Resisted Sprint Training Key Points:
Resisted sprint training (RST) can be effective for improving certain sprinting qualities, mainly acceleration over shorter distances. (<20metres)
Training a field sport athlete is different to training a track athlete.
Resisted sprint training is just another tool, it’s not the be all and end all . Specificity
will always be key. Introduction: What is resisted sprint training?
Sprint performance, both acceleration and maximum velocity is important in a multitude of different sports including track & field, field based team sports, and court sports. With this in mind a lot of research and thought has been put into potential training methods to improve this important performance component. Resisted sprint training involves sprinting with attached additional weight or resistance in an effort to improve sprint performance, particularly by improving acceleration (how quickly one can change their velocity). Most commonly this is achieved by using a towing sled that is attached to the athlete via harness.
Additional methods include elastic band resistance, weighted vests, pulley systems, or incline sprints. The optimal additional load has been investigated by a small number of different researchers and although there is some debate regarding this issue an
Titles you can't find anywhere else
Try Scribd FREE for 30 days to access over 125 million titles without ads or interruptions! Start Free Trial Cancel Anytime.
Titles you can't find anywhere else
Try Scribd FREE for 30 days to access over 125 million titles without ads or interruptions! Start Free Trial Cancel Anytime.
approximate 10% decrease in sprinting velocity is generally recommended (this will be questioned later in the article). This is proposed to ensure an adequate overload of the involved musculature without adversely affecting sprinting biomechanics (Hyrsomallis 2010). Sprint performance is governed by stride length and stride frequency, an increase in one without a detrimental effect to the other may enable faster sprinting. It is hypothesised that adding additional load during RST will increase the propulsive force ability of the extensors of the hip (glute s & hamstrings), knee (quads), and ankle (calves), (Spinks et al 2007) which may in turn increase stride length or stride frequency (Hyrsomallis 2010). (Most likely stride length)
What the research says:
There is mixed results from the research studies that have been carried out on resisted sprint training. Hyrsomallis (2010) carried out a review of resisted sprint studies between 1973 and 2010 and the overall analysis was that resisted sprint training improves sprint performance, but no more so than regular sprint training. There may however be a slight advantage for resisted sprint in improving the first few steps of acceleration. Harrisson & Bourke (2009) carried out a study with semi-pro rugby players and found that resisted sprint training twice per week for six weeks significantly decreased time to 5m during a 30m sprint, but not overall 30m sprint time. These results are echoed by Zafeiridis et al (2005 ) who found that resisted sprint training improved 0-20m time, but no improvement in 20m -50m was seen. In these two studies the groups who completed regular sprint training did not improve to the same degree in acceleration speed. It is important when reading studies to be able to critically analyse methodologies and examine possible weaknesses and results produced from them should not be taken as undisputable fact. A big issue with a number of the studies up to 2010 is that they used for the most part un-trained athletes. When given similar training protocols it is likely that a highly trained athlete, for example a professional rugby or soccer pla yer will experience different training adaptations to a generally active, but un-trained subject. Generally an un-trained athlete will have an improvement in performance from most training stimuli while a highly trained athlete may need more advanced training methods to continue facilitating adaptation. From a coaching and practical viewpoint I was disappointed that the majority of the studies concentrated on resisted sprint training vs unresisted sprint training, without a group combining the two methods. While useful to a point, I think it is highly unlikely that an athlete or coach
Titles you can't find anywhere else
Try Scribd FREE for 30 days to access over 125 million titles without ads or interruptions! Start Free Trial Cancel Anytime.
Enter West et al 2013 which used professional rugby players as its subjects (so highly trained) and their training intervention involved a combined resisted sprint training and regular sprint training group vs just a regular sprint training group. For these two reasons this research study may have the most applicability to coaches of high level athletes. The combined resisted sprint and regular sprint training group had significantly better improvements in 10m and 30m sprint times when compared the regular sprint only group (who also improved, just not quite as much). To my knowledge this study has not been included in a review and it produced significant results so I will delve into the methods used a little deeper.
Experimental procedure: 20 professional rugby union players were us ed as subjects
and split into two groups, matched for sprint times.
The players were 2 weeks into pre-season when the intervention started, and had been out of structured training for 4 weeks, although an off-season maintenance program had been provided. As both groups were required to continue team training during the intervention period in addition the prescribed combined or regular sprint training they each completed 3 resistance training sessions (1 upper body, 1 lower body, and 1 overall), 3 conditioning sessions, 3 technical sessions. Training Protocol: The combined group performed 3 x 20m sprints towing a sled with
12.6% of bodyweight added in total. According to Lockie et al (2003) between 12.513% bodyweight is the optimal additional load as it does not interfere with sprint kinematics to a detrimental effect. There was a 2 minute recovery between each sprint. After the final resisted sprint, the subjects rested for 8 minutes and then performed 3 x 20m sprints without any additional load. Again 2 minutes recovery was given between sprints. The regular sprint training group performed the exact same procedure, except that for their first 3x20m sprints they were not towing the sled. Results: Table 1: Combined resisted and regular sprint training vs regular sprint training Pre 10m (s)
Post 10m (s)
Pre 30m (s)
Post 30m (s)
Combined
1.74
1.70
4.26
4.15
Regular
1.74
1.72
4.19
4.15
*Figures are time in seconds to complete 10m 10 m or 30m. N.B all times are the group
Titles you can't find anywhere else
Try Scribd FREE for 30 days to access over 125 million titles without ads or interruptions! Start Free Trial Cancel Anytime.
average of 2.43% compared to 1.06% for the regular sprint group. Over 30m the combined group improved their time by 2.46% compared to 1.15% for the regular group. (All results taken and adapted from West 2013) What about heavier sleds?
