The influence of recovery duration following heavy resistance exercise on sprint cycling performance

The aim of the current study was to determine the optimal recovery duration following prior heavy resistance exercise (PHRE) when performing sprint cycling. On five occasions, separated by a minimum of 48 h, ten healthy male subjects (mean +/- SD), age 25.5 +/- 7.7 y, body mass 82.1 +/- 9.0 kg, stature 182.6 +/- 87 cm, deadlift 1 repetition maximum (1RM) 142 +/- 19 kg performed a 30 s sprint cycling test. Each trial had either a 5, 10, 20 or 30 min recovery following a heavy resistance activity (5 deadlift repetitions at 85% 1RM) or a Control trial with no PHRE in random order. Sprint cycling performance was assessed by Peak Power (PP), Fatigue Index (FI) and Mean Power Output over the first 5 s (MPO5), 10 s (MPO10) and 30 s (MPO30). One-way analysis of variance with repeated measures, followed by paired t-tests with a Bonferroni adjustment, were used to analyze data. Peak Power, MPO5 and MPO10 were all significantly different during the 10 min recovery trial to that of the Control condition with values of 109%, 112% and 109% of Control, respectively; no difference was found for the MPO30 between trials. The current study supports the use of PHRE as a strategy to improve short duration, up to, or around 10 s, sprint activity but not longer duration sprints and a 10 min recovery appears to be optimal to maximize performance.