Want to Improve Acceleration and Repeated Sprint Performance? Should You Train Speed Agility or Sprint Intervals?
When working with team sports it has been well documented
that factors such as speed and repeated sprint
ability can contribute signifi cantly to competitive success.
The ability to craft an eff ective training program which has
the ability to improve these performance characteristics is
of particular interest to the strength and conditioning professional.
Two possible strategies that can be used to enhance
these characteristics are the use of speed and agility
work and repeated sprint interval training. Repeated
sprint interval training has the ability to signifi cantly alter
muscle metabolism while simultaneously stressing both
aerobic and anaerobic energy systems. Additionally, repeated
sprint interval training has been suggested to enhance
overall speed development. Conversely, it may be
warranted to work on speed and agility as it may result in
improvements in repeated sprint performance. Recently,
this question was addressed by researchers from France,
where the eff ects of four weeks of sprint and agility (S/A)
training was compared to the training eff ects stimulated
by sprint interval training (SIT). A total of 18 well-trained
adolescent handball players were divided into one of two
training intervention groups (S/A or SIT). The S/A group
performed 3 – 4 series of 4 – 6 exercises (agility drills,
standing start and very short sprints, all performed for <
5secs). Each repetition was interspersed with a 30-second
passive recovery, while each set was interspersed by three
minutes of passive rest. The SIT group performed 3 – 5 repetitions
of 30-second all-out shuttle sprints over 40m, with
two minutes of passive recovery between repetitions. Pre
and post-training intervention performance tests included
a countermovement vertical jump assessment, 10m
sprint, a repeated sprint agility test, and a graded intermittent
aerobic test. The S/A training intervention resulted in
a greater increase in 10m sprint performance (+2.2%) and
repeated sprint ability (+2.2%) which was greater than
the SIT intervention. Conversely, the SIT group resulted in
signifi cantly greater improvements in performance during
the grade intermittent aerobic test (-5.2%) when compared
to the S/A intervention. As a whole, it was concluded
that SIT training resulted in a moderate improvement
in intermittent endurance capacity, while S/A training is
likely to result in greater improvements in acceleration
and repeated sprint performance. The authors suggest
that targeting repeated sprint ability may not be the optimal
method and that focusing on acceleration based
training may be more effective.
FULL ARTICLE
Added on 02/22/2011
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