Published Research

The current findings indicate that sprint-focused training may be sufficient to elicit meaningful increases in muscle fascicle length, despite small performance change.

The current findings indicate that the horizontal force–velocity profile (H-FVP), especially F0 and Pmax, is strongly related to sprint and early COD performance but provides limited information on inter-limb asymmetry and later COD phases. Integrating horizontal sprint profiling with phase-specific COD assessments may therefore enhance athlete monitoring and training design in elite football players.

Continuous velocity profiling may provide additional insight into velocity-development patterns during on and off ice sprinting in ice hockey players, whereas discrete metrics may be more appropriate for routine team-level monitoring.

These findings suggest that implementing individualized resisted sprint training sessions is a promising strategy to improve in-situ sprint mechanical outputs during the competitive season.

It would seem that “faster” pickup acceleration is likely associated with greater step horizontal forces (SFh) across the transition and first pickup steps; this increase in force may influence kinematics during a walking entry, but its influence is less apparent during a jogging entry. It is possible that at higher entry velocities, other technical/mechanical factors may become more important, necessitating a more advanced technological approach to studying pickup acceleration than that used in this study.

The current method provides strength and conditioning practitioners with a practical and portable solution for assessing sport-specific sprint mechanics. While low-load resistance (1 kg) and tether oscillation present limitations, the approach enables individualized training prescriptions based on step-specific mechanical profiles. Future research should establish the reliability of step-derived measures and explore targeted interventions for improving pickup acceleration performance in team sport athletes.

Current findings highlight the relevance of linear deceleration capacity as a potential determinant of lateral movement performance in elite basketball.

Findings suggest that deceleration mechanics are task dependent with SF tasks eliciting greater braking demands. Practitioners should consider sport‐specific deceleration requirements when designing training interventions.

The purpose of this study was to determine the agreement between a motorized sprint resistance device (MSRD) and timing gates and an inertial measurement unit (IMU), for assessing time to completion and peak velocity during linear and change-of-direction tasks in elite female volleyball players. The MSRD seems to agree with timing gates for sprint and 5–10–5 time. However, the agreement with IMU for peak velocity is weaker.

Although limited to a single-athlete design, the observed improvements suggest that individualised, LV-informed resisted swimming using accessible equipment may contribute to enhancements in sprint swimming performance.

The article highlights a range of different protocols (i.e. change of direction and acceleration-deceleration ability tests) and measurement technologies (i.e. radar, laser, video, global navigation satellite systems, inertial measurement units and motorised resistance devices) that can be used to evaluate deceleration with advantages and disadvantages of each. Key metrics used to measure deceleration performance are highlighted. Given the performance, health and injury-risk implications associated with deceleration, assessment of this movement skill should be given high priority within any athlete multi-disciplinary support system.

Maximal power associated with force output in the horizontal direction may considered a key performance indicator for initial acceleration in American football and certain technical underpinnings are associated with higher levels of maximal power during initial sprint acceleration.

Elite female sprinters maintain highly stable neuromuscular recruitment patterns, particularly in the quadriceps and hamstrings, when sprinting with external loads up to 15% BM, potentially reflecting a ceiling effect in their neuromuscular responsiveness. From a practical perspective, light-to-moderate RST may effectively stimulate posterior chain muscles without disrupting sprinting mechanics.

The developed protocol using the 1080 Sprint under different loaded conditions to assess linear wheelchair acceleration can be used by trainers to assess physical capacities during training sessions, guiding subsequent training.

The findings highlight semi-tethered profiling as an effective and ecologically valid tool for assessing sprint performance in high-performance swimmers and informing targeted training interventions.

Phase specific information from continuous data while doing a change of direction test provide important information in high level male basketball players.

The findings suggest that resisted sprint training is effective in improving acceleration and neuromuscular power in team sports. Optimal outcomes depend on precise load calibration, the use of valid profiling instruments, and personalized programming tailored to the specific needs of athletes and their disciplines.

External resistance and running speed influence thigh muscle activity differently, even within the same muscle group, likely due to distinct muscle architecture and function. These insights should be considered when designing sprint training programs to target specific muscle groups, avoid muscle overloading, and account for interindividual differences to optimize performance and reduce injury risk.

Entry velocity had minimal effect on the stability of a max , v max , and split times across trials and sessions, and the practitioner can be confident that these measures are reasonably stable across repeated testing occasions and, therefore, can be used to measure and monitor pickup acceleration.

MRD can obtain reliable assisted sprint outcome measurements and thereby provide coaches and researchers with new opportunities to advance, monitor and evaluate sprint training.

The load–velocity profile is a valuable tool for assessing performance in both sexes in swimming. Kinematic parameters were related between semi-tethered and free swimming; however, association diminished with increasing load.

This ability to maximally accelerate from a non-static start (i.e., pickup acceleration) is largely unexplored. In this review, pickup acceleration assessment using a motorized horizontal linear position encoder (1080 Sprint) is discussed in detail, various signals explained, and a sample case study of high and low pickup capability described.

A difference in individual anterior cruciate ligament injury risk assessment depending on movement type was revealed. While knee abduction moment magnitudes were similar across direction-change tasks, player rankings differed. The contributions of resultant ground reaction forces and frontal plane moment arms to peak knee abduction moments varied between tasks, underscoring the importance of task-specific and individualized injury prevention.

The deceleration threshold method using the average of the best two trials from each testing day, exhibited excellent inter-day reliability for the key metrics (TTS: ICC = 0.93, CV% = 6.4; DTS: ICC = 0.97, CV% = 5.3; DECave: ICC = 0.92, CV% = 7.1). To optimize reliability and sensitivity of detecting a meaningful change in sprint deceleration performance practitioners should consider using the average of two best trials analyzed with the deceleration threshold.