WINGATE ANAEROBIC TEST: ADDITIONAL PHYSIOOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION

Abstract

The Wingate Anaerobic Test (WAnT) is the most commonly used test for the assessment of anaerobic power and anaerobic capacity of athletes. The well known parameters recorded during the WAnT routine procedure in our opinion could be subjected to additional analysis generating substantial additional physiological data. The aim of this study was to develop a new, easy to set up method estimating the relationship between the contribution of the anaerobic and aerobic energy systems in athletes performing WAnT. A parallel registration of WAnT parameters and the oxygen consumption breath by breath was done. Thus, the indicators for the activity of the aerobic and anaerobic systems, ensuring the physical ef-fort in each segment (in seconds) of the test, were calculated. The proposed method was introduced and applied to twelve soccer players, 14years of age; height164,7±8,0cm; body weight50,7±9,2kg; maxi-mal heart rate195,7±7,0bpm; maximal oxygen uptake58,1±9,9ml.kg-1. Participants were tested twice, before and after 5 months specialized training program focussed on the improvement of speed/power and endurance. Statistically significant progress was found in: Total power output by 16,4%; O2 deficit by 32,4%; O2 deficit/O2 excess by 80,3% in favor of the deficit. It was established that the differences in the calculated physiological parameters during the performance of the WAnT before and after the five-month training program are more pronounced compared to the ergometric ones, especially with regard to the participation of each system in energy processes. The results indicate that the proposed physiological parameters are of high sensitivity and reflect strong associations with the metabolic changes in response to the training modalities. The method is easy to implement, allowing quick analysis of the individual results and its application in exercise physiology laboratories and the sports practice could be beneficial.

Keywords

• wingate anaerobic test
• oxygen uptake
• oxygen deficit
• power output