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Repeated-sprint ability - part I: factors contributing to fatigue
Olivier Girard1, Alberto Mendez-Villanueva, David Bishop
1ASPETAR Qatar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Research and Education Centre, Doha, Qatar. oliv.girard@gmail.com
Sports Medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)
|July 26, 2011
Summary
Repeated-sprint ability (RSA) is crucial for athletes. Fatigue during repeated-sprint exercise (RSE) involves declines in speed or power, influenced by energy supply and neural factors.
Area of Science:
- Sports Science
- Exercise Physiology
- Human Performance
Background:
- Short sprints with brief recoveries are common in team and racket sports.
- Repeated-sprint ability (RSA) is the capacity to recover and repeat sprint performance.
- Understanding fatigue mechanisms in RSA is vital for athlete training.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review how fatigue manifests during repeated-sprint exercise (RSE).
- To discuss the muscular and neural mechanisms underlying fatigue in RSE.
- To lay the groundwork for future reviews on training interventions to improve RSA.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of performance data from laboratory and field-based repeated-sprint protocols.
- Review of studies examining fatigue development during RSE.
- Examination of muscular and neural factors contributing to fatigue.
Main Results:
- Fatigue in RSE typically presents as decreased sprint speed (running) or peak power/work (cycling).
- Performance decrements are inversely related to initial sprint performance.
- Task details (work/recovery intervals) influence fatigue magnitude and underlying mechanisms.
Conclusions:
- Energy supply limitations (phosphocreatine, glycolysis, oxidative metabolism) and metabolic by-product accumulation are key muscular factors.
- Neural factors, including incomplete muscle activation and altered recruitment strategies, also contribute to fatigue.
- Other potential factors include muscle stiffness, hypoglycemia, muscle damage, and environmental conditions.
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