INTRODUCTION: It is well documented that strength and power training has positive effects on sprinting performances in able-bodied athletes, but there is a lack of evidence investigating if the same could be said for wheelchair athletes. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate if a four-week strength, power and resisted sprint training program improved maximal strength, power and sprint speed performance in male court-based wheelchair athletes, post a COVID-19 detraining period. METHODS: Sample size calculations identified that 10 participants were needed for this study (determined from a similar explosive strength intervention in wheelchair athletes measuring acceleration over 20m (Ozmen et al., 2014), where effect size was dz = 1.03). Therefore, five national and seven international level male wheelchair athletes, with strength training experience were recruited for the study (Age; 29 ± 11 years, Mass; 79.44 ± 15.36 kg, Wingspan; 178.21 ± 13.14 cm, Training Age 6 ± 3 years). Participants Pre and Post strength and power intervention testing consisted of 3RM bench press, 2.5m, 5m and 10m sprint times and seated medicine ball throw for distance. The training intervention consisted of three training sessions per week, two gym-based session and one resisted sprints session. The gym based sessions were 60 - 75 minutes in duration, consisting of one heavy strength day, and one ballistic day. The resisted sprint program consisted of resisted sprints using an (EXER-GENIE® speed trainer, Thousand Oaks, CA, USA), set at a light resistance of 3 - 6kg. Analysis included a Wilcoxon S-R test (sprints), and a paired t-test (Med ball throw and 3RM), a = 0.05. RESULTS: We identified improvements in 2.5 m (Pre Median 0.96 sec vs Post Median 0.90 sec, z = 2.46, p = 0.014), 5m sprint (Pre Median 1.90 sec vs Post Median 1.79 sec, z = 3.07, p = 0.002), 10m sprint (Pre Median 3.45 sec vs Post Median 3.34 sec, z = 2.94, p = 0.003), Seated medicine ball throw (mean increase 12.64cm; 95%CI [5.42 to 19.85cm], p = 0.003, Cohen`s dz = 1.11 [Large]) and 3RM bench press (mean increase 6.04kg; 95% CI of difference [4.70 to 7.39kg], p= 0.001, Cohen`s dz = 2.85 [Very Large]). CONCLUSION: The results of this four-week intervention show that heavy strength, power and resistance training was sufficient in improving maximal strength, power and sprint speed performances in court-based wheelchair athletes, post a COVID-19 detraining period. This supports previous work in this area that suggests that heavy strength training along with explosive strength be it from ballistic strength exercises or resisted sprint work should be utilised more with wheelchair athletes to promote an increase in sprint acceleration.
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