Introduction: The Variable Resistance (VR), as well as the Post-Activation Potentiation (PAP) have been used as training methodologies to improve the explosive strength in athletes. By the moment, there is no specific knowledge of the number of investigations connecting both variables that exist in the main data bases. Objective: The aim of this study was to find out which were the VR methods used to generate PAP between January 2011 and January 2016. The secondary aim was to visualize the stimulus intensity and the variations in the explosive strength levels recounted in every one of the studies consulted for this research. Method: the design is a systematic revision of the studies previously published that connected VR with PAP. The systematic research included articles published since January 2011 until January 2016 in the Web of Science (WOS), Scopus, Sport Discuss, PubMed, and Medline. For the studies selection, only those articles using VR as a training methodology to generate PAP were identified. Results: Nine articles were identified, which were stratified according to the training performed: (i) Intra-Session Variable Resistance (n = 3), (ii) Intra-Repetition Variable Resistance (n = 1), and (iii) Intra-Set Variable Resistance (n = 5). On the other hand, eight out of nine studies were focused on the lower limbs and none of them focused specifically on the upper limbs. It was also observed that all those studies showing significant variation in explosive strength worked with over 80 % 1RM. Conclusions: There is no conclusive evidence to identify the real effect of VR over PAP, and clearly not for the upper limbs. However, there are indicators that the Intra-Set Variable Resistance can generate acute changes in the explosive strength levels working over 80 % 1RM.
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