The importance of varied rest interval with one sprint workout
I ran across this good article this morning that demonstrates the effects of varied rest interval on eliciting the desired outcome of performance. The workout was the same 6x10sec sprints, but the rest interval varied between 30sec, 80sec and 120sec. **Note that this study investigated cycling intervals as how they relate to running performance, but the testing was still measuring their cycling performance as well with peak power and time to exhaustion along with their performance on a 3km time trial.
The findings to note show that the short RBI (rest between interval) of 30sec was the only group that had an improvement in the 3km time trial performance. This is important for specificity training closer to the athletes event because what is the goal; to go faster on race day! Thus having a higher avg power doesn't really matter to me or the athlete in a race setting; it's how fast you can get to the finish line! Now if your event is longer endurance or ultra distance we may argue otherwise but if you want to go fast then specificity with shorter rest interval elicits this desired response.
Another finding was that the longer rest intervals of 80sec and 120sec produced higher average power productions. So this makes sense as with more recovery, the athlete can then produce a higher given subsequent effort.
In only the 2 shorter rest durations (30sec and 80sec), the time to exhaustion was improved, meaning they could go longer than prior testing.
And interestingly only the 80sec RBI group found improvements in the peak power production group, although the 120sec RBI was close but not significant.
So the take home for coaching and athletes is using different rest intervals on the same workout can elicit very different responses. And in this case; the longer rest intervals may be used farther from an endurance competition to really boost the work load (by increasing peak power and avg power) and then migrating to the shorter rest duration as competition comes closer. Or if working with a sheer sprint athlete where time to exhaustion is the not an issue, then focusing only on the lengthened rest interval to keep pushing the peak & average power up and up and up would be the key.
High-Intensity Cycling Training: The Effect of Work-to-Rest Intervals : The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research
'via Blog this'
The findings to note show that the short RBI (rest between interval) of 30sec was the only group that had an improvement in the 3km time trial performance. This is important for specificity training closer to the athletes event because what is the goal; to go faster on race day! Thus having a higher avg power doesn't really matter to me or the athlete in a race setting; it's how fast you can get to the finish line! Now if your event is longer endurance or ultra distance we may argue otherwise but if you want to go fast then specificity with shorter rest interval elicits this desired response.
Another finding was that the longer rest intervals of 80sec and 120sec produced higher average power productions. So this makes sense as with more recovery, the athlete can then produce a higher given subsequent effort.
In only the 2 shorter rest durations (30sec and 80sec), the time to exhaustion was improved, meaning they could go longer than prior testing.
And interestingly only the 80sec RBI group found improvements in the peak power production group, although the 120sec RBI was close but not significant.
So the take home for coaching and athletes is using different rest intervals on the same workout can elicit very different responses. And in this case; the longer rest intervals may be used farther from an endurance competition to really boost the work load (by increasing peak power and avg power) and then migrating to the shorter rest duration as competition comes closer. Or if working with a sheer sprint athlete where time to exhaustion is the not an issue, then focusing only on the lengthened rest interval to keep pushing the peak & average power up and up and up would be the key.
High-Intensity Cycling Training: The Effect of Work-to-Rest Intervals : The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research
'via Blog this'
posted by Unknown at 10:59 AM
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