The argument against using heavier sleds (>10% reduction in sprinting speed) is that the mechanics of the sprint may be changed too much leading to alterations in sprint technique when the athlete goes back to sprinting un-weighted. In general on one side you have sprint or track coaches who fear this will be the case, while on the other hand you have strength and conditioning coaches who view heavy sled dragging or pushing as an excellent way to develop strength in the muscles important for sprinting in a semi specific way, which when combined with regular sprint training will deliver a nice transfer effect. This method is essentially turning resisted sprint training into using heavy sled dragging as a developmental strength exercise. Track coaches and sprint coaches will probably argue about this for a long time, especially until more research with elite athletes is released. For now the best we can do is look at the evidence there is to date. Kawamori et al (2013) investigated the effects of an 8 week training programme on “club level” players which implemented two sessions per week. One group sprinted
with a sled that reduced sprint velocity by 30% (heavy group) while another group sprinted with a load that reduced sprint velocity by 10% (light group). The average weight on the sled was 33kg and 11kg respectively. After 8 weeks of training the heavy group reduced 0-5m time by an average of 5.7% and 0-10m time by b y 5.0%. The light group only significantly improved in the 0-10m time, by 3%. The heavy group also increased stride length by 8.1%, whereas no significant change was seen in the light group. Interestingly the heavy group showed a significantly larger decrease in vertical and resultant impulse, while neither group had a significant change in horizontal impulse. This is contrary to the popular belief that sled dragging would be an effective way to increase horizontal GRF during acceleration. The authors in this study suggest that learning how to apply force in a more horizontal direction, than actually applying more horizontal force was the critical ingredient for the favourable changes seen in the heavy group, and that this could make the heavy sled dragging as much technique work as it is strength work. While the results of this study look promising, it is the first paper to examine a sled load of this magnitude and its effect on acceleration so more research is needed before a conclusion can be drawn.
Titles you can't find anywhere else
Try Scribd FREE for 30 days to access over 125 million titles without ads or interruptions! Start Free Trial Cancel Anytime.
Follow up & Practical Applications:
Resisted sprint training combined with regular sprint training may provide an advantage compared to sprint training alone for athletes trying to improve acceleration. This is useful particularly for field or court sport athletes who generally sprint short (0-30m) distances during a game play. In my opinion this type of training adaptation may also be useful for athletes who have to “break tackles”. If the increase
in acceleration speed is due to more powerful hip , knee and ankle extension I think a case can be made that athlete will be harder to stop during game play. 100m sprinters who struggle out of the blocks may also find this method useful for improving the first 30m. It must be noted however that just because professional rugby players saw an increase in performance that the same results may not be seen in track sprinters. A study using a similar procedure to West (2013) but using hi gh level track sprinters would certainly be interesting and I am sure it will be done in the future. (If somebody reading this knows of one please let me know in the comments section below). Maximum velocity running is technically and physiologically different to acceleration and is worthy of a separate article which may be written in the future. Maximum velocity and acceleration training require different training strategies. While resisted sprint training has been shown by certain studies to be effective for improving acceleration, regular sprint training has been shown to increase performance over slightly longer distances after the initial acceleration phase is completed. (20m-40m, Zafeiridis 2005). This was also shown in to be the case in Alcaraz et al (2012), the resisted sprint group improved acceleration, while the regular sprint training group improved during the maximum velocity phase. No combined groups were used in either of the latter two studies. In conclusion resisted sprint training combined with regular sprint training is likely an excellent way to improve acceleration, while regular sprint training seems to have more potential for increasing maximal velocity. There is however plenty of scope for further research in this area including more combined resisted & regular sprint groups, more studies with elite athletes, and also using track athletes as opposed to field sport athletes.
Titles you can't find anywhere else
Try Scribd FREE for 30 days to access over 125 million titles without ads or interruptions! Start Free Trial Cancel Anytime.
References:
Alcaraz, P. E., Elvira, J. L. L. and Palao, J. M. (2012), Kinematic, strength, and stiffness adaptations after a short-term sled towing training in athletes. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0838.2012.01488.x Hyrsomallis, C. (2010) ‘The effectiveness of resisted movement training on sprinting and S trength and Conditioning Research, 26(1), 299-306. jumping performance’, performance’, Journal of Strength
Kawamori, N., Newton, R.U., Hori, N., Nosaka, K. (2014) ‘ Effects of weighted sled towing Strength and with heavy versus light load on sprint acceleration ability ’ Journal of Strength Conditioning Research, Published ahead of print.
Lockie, RG, Murphy, AJ, and Spinks, CD. (2003) ‘Effects of resisted sled towing on sprint Strength and Conditioning Conditioning Research 17(4), 760 – kinematics in field- sport athletes’, Journal of Strength 767, 2003. Spinks, C.D, Murphy, A.J, Spinks, W.L, and Lockie, R.G (2007) ‘The effects of resisted sprint
training on acceleration performance and kinematics in soccer, rugby union, and Australian football players’, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 21(1), 77-85.
West, D.J, Cunningham, D.J, Bracken, R.M, Bevan, H.R, Crewther, B.T, Cook, C.J, and Kilduff, L.P (2013) ‘Efects of resisted sprint training on acceleration in professional rugby union Strength and Conditioning Conditioning Research, 27(4), 1014-1018. players’, Journal of Strength
Zafeiridis, A, Saraslanidis, P, Manou, V, Ioakimidis, P, Dipla, K, and Kellis, S. (2005) ‘The effects of resisted sled-pulling sprint training on acceleration and maximum speed performance’, Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, 45, 284 –290, 2005.