Repeat Max Effort Sprints

Short duration maximum effort sprints on the Assault bike is an example of a conditioning strategy to improve repeat sprint ability by “raising the ceiling” (opposed to aerobic strategies that “raise the floor”).

The Assault bike is a great tool for this purpose because it’s a low skill movement, so the athlete can focus exclusively on output, and it provides objective feedback (speed or wattage) on the intensity for each rep.

Typically performed for 1-2 rounds of 8-10 reps of 6-10s sprints, starting on the minute (e.g. 50-54s of rest).

A key point of emphasis here is not letting the intensity drop significantly from the first to last rep. As a general rule, speed shouldn’t drop more than 5%. If the athlete can’t maintain that speed, then end the session if the goal was to do 1 round, or end the round and take a few minutes (3-5) to recover before starting the next round.

In this case, this is the only time I’ve seen a player max out the screens wattage (1999) on every rep. Incredibly impressive.

To your success,

Kevin Neeld
SpeedTrainingforHockey.com
HockeyTransformation.com
OptimizingAdaptation.com

P.S. For more information on in- and off-season program design, training and reconditioning for injured players, and integrating sports science into a comprehensive training process, check out Optimizing Adaptation & Performance

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