Mechanically Braked Elliptical Wingate Test

Abstract

The 30-second, all-out Wingate test evaluates anaerobic performance using an upper or lower body cycle ergometer (cycle Wingate test). A recent study showed that using a modified electromagnetically braked elliptical trainer for Wingate testing (EWT) leads to greater power outcomes because of larger muscle group recruitment. The main purpose of this study was to modify an elliptical trainer using an easily understandable mechanical brake system instead of an electromagnetically braked modification. Our secondary aim was to determine a proper test load for the EWT to reveal the most efficient anaerobic test outcomes such as peak power (PP), average power (AP), minimum power (MP), power drop (PD), and fatigue index ratio (FI%) and to evaluate the retest reliability of the selected test load. Delta lactate responses (ΔLa) were also analyzed to confirm all the anaerobic performance of the athletes. Thirty healthy and well-trained male university athletes were selected to participate in the study. By analysis of variance, an 18% body mass workload yielded significantly greater test outcomes (PP = 19.5 ± 2.4 W·kg, AP = 13.7 ± 1.7 W·kg, PD = 27.9 ± 5 W·s, FI% = 58.4 ± 3.3%, and ΔLa = 15.4 ± 1.7 mM) than the other (12-24% body mass) tested loads (p < 0.05). Test and retest results for relative PP, AP, MP, PD, FI%, and ΔLa were highly correlated (r = 0.97, 0.98, 0.94, 0.91, 0.81, and 0.95, respectively). In conclusion, it was found that the mechanically braked modification of an elliptical trainer successfully estimated anaerobic power and capacity. A workload of 18% body mass was optimal for measuring maximal and reliable anaerobic power outcomes. Anaerobic testing using an EWT may be more useful to athletes and coaches than traditional cycle ergometers because a greater proportion of muscle groups are worked during exercise on an elliptical trainer.

Acute metformin administration increases mean power and the early Power phase during a Wingate test in healthy male subjects

“…Finally, some limitations of the present study must be considered. Although the Wingate test is the traditional method used to estimate anaerobic power and capacity, its reliability and validity are criticised (Bar‐Or, 1987; Ozkaya, Colakoglu, Kuzucu, & Yildiztepe, 2012). To diminish this limitation, we carried out a test‐retest before the experimental sessions.…”

Validity and Reliability of the Lode Excalibur Sport Cycle Ergometer for the Wingate Anaerobic Test

“…The authors of the present study deliberately chose a flywheel resistance of 0.075 kg·kg body mass −1 for the Monark cycle despite recommendations of a resistance of 0.087 kg·kg body mass −1 for accurate power measurement in healthy adults (33) and as high as 0.11 kg·kg body mass −1 (15,31) and 0.18 kg·kg body mass −1 (25) for optimal PP measurement. As Jaafar et al (15) demonstrated that flywheel load affects only PP magnitude, not reliability, the present authors were confident to intentionally use a less-than-optimal load to attempt validation and reliability of the Lode electromagnetically braked ergometer with its flywheel resistance (0.7 N·m·kg −1 ).…”

The Impact of the Wingate Test on Anaerobic Power in the Lower Limbs of Athletes with Varied Time and Load

“…However, previous studies have shown that the optimal load varies depending on gender, project, and other factors. Therefore, the selection of different loads during testing will affect the accuracy of the evaluation results [2][3][4] . In addition, while the 30-second WAnT is the most commonly used method for testing anaerobic work, but there are also many scholars who disagree about the test time 5,6 .…”