title: Monitoring neuromuscular fatigue in team-sport athletes using a cycle-ergometer test.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare a novel sprint test on a cycle ergometer with a countermovement-jump (CMJ) test for monitoring neuromuscular fatigue after Australian rules football match play.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twelve elite under-18 Australian rules football players (mean ± SD age 17.5 ± 0.6 y, stature 184.7 ± 8.8 cm, body mass 75.3 ± 7.8 kg) from an Australian Football League club's Academy program performed a short sprint test on a cycle ergometer along with a single CMJ test 1 h prematch and 1, 24, and 48 h postmatch. The cycle-ergometer sprint test involved a standardized warm-up, a maximal 6-s sprint, a 1-min active recovery, and a 2nd maximal 6-s sprint, with the highest power output of the 2 sprints recorded as peak power (PP).
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were small to moderate differences between postmatch changes in cycle-ergometer PP and CMJ PP at 1 (ES = 0.49), 24 (ES = -0.85), and 48 h postmatch (ES = 0.44). There was a substantial reduction in cycle-ergometer PP at 24 h postmatch (ES = -0.40) compared with 1 h prematch.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The cycle-ergometer sprint test described in this study offers a novel method of neuromuscular-fatigue monitoring in team-sport athletes and specifically quantifies the concentric component of the fatigue-induced decrement of force production in muscle, which may be overlooked by a CMJ test.
authors.affiliation: School of Exercise Science, Australian Catholic University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wehbe
authors.forename: Tim J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Gabett
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dwyer
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: McLellan
authors.forename: Sam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Coad
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000502:physiology; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018763:Muscle Fatigue / Q000502:physiology*; D059385:Plyometric Exercise; D012420:Running / Q000502:physiology; D012916:Soccer / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors