Effect of pre-exercise stretching on repeat sprint performance

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of pre-exercise stretching on repeated sprint performance over 20 m. Eight participants completed three conditions, active static stretching (AS), dynamic stretching (DS) and control (CON), in a counterbalanced order. Each pre-exercise condition was preceded by a 3-min walk. After stretching, participants completed the first 15 min of the Loughborough intermittent shuttle test (LIST). All statistical comparisons are made using qualitative magnitude based inferences comparing the stretching condition with CON. The results show that AS has probably had no beneficial or disadvantageous effect on performance on the first 20-m sprint (positive 57%, trivial 27%, negative 16%). There appear to be no beneficial or negative effects with the use of AS on 20-m sprint performance halfway through the LIST (positive 31%, trivial 32%, negative 37%). After 15 min of the LIST, AS appeared to exert a negative effect on sprint performance with 20-m sprint slowing (positive 35%, trivial 0%, negative 65%). DS improved performance on the first sprint (positive 89%, trivial 9%, negative 16%). By the midpoint, the beneficial effects of DS on sprint performance appear equivocal (positive 53%, trivial 28%, negative 18%). In the last sprint DS appeared to have a positive effect on performance (positive 80%, trivial 0%, negative 20%). Sprint performance during a 15-min segment of the LIST appears to be enhanced with DS. By contrast, 20-m sprint performance declined over the 15 min after AS.