Acute effects of different conditioning activities on running performance of sprinters

This study investigated acute effects of different conditioning activities on sprint performance of collegiate sprinters using a randomized, crossover design. Male sprinters (N = 10; 20.1 ± 0.6 years; 174.6 ± 4.4 cm; 66.7 ± 3.5 kg; 100-m race personal best time, 11.46 ± 0.57 s; means ± SDs) performed two 60-m sprints and one of three treatments within the same day, with an interval of 2 days between the treatments. The baseline sprint was followed by one of three different conditioning activities: mini-hurdles, bounding jumps, or a free sprint. Participants then performed the post treatment sprint. In the mini-hurdle drill, the participants ran over 10 × 10 mini-hurdles (height 22 cm) as fast as possible. In the bounding jump drill, the participants performed three 60-m bounding jumps as explosively and far as possible, with 3 min intervals between trials. In the free-sprint conditioning activity, the participants performed a 60-m maximal sprint twice, with a 5 min interval between sprints. Sprint kinematics in the baseline and post treatment sprints were recorded using a high-speed camera (300 Hz). Using these films, sprint time, running velocity, step length, and step frequency were analyzed over 10 m intervals. The results of ANOVAs indicated that the mini-hurdle drill increased the maximal sprint velocity (3.2 %) and maximal step frequency (3.3 %); the other conditioning activities had no such effects. Step length did not change after any of the conditioning activities. These results suggest that conditioning activities with mini-hurdles, which require movements with a high step frequency, acutely enhances velocity during sprinting, possibly as a result of increasing step frequency.