International Joumal of Applied Sports Sciences
2004, Vol. 16, No. 1, 14-22.
© Korea Sport Science Institute
Correlation between Tests of Running Repeated Sprint Ability
and Anaerobic Capacity by Wingate Cyding in Mjlti-Sprint
Sports Athletes
Abdul Rashid Aziz, & TEH Kong Chuan
Sports Medicine & Research Centre, Singapore Sports Council, Singapore
The 30 s Wingate cycling (cWC) test is a popular test of anaerobic capacity. The test is highly
correlated with short, high-intensity performance but may have limitations when assessing
intermittent-type activities. A reliable field-based test, the running Repeated Sprint Ability (rRSA)
test, is deemed more sport-spedfic than cWG in determining anaerobic performance of multi-sprint
sports athletes. This study examines the relationship of the performance indices of cWG and rRSA (8
X 40 m with 30 s rest in-between) tests in well-trained multi-sprint sports athletes. Twenty-six
National-level male field hockey and soccer players took the cWG and rRSA tests on separate
occasions in random order. There were only modest correlations between the cWCs mean power
(relative) and rRSAs total sprinting time (r = -.46, p < .05) and between the two tests fatigue
indicators (r = .46, p < .05). The findings of the low-shared variance among the performance variables
between the two tests provided limited support for the use of the cWG for assessing the anaerobic
performance capability of well-trained multi-sprint sport athletes.
key xvords: high-intensity exercise, intermittent sports, field test, laboratory test
Introduction
The 30 s Wingate cycling (cWG) is a popular and reliable test for determining athletes
anaerobic performance capabilities in a laboratory setting. The test has been demonstrated to possess
strong associations with other estimates of anaerobic potential such as accumulated oxygen deficit,
oxygen debt, post-exercise blood lactate, and fast-twitch muscle fibre cross-sectional area (Inbar et
al., 1996; Patton & Duggan, 1987; Scott et al., 1991). However, the cycling mode employed in the
cWG test limits the transference of results to running activities (Falk et al., 1996). It also measures
performance during a single all-out event of 30 s duration that may limit direct application to
multi-sprint sports (e.g., soccer, hockey, rugby, and basketball), which require shorter maximal
efforts (< 6 s) that are performed repeatedly over time (Williams, 1997). Despite these
shortcomings, many studies have used the cWG test to assess the anaerobic performance capabilities
of multi-sprint sports athletes, for example, netball (Bell et al., 1994), soccer (Davis et al., 1992;
Gomes et al., 1995), and rugby, players (Bell et al., 1996; Rigg & Reilly, 1988). Recently, a field
test determining anaerobic performance parameters specific to multi-sprint sports, termed the
running Repeated Sprint Ability (rRSA) test, has been gaining acceptance within the sport science
community (Dawson et al., 1993; Fitzsimmons et al., 1993). The test involves repeated sprints with
Received : 7 July 2003, Accepted : 23 February 2004, Correspondence : Abdul Rashid Aziz (abdul_rashid_aziz@ssc.gov.sg)