Sprint performance changes in adolescent athletes following a 6-week elastic resistance training program: a...

Area of Science:

• Sports Science
• Exercise Physiology
• Adolescent Athletics

Background:

• Elastic Resistance Training (ERT) is common in rehabilitation but under-researched for adolescent sprint performance.
• Adolescent athletes' sprint capabilities require further investigation regarding training interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the efficacy of a 6-week progressive Elastic Resistance Training (ERT) program on sprint performance in competitive adolescent track and field athletes.
• To determine the impact of ERT on short-distance acceleration and longer-distance speed endurance.

Main Methods:

• Twenty-eight adolescent track and field athletes (mean age 16.64 years) underwent a 6-week progressive ERT program.
• ERT was implemented as a supplementary training modality alongside standard technical training.

Main Results:

• Significant improvements were observed in 30m (4.36s to 4.29s), 60m (8.16s to 8.08s), and 400m sprint times (70.98s to 68.30s).
• The most substantial improvement, with small-to-moderate effect size (d=0.29), was noted in the 400m sprint.
• Improvements in 30m and 60m sprints showed small (d=0.24) and trivial (d=0.11) effect sizes, respectively.

Conclusions:

• Elastic Resistance Training (ERT) demonstrated practical relevance for enhancing speed endurance in adolescent athletes, particularly for the 400m sprint.
• While short acceleration improvements were modest, ERT is a viable supplementary tool for developing anaerobic capacity in youth athletes.
• Coaches can consider incorporating ERT to augment training programs for adolescent sprinters.