Evaluation of specific anaerobic power in 12-14-year-old male rowers

No previous study had applied the modified Wingate rowing test to young athletes (i.e. children and adolescents). The aims of this study were to evaluate the trial-to-trial reliability of a rowing-modified Wingate test in a group of 12-14-year-old rowers (n=98) and to compare anaerobic power values among the 12-, 13-, and 14-year-old rowers after accounting for differences in physical maturity and body size. Each subject performed two "all-out" 30-s trials on a Concept II rowing ergometer. The trials were separated by a 15-min active recovery period, which included walking and stretching and ensured the participants' full recovery. The test proved to be highly reliable, with coefficients of variations of 2.4 and 2.9% (CI=2.1-3.4%) and intraclass correlation coefficients of 0.994 and 0.996 (CI=0.991-0.997) for mean power and peak power, respectively. The ANCOVA analyses accounting for differences in body size and level of physical maturity (assessed using indices of pubic hair) and the Bonferroni post hoc tests identified the 14-year-olds as having significantly greater adjusted mean power and peak power values (P<0.01) than the other two age groups, while the differences between the 12- and 13-year-olds in terms of mean power and peak power were not significant. Our findings indicate (1) that the rowing-modified Wingate test may be reliably used for the assessment of specific anaerobic performance in 12-14-year-old rowers and (2) that factors other than physical maturity and body size are partly responsible for the increase in anaerobic power during growth.