Sled Towing Acutely Decreases Acceleration Sprint Time

Abstract

Wong, MA, Dobbs, IJ, Watkins, C, Barillas, SR, Lin, A, Archer, DC, Lockie, RG, Coburn, JW, and Brown, LE. Sled towing acutely decreases acceleration sprint time. J Strength Cond Res 31(11): 3046-3051, 2017-Sled towing is a common form of overload training in sports to develop muscular strength for sprinting. This type of training leads to acute and chronic outcomes. Acute training potentially leads to postactivation potentiation (PAP), which is when subsequent muscle performance is enhanced after a preload stimulus. The purpose of this study was to determine differences between rest intervals after sled towing on acute sprint speed. Twenty healthy recreationally trained men (age = 22.3 ± 2.4 years, height = 176.95 ± 5.46 cm, mass = 83.19 ± 11.31 kg) who were currently active in a field sport twice a week for the last 6 months volunteered to participate. A maximal 30-meter (m) baseline (BL) body mass (BM) sprint was performed (with splits at 5, 10, 20, and 30 m) followed by 5 visits where participants sprinted 30 m towing a sled at 30% BM then rested for 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 minutes. They were instructed to stand still during rest times. After the rest interval, they performed a maximal 30-m post-test BM sprint. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that post sled tow BM sprint times (4.47 ± 0.21 seconds) were less than BL times (4.55 ± 0.18 seconds) on an individualized rest interval basis. A follow-up 2 × 4 ANOVA showed that this decrease occurred only in the acceleration phase over the first 5 m (BL = 1.13 ± 0.08 seconds vs. Best = 1.08 ± 0.08 seconds), which may be the result of PAP and the complex relationship between fatigue and potentiation relative to the intensity of the sled tow and the rest interval. Therefore, coaches should test their athletes on an individual basis to determine optimal rest time after a 30-m 30% BM sled tow to enhance acute sprint speed.

The Effects of Resisted Post-Activation Sprint Performance Enhancement in Elite Female Sprinters

“…The vast majority of studies have focused on chronic adaptations to resisted sprint training (West et al, 2013;Petrakos et al, 2016;Alcaraz et al, 2018;Gil et al, 2018), and only a few have assessed the acute effects of resisted sprints on subsequent sprint performance (Whelan et al, 2014;Winwood et al, 2016;Seitz et al, 2017;van den Tillaar and von Heimburg, 2017;Wong et al, 2017;Mangine et al, 2018;van den Tillaar et al, 2018;Thompson et al, 2021). In addition, those that were conducted analyzed the effectiveness of a single or two very high loads (75-150% of body mass) on inducing the potentiating effect (Winwood et al, 2016;Seitz et al, 2017).…”

“…In addition, those that were conducted analyzed the effectiveness of a single or two very high loads (75-150% of body mass) on inducing the potentiating effect (Winwood et al, 2016;Seitz et al, 2017). Moreover, they are mainly limited to the use of sleds (Whelan et al, 2014;Winwood et al, 2016;Seitz et al, 2017;van den Tillaar and von Heimburg, 2017;Wong et al, 2017;van den Tillaar et al, 2018). When using a cable resistance device, the load is the same for an entire movement.…”

“…Previous studies have shown a beneficial effect of prior conditioning activity on performance during throwing and jumping movements (Dello Iacono et al, 2020;Krzysztofik et al, 2020a,b). In relation to sprints, the use of towing as a conditioning activity has been shown to be effective in acute enhancement of sprint sessions (Winwood et al, 2016;Seitz et al, 2017;van den Tillaar and von Heimburg, 2017;Wong et al, 2017;Mangine et al, 2018). The protocols of the abovementioned studies analyzed a very wide range of loads applied during conditioning activity, from 5 to even 150% of body mass.…”

“…Despite wide evidence supporting the effectiveness of PAPE protocols for acute improvements in sports performance, there is still a need for studies in groups of female participants. The vast majority of investigations were performed on male participants (Whelan et al, 2014;Winwood et al, 2016;Seitz et al, 2017;Wong et al, 2017;Krzysztofik et al, 2020aKrzysztofik et al, ,b, 2021, whereas little scientific data are available regarding the use of the PAPE effect in female participants (van den Tillaar and von Heimburg, 2017; Pajerska et al, 2020). Although some facts might predispose males to experience a greater PAPE effect than females, such as greater number of type II fibers or greater muscle strength (Hicks et al, 2001;Trappe et al, 2003;Seitz et al, 2014a), it was not proven in the literature.…”

Accuracy of single beam timing lights for determining velocities in a flying 20-m sprint: Does timing light height matter?

“…Despite the development of progressive technologies such as dual beam or post-processing timing lights, the use of single beam systems is still widespread (Darrall-Jones, Jones, Roe, & Till, 2016;McFarland, Dawes, Elder, & Lockie, 2016;Roe et al, 2017;Sawczuk et al, 2017;Wong et al, 2017), possibly due to greater availability and lower costs (Haugen & Buchheit, 2016).…”