Potential Energy as an Alternative for Assessing Lower Limb Peak Power in Children: A Bayesian Hierarchical Analysis.

The aim of this study was to analyze the use of potential energy (PE) as an alternative method to assess peak power of the lower limbs (PP) in children. 815 Spanish children (416 girls; 6-11 years old; Body Mass Index groups (n): underweight = 40, normal weight = 431, overweight = 216, obese = 128) were involved in this study. All participants performed a Countermovement Jump (CMJ) test. PP was calculated using Duncan (PP DUNCAN ), Gomez-Bruton (PP GOMEZ ) and PE CMJ formulas. A model with PE CMJ as the predictor variable showed a higher predictive accuracy with PP DUNCAN and PP GOMEZ than CMJ height (R 2 = 0.99 and 0.97, respectively; ELPD diff = 1037.0 and 646.7, respectively). Moreover, PE CMJ showed a higher linear association with PP DUNCAN and PP GOMEZ across BMI groups than CMJ height ( β PECMJ range from 0.67 to 0.77 predicting PP DUNCAN ; and from 0.90 to 1.13 predicting PP GOMEZ ). Our results provide further support for proposing PE CMJ as an index to measure PP of the lower limbs, taking into account the children's weight and not only the height of the jump. Therefore, we suggest the use of PE CMJ in physical education classes as a valid method for estimating PP among children when laboratory methods are not feasible.