- Testing should be done to examine different athletes ability to resist fatigue in repeated sprint bouts. This is something I do with a protocol that isn’t too different than the one used in this study and has shown up in several other studies examining RSA. I do a test of 6 x 30m sprints with electronic timing with a 30 second rest period between efforts. I like at time differentials, fatigue index, average time and fastest time.
- Ideally, different athletes should receive different volumes to maximize training effect. This is something I always do with my Track & Field and winter sport athletes but rarely do in soccer or team sports in general for that matter. I’ve found it’s logistically quite difficult and guys don’t want to be singled out for doing less or more. If you’re training a soccer athlete individually though this might be very useful.
Performance and fatigue during repeated sprints: what is the appropriate sprint dose?
Source
Laboratory of Exercise Physiology, University of Saint-Etienne, PRES Lyon, France. jean.benoit.morin@univ-st-etienne.fr
Abstract
When testing the ability of sportsmen to repeat maximal intensity efforts, or when designing specific training exercises to improve it, fatigue during repeated sprints is usually investigated through a number of sprints identical for all subjects, which induces a high intersubject variability in performance decrement in a typical heterogeneous group of athletes (e.g., team sport group, students, and research protocol volunteers). Our aim was to quantify the amplitude of the reduction in this variability when individualizing the sprint dose, that is, when requiring subjects to perform the number of sprints necessary to reach a target level of performance decrement. Fifteen healthy men performed 6-second sprints on a cycle ergometer with 24 seconds of rest until exhaustion or until 20 repetitions in case no failure occurred. Peak power output (PPO) was measured and a fatigue index (FI) computed. The variability in PPO decrement was compared between the 10th sprint and the sprint at which subject reached the target FI of 10%. Individual FI values after the 10th sprint were 14.6 ± 6.9 vs. 11.1 ± 1.2%, when individualizing the sprint dose, which corresponded to coefficients of interindividual variability of ∼47.3 and ∼10.8%, respectively. Individualizing the sprint dose substantially reduced intersubject variability in performance decrement, enabling a more standardized state of fatigue in repeated-sprints protocols designed to induce fatigue and test or train this specific repeated-sprint ability in a heterogeneous group of athletes. A direct feedback on the values of performance parameters is necessary between each sprint for the experimenter to set this individualized sprint dose.
Mike Young
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Does playing indoor (with walls or boards) transfer well to 11v11 fitness goals? I’ve believe it to be quite challenging when played at a high intensity and even though the runs are not as long the rest period is less.The benefits of small sided play are quite obvious on the technical side, I’m curious if any professional clubs have used it for the fitness aspect of it.
Hi Albert-
There’s definitely a transfer. Much depends on the game constraints, duration of games, rest interval, etc.
I think almost every pro club uses small sided games in some fashion for both fitness and technical development.
[…] fasting does not seem to change individual sprint performance but does negatively impact repeated sprint ability (something that is especially important in […]