3 , Muhammed Fatih Bilici  4 , Ömer Faruk Bilici  5 , Çağlar Soylu  6
Affiliations

Acute effects of the RAMP warm-up on sprint and jump performance in youth soccer players

Fatma Gözlükaya Girginer et al. Front Physiol. .

Abstract

Introduction: Pre-competition warm-ups play a critical role in optimizing athletic performance and minimizing injury risk. This randomized, controlled crossover study investigated the acute effects of the Raise, Activate, Mobilize, and Potentiate (RAMP) warm-up protocol on key performance parameters in young male soccer players.

Methods: Fourteen participants (aged 16-22 years) completed three different warm-up conditions-no warm-up (control), static stretching, and RAMP-on non-consecutive days with a 48-h washout period. Performance was assessed using 30-m sprint and vertical jump tests, each performed twice per session with the best trial recorded for analysis.

Results: A one-way repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that both vertical jump height and sprint performance differed significantly across conditions (p < 0.05). Post hoc Bonferroni comparisons indicated that the RAMP group exhibited superior results compared with static stretching (Effect size: d = 0.41) and control (Effect size: d = 0.52), while no notable difference was observed between static stretching and control conditions.

Discussion: These results suggest that the structured progression of the RAMP protocol-combining exercises that elevate body temperature, activate key muscle groups, improve mobility, and enhance neuromuscular readiness-can acutely enhance explosive strength and sprint speed by effectively priming the neuromuscular system. This study contributes novel insights by demonstrating the acute efficacy of the RAMP method in youth soccer players, a population that has been underrepresented in previous literature. Although the study was limited to male amateur athletes and focused on short-term performance gains, the findings indicate suggestive potential for implementing the RAMP protocol as an evidence-based approach in pre-competition preparation.

Keywords: neuromuscular activation; pre-competition; ramp protocol; soccer; sprint performance; static stretching; vertical jump; warm-up.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Box plots showing the distribution of vertical jump height and sprint time across the three warm-up conditions.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Afonso J., Fonseca H., Ramirez-Campillo R., Olivares-Jabalera J., Rocha-Rodrigues S. (2023). “Prevention strategies of lower limb muscle injuries,” in Orthopaedic sports medicine: an encyclopedic review of diagnosis, prevention, and management (Cham: Springer International Publishing; ), 1–31.
    1. Barbosa G. M., Dantas G. A. F., de Souza A. M., de Oliveira L. C., da Silva K. K. F. (2025a). Structured warm-up routines in sports: current practices and performance implications. Sport Sci. Health.
    1. Barbosa G. M., Oliveira M. C., Rêgo J. T. P. (2025b). Contemporary warm-up strategies and their impact on neuromuscular performance: a practical overview. Sport Sci. Health.
    1. Bishop D. (2003). Warm-up I: potential mechanisms and the effects of passive warm-up on exercise performance. Sports Med. 33, 439–454. 10.2165/00007256-200333060-00005 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Brooks T., Cressey E. (2013). Mobility training for the young athlete. Strength and Cond. J. 35, 27–33. 10.1519/SSC.0b013e3182823435 - DOI