title: Reliability of performance in repeated sprint cycling tests.
abstract: We have estimated the reliability of performance in a commonly employed exercise test consisting of repeated sprints on a cycle ergometer. Eight recreationally active young men completed a practice trial and three more trials at 3- to 6-day intervals. Each trial consisted of two bouts of 30-s maximal-effort cycling on an electromagnetically braked cycle ergometer; the bouts were separated by 4 min of rest. The typical (standard) errors of measurement for peak and mean power between trials 2 to 4 were 2.5 and 1.7% respectively for the first bout and 1.9 and 1.8% for the second bout. These errors are substantially less than those in previous reliability studies of single 30-s sprint tests, probably because of differences in quality of ergometer. The typical errors for the difference between bouts (i.e., fatigue) for peak power and mean power were 3.0 and 2.5%, respectively. Typical errors for the average of the two bouts were 1.6 and 1.2% for peak and mean power respectively, which are small enough to give adequate precision for moderate treatment effects in studies with modest sample sizes.
authors.affiliation: School of Health Sciences, Deakin University, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: K K O
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Watt
authors.forename: W G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Hopkins
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Snow
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001642:Bicycling / Q000502:physiology*; D016552:Ergometry; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012984:Software