Resisted sprint training (RST) is commonly used for performance enhancement in athletics and team sports to develop acceleration ability. Evidence suggests that RST may be effective as a short-term intervention to improve successive sprints. Although these improvements have been measured in team sport athletes, limited research has considered the acute effects of RST training in sprint-trained athletes. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to determine whether performing RST with varsity-level sprinters using sled-equivalent resistive loads of ~45% body mass results in a potentiation effect, leading to improvements in subsequent maximal sprint performance over 0-5 m and 0-20 m. Competitive sprinters (n = 20) were randomly assigned to perform a pre/post maximal 20-m sprint separated by either 3 resisted (RST group) or unresisted (URS group) sprints. The RST or URS protocol was performed on 4 occasions separated by at least 7 days. No significant differences were observed between the RST and URS groups comparing changes in sprint times over 0-5 m (URS Delta <0.01 ± 0.03 seconds, RST Delta <0.01 ± 0.03 seconds) and 0-20 m (URS Delta 0.013 ± 0.04 seconds, RST Delta <0.01 ± 0.04 seconds). We conclude that resisted sprints using sled-equivalent loads of 45% body mass are ineffective at inducing a potentiating effect on subsequent sprint performance in varsity-level sprinters. In this population of trained athletes, greater loads may be necessary to induce a potentiating effect.
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