Abstracts

Sled towing is a common form of overload training in sports to work on muscular strength. This type of training leads to two results; chronic and acute. Acute training leads to postactivation potentiation (PAP), which is when subsequent muscle performance is enhanced following a preloading stimulus. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to determine the optimal rest intervals following sled towing on acute sprint speed. Twenty healthy recreationally trained males (age = 22.35 2.41 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 six months volunteered to participate. A max 30-meter (m) pre-test BW sprint was performed followed by a 2-minute (min) recovery period. On the remaining 5 visits, participants then sprinted 30-m towing a sled at 30% BW then rested for 2, 4, 8, or 12-min. Participants were instructed to sit still during this time. After the recovery period, a max 30-m post-test BW sprint was performed. The major finding was that post sled pull bodyweight sprint times were less than baseline times on an individualized rest interval basis. This decrease occurred in the acceleration phase over the first 5-m only and was probably the result of PAP and the complex relationship between fatigue and potentiation relative to the intensity of the sled pull and rest interval.