Validation of a Six Second Cycle Test for the Determination of Peak Power Output

Abstract

The present study examined the agreement between peak power output during a standard Wingate anaerobic test (WAnT) and a six second ‘all-out’ test on a Wattbike Pro. Nine males (40.7 ± 19.4 yrs, 1.76 ± 0.03 cm, 82.11 ± 8.9 kg) underwent three testing protocols on separate days. The protocols consisted 30 second WAnT (WAnT30), a modified WAnT over 6 seconds (WAnT6) and a 6 second peak power test (PPT6). PPT6 was correlated with WAnT30 (r = 0.9; p < 0.001) with a mean bias of 105 W. PPT6 correlated with WAnT6 (r = 0.95; p < 0.001) with a mean bias of 74 W. WAnT6 correlated with WAnT30 (r = 0.99; p < 0.001) with a mean bias of 31 W. There was no difference in time to peak power between any trial. PPT6 resulted in significantly greater power outputs than in WAnT30 and WAnT6 (p < 0.001). We conclude that PPT6 and WAnT6 are valid measures of peak power output compared with WAnT30. This identifies that PPT6 and WAnT6 as short duration ‘all-out’ tests that have practical applications for researchers and coaches who wish to assess peak power output without the fatiguing effects associated with a standard WAnT.