EFFECTS OF THREE-WEEK EXTERNAL-LOADING INTERVENTION ON SPRINT PERFORMANCE IN RUGBY ATHLETES

Authors

K Long
C Thomas
H Freeland
G Tedford
K Shelton
A Charles
EM Scudamore
V Pribyslavska

Abstract

Kayle Long¹, Cortni Thomas¹, Hannah Freeland¹, Garrett Tedford¹, Katherine Shelton¹, Anaelle Charles¹, Eric M. Scudamore¹, Veronika Pribyslavska^{1 1}Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, Arkansas

PURPOSE: This study evaluated the effects of a 3-week external-loading during daily living (ELDL) intervention on sprint performance in collegiate rugby athletes. METHODS: Collegiate male, club rugby athletes (N= 11) were divided into treatment ELDL (n= 7) and control (CON; n= 4) groups. The ELDL group wore weighted vests for 8 h/day, ≥4 days/week, for 3 weeks separate from training. The participants’ vest loads were 10%, 12%, and 15% of body mass for the first, second, and third week, respectively. The protocol included two familiarization trials, a baseline trial, a 3-week intervention, and post-intervention trial. The testing consisted of two different sprint-based tasks executed from a 2-point stance and a 5-m flying start: 1) three 20-m sprints with recorded split time at 10 m and a 60-s rest between each sprint, and 2) 12 continuous 20-m sprints with 20-30 s of rest between each sprint. Timing gates were placed at 0-m, 10-m and 20-m marks to record the sprint times. A difference in sprint times for baseline to post-intervention were calculated. A one-tail t-test was used to compare sprint times between groups. RESULTS: Descriptive statistics for the sprint variables are listed in Table 1. There were no significant differences (p > .05) between baseline and post ELDL for 20-m sprint times (p = .37), 10-m split times (p = .18), or total repeated sprint times (p = .21). For repeated sprints there was notable effect size (d = .64). CONCLUSION: The 3-week ELDL training program did not statistically improve sprint or repeated sprint performance. However, the treatment may have a practical effect on a repeated sprint performance. There could be a beneficial decrease in total sprint time for anaerobic athletes. A larger sample size may provide more clarification about the utility of ELDL.

Recommended Citation

Long, K; Thomas, C; Freeland, H; Tedford, G; Shelton, K; Charles, A; Scudamore, EM; and Pribyslavska, V (2019) "EFFECTS OF THREE-WEEK EXTERNAL-LOADING INTERVENTION ON SPRINT PERFORMANCE IN RUGBY ATHLETES," International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings: Vol. 11: Iss. 7, Article 2.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/ijesab/vol11/iss7/2