Repeated-Sprint Performance in Team Sport Players: Associations with Measures of Aerobic Fitness, Metabolic Control and Locomotor Function

Abstract

To examine the respective associations between indices of aerobic fitness, metabolic control and locomotor function and repeated sprint-performance, 61 team sport players performed: a repeated-sprint sequence (RSS), an incremental test to exhaustion to determine maximal oxygen uptake (V˙O₂max) and peak incremental test speed (Inc. test speed), and 2–4 submaximal runs to determine the time constant of the primary phase of V˙O₂ kinetics at exercise onset (V˙O₂τ_on) and cessation (V˙O₂τ_off). The best (RS_best) sprint times and mean sprint times (RS_mean) and the percent sprint decrement (%Dec) were calculated. RS_mean was almost perfectly correlated with RS_best (r=0.92;90%CL(0.88;0.95)), largely correlated with Inc. test speed (r=−0.71;90%CL(− 0.79; − 0.59)) and moderately correlated with V˙O₂max (r= − 0.58;90%CL(− 0.70; − 0.43)); the correlations with V˙O₂τ_on or V˙O₂τ_off were unclear. For%Dec, the correlations with Inc. test speed, V˙O₂max and V˙O₂τ_on were moderate (r=− 0.41;90%CL(− 0.56; − 0.23)), small (r=− 0.26;90%CL(− 0.43; − 0.06)) and small (r=0.28;90%CL(0.09;0.46)), respectively. Stepwise multiple regression analyses showed that the only significant predictors of RS_mean were RS_best and Inc. test speed (r ²=0.88). Inc. test speed and RSbest were also the only significant predictors of %Dec (r ²=0.26). Present results obtained in a large sample of team sport players highlight that locomotor factors (i. e., RS_best and Inc. test speed) show much larger associations with repeated-sprint performance than V˙O₂max and V˙O₂ kinetics.

Key words

peak sprinting speed - maximal oxygen uptake - peak incremental test speed - oxygen uptake kinetics - handball - soccer

• References

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