Reliability and sensitivity of the 6 and 30 second Wingate tests in physically active males and females

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Despite widespread use of 6 and 30 second Wingate anaerobic tests (WAnT), performance reliability of these protocols over repeated trials in active males and females has not been determined. OBJECTIVE: This study assessed the performance reliability and test sensitivity of the 6 s and 30 s WAnT. METHODS: Twenty physically active participants (10 males and 10 females) completed a 6 s and 30 s WAnT against 7.5% body mass resistance on four occasions. RESULTS: Peak power output (PPO) and mean power output (MPO) did not differ across trials for either gender. Male PPO in both sprint durations demonstrated random variation (standard error of measurement (SEM)) 3.9% in all between-trials comparisons. For MPO, SEM was 2.9% in all comparisons. For females, random variation in PPO in both sprint durations was lower in trial 3-4 than earlier pairs of trials. MPO between trials in the 6 s sprint was variable, with the smallest variation between trials 1-2. For the 30 s sprint, MPO was more stable across trials. Across all four trials, only MPO in the 30 s test for males displayed good test sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, familiarisation may not be required to establish consistent performance in physically active males or females during the 6 and 30 s WAnT. Furthermore, general marginal test sensitivity in both tests and genders suggests that results of WAnT in physically active participants should not be used to investigate the genuine effect of an intervention.

The effects of varying doses of caffeine on cardiac parasympathetic reactivation following an acute bout of anaerobic exercise in recreational athletes

“…Height (cm) was measured with an electronic stadiometer (SECA 217, Seca Ltd, Hamburg, Germany) to the nearest 0.01 cm without shoes and with each participant standing erect against a wall and body mass (kg) was measured to the nearest 0.01 kg using a calibrated digital scale (Seca 770-oor, Seca Ltd, Hamburg, Germany). During the second visit participants completed a 30-sec all-out Wingate Anaerobic Test (WAnT) for familiarization and to reduce the learning effect (19,20).…”

“…Following this assessment, participants engaged in a standardized warm-up before performing WAnT testing (detailed below). Wingate Anaerobic Test: Participants performed a Wingate Anaerobic Test (WAnT) using a friction-loaded cycle ergometer (MONARK 894E, Stockholm, Sweden) connected to a computer as previously described (19) (20,21). The ergometer was calibrated before each test.…”

“…Brie y, the WAnT was a 30-sec test requiring participants to pedal as fast as possible against a xed resistance. Each test began with a 4-min standardized warm-up against a xed load of 1 kilopond and three separate 2 second sprints were performed against a load of 0.075 kp•kg -1 of body mass were interspersed with 45-sec of active recovery (20). After the warm-up, one minute of light dynamic stretching was performed.…”

The Role of Visual Feedback on Power Output During Intermittent Wingate Testing in Ice Hockey Players

“…One such test is the anaerobic Wingate test (AnWT), which is commonly used to measure peak power output (PP) and anaerobic capacity in team sport athletes [ 6 , 7 , 8 ] such as ice hockey players [ 9 , 10 , 11 ]. Although the traditional AnWT includes a single 30 s continuous maximal effort sprint, a 6 s version of the AnWT can serve as a shorter alternative to the 30 s version [ 12 , 13 ]. Furthermore, the 20 s AnWT [ 14 ], 15 s AnWT [ 15 , 16 ] and 6 s AnWT [ 12 , 13 ] have been found to be valid measurements of PP and result in the same PP output as AnWT 30 s [ 13 , 14 , 16 , 17 ].…”

“…Although the traditional AnWT includes a single 30 s continuous maximal effort sprint, a 6 s version of the AnWT can serve as a shorter alternative to the 30 s version [ 12 , 13 ]. Furthermore, the 20 s AnWT [ 14 ], 15 s AnWT [ 15 , 16 ] and 6 s AnWT [ 12 , 13 ] have been found to be valid measurements of PP and result in the same PP output as AnWT 30 s [ 13 , 14 , 16 , 17 ]. Considering that ice hockey includes repeated bouts of maximal effort and that players can sprint the length of an ice hockey rink in about 6 s [ 18 , 19 , 20 ] (transition between the defense and offense zone), an intermittent version of AnWT using multiple 6 s stages (AnWT6x6) may increase the ecological validity of the test and provide insight into a player’s ability to maintain intermittent maximal power output (i.e., sprint performance) during a typical on-ice shift that can last between 30 and 85 s [ 10 ].…”