Abstract
This study investigated the impact of repeated-sprint (RS) training with voluntary hypoventilation at low lung volume (VHL) on RS ability (RSA) and on performance in a 30-15 intermittent fitness test (30-15IFT). Over 4 weeks, 17 basketball players included eight sessions of straight-line running RS and RS with changes of direction into their usual training, performed either with normal breathing (CTL, n = 8) or with VHL (n = 9). Before and after the training, athletes completed a RSA test (12 × 30-m, 25-s rest) and a 30-15IFT. During the RSA test, the fastest sprint (RSAbest), time-based percentage decrement score (RSASdec), total electromyographic intensity (RMS), and spectrum frequency (MPF) of the biceps femoris and gastrocnemius muscles, and biceps femoris NIRS-derived oxygenation were assessed for every sprint. A capillary blood sample was also taken after the last sprint to analyse metabolic and ionic markers. Cohen's effect sizes (ES) were used to compare group differences. Compared with CTL, VHL did not clearly modify RSAbest, but likely lowered RSASdec (VHL: −24.5% vs. CTL: −5.9%, group difference: −19.8%, ES −0.44). VHL also lowered the maximal deoxygenation induced by sprints ([HHb]max; group difference: −2.9%, ES −0.72) and enhanced the reoxygenation during recovery periods ([HHb]min; group difference: −3.6%, ES −1.00). VHL increased RMS (group difference: 18.2%, ES 1.28) and maintained MPF toward higher frequencies (group difference: 9.8 ± 5.0%, ES 1.40). These changes were concomitant with a lower potassium (K+) concentration (group difference: −17.5%, ES −0.67), and the lowering in [K+] was largely correlated with RSASdec post-training in VHL only (r = 0.66, p < 0.05). However, VHL did not clearly alter PO2, hemoglobin, lactate and bicarbonate concentration and base excess. There was no difference between group velocity gains for the 30-15IFT (CTL: 6.9% vs. VHL: 7.5%, ES 0.07). These results indicate that RS training combined with VHL may improve RSA, which could be relevant to basketball player success. This gain may be attributed to greater muscle reoxygenation, enhanced muscle recruitment strategies, and improved K+ regulation to attenuate the development of muscle fatigue, especially in type-II muscle fibers.
Highlights
As in most team sports, basketball players have to perform various efforts including sprinting, jumping, and shuffling interspersed with relatively short and active periods of recovery
We aimed to examine whether this approach could be feasible at all-out intensity with changes of direction (COD), as performed regularly in team sports
We report that 8 sessions of RS training including COD performed with voluntary respiratory blockage at low lung volumes by basketball players elicited clear, though not large, RS ability (RSA) gain compared to training with unrestricted breathing, but this improvement was not transferable to longer activities
Summary
As in most team sports, basketball players have to perform various efforts including sprinting, jumping, and shuffling interspersed with relatively short and active periods of recovery (i.e., running and walking). To enhance fitness and delay neuromuscular fatigue, conditioning programs revolve around the determinants of repeated-sprint (RS) ability (RSA) These include energetic substrate depletion, metabolite accumulation, ionic and muscle excitability changes, and altered muscle recruitment strategies (Billaut and Bishop, 2009; Girard et al, 2011). Performing RS training in hypoxia (the so-called RSH modality) can enhance some peripheral limiting factors of RSA and improve the ability to repeat all-out efforts (i.e., sprint endurance) more than the same training performed in normoxia (Billaut et al, 2012; Brocherie et al, 2017) Among these purported factors, the enhancement of oxygen delivery to and oxygenation of active skeletal muscles and fast-twitch fibers recruitment have been demonstrated on several occasions and in various sport modalities (Faiss et al, 2013)
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