A presentation from the youth sport conference, Ljubljana, 2018.

1. HEAVY RESISTED SPRINTING: A
BETTER WAY TO IMPROVE
ACCELERATION?
Effects of a 4-Week Heavy Resisted Sprinting
Intervention on Acceleration, Sprint and Jump
Performance in Youth Soccer Players
Domen Bremec, M.Sc. Sport Science, GIH Stockholm, Sweden
Mikael Derakhti, M.Sc. Sport Science, GIH Stockholm, Sweden
Tim Kambič, M.Sc. Kinesiology, Faculty of Sport, Ljubljana, Slovenia

2. HOW DOES IT LOOK LIKE?

3. INTRODUCTION
• Team sports: accelerate & sprint short distances  5-30 meters as fast as
possible.
• In practice: the smallest worthwhile improvement  1-3%  a decisive
influence on the outcome of a play or a match.
• Sprint acceleration is defined by the rate of change in running velocity.
• Two ways to improve sprinting performance:
• improvement in acceleration and/or
• maximal velocity phase.
• Low level sprinters  reach maximum running speed around 30–40 m.
• Forward lean: only way to accelerate!

4. RESISTED SPRINTING (RS)
• Mechanical overload in horizontal direction  more efficient force
orientation per stride!
• Propulsive forces 46% greater in acceleration than max velocity
spinting.
• Transfer!
• Proof needed that RS is more effective than regular unresisted sprint
training (UST)  lack of research!
• Morin et al. 2016 - very heavy RS (80%+ body mass) versus UST = higher
horizontal F, higher mechanical effectivness, improved 5m and 20m
sprint performance.

5. AIM
• Compare and determine:
– Resisted Sprint Training (RST) vs Unresisted Sprint Training (UST) for
improvement in sprint performance (time and biomechanics)
– Vertical & horizontal jumping
– Sprint mechanics parameters improve more in RST than UST

6. METHODS
• 27 male youth football (soccer) players [N=27]
• Age: 15.7±0.5 years (mean±SD)
• Height: 175±9 centimetres
• Weight: 62±9 kilograms
• Duration: 4 weeks (2 trainings per week)
• Grouping based on Force-velocity (F-v profile)
• 3 groups:
– resisted sprint training (RST: n=8)
– unresisted sprint training (UST: n=10)
– control group (TAU: n=6)
No gym/strength training for the duration of the
intervention!

7. TESTING & TRAINING
• Testing variables:
• Height/weight/age
• Sprint times: 30m/20m/10m/5m
• Jumps: counter-movement jump (height) + standing long
jump (distance)
• Force-velocity and Load-velocity profiling
• Sprint mechanics: force, power, velocity, etc.
• Training protocol:
• 15 min dynamic warm up
• RST group: 5x20m sprint with an optimal load determined
from pre-test sprint  3min rest between sets
• UST group: 8x20m sprint  3min rest between sets
• TAU group: normal, usual training

8. FORCE-VELOCITY PROFILE

9. LOAD-VELOCITY PROFILE

10. RESULTS
• No sig. differences between groups except for V0 and Vmax RST vs. TAU
• Within Group Comparision:
• RST: sig. differences in body mass (p=0.010), CMJ (p=0.047), SLJ (p=0.010) and RFmax (p=0.039); T30
(p=0.037), T20 (p=0.036), T10 (p=0.038), T5 (p=0.038);
• UST: sig. differences in CMJ (p=0.007) and SLJ (p=0.001)
• TAU: sig. differences in body mass (p=0.046) and Vmax (p=0.016)
• Between Group Comparision:
• RST vs UST & TAU sig. differences in T20, T10, T5, DRF, F0 and Rfmax
• UST vs TAU: sig. differences in CMJ and SLJ
• RST vs TAU: sig. differences in SLJ

11. INDIVIDUAL CHANGES

12. INDIVIDUAL CHANGES

13. INDIVIDUAL CHANGES

14. TAKE HOME MESSAGES
• RS a worthwhile method to improve sprint performance & sprint mechanics.
• Better aplication of Horizontal Force.
• Useful for Youth & Short Training Blocks.
• Potential additional benefits:
• Speed quality preservation throughout the season
• Injury prevention

15. QUESTIONS
• Contact can be made via:
• eMail: domen@supertrening.si
• Facebook: Domen Bremec
• Instagram: @brem3c
• Twitter: @brem3c
• Whole thesis available on Research Gate: Very Heavy Resisted Sprinting: A Better Way to Improve
Acceleration? @ RG