Effects of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) on muscle power and sports performance in paracyclists

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on muscular strength and athletic performance in T1 and T2 male para-cyclists over a 4-week period. An uncontrolled quasi-experimental research was designed with a non-probabilistic sample of four male participants (23.25 ± 7.27 years; 175.25 ± 3.35 cm; 62.10 ± 1.84 kg) with cerebral palsy, members of the Departmental Paracycling Commission of Cauca, Colombia. The four athletes performed cycloergometer HIIT for four weeks, with two sessions per week. Training was based on the intensity in watts (W) of peak power measured in a stress test for the long HIIT and in the Wingate anaerobic test for the short HIIT performed prior to training. Exercise load and its physiological response were monitored by heart rate (HR) and the Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale at the end of exercise. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 24.0 software. Descriptive statistics and Shapiro-Wilk, Student's t-test for paired samples, and Wilcoxon test for non-parametric data were used. Three athletes completed the study. Positive numerical changes occurred in the increase of the Wingate anaerobic test (342.76 ± 113.32 W vs. 399.73 ± 104.92 W), VO₂max (2358.88 ± 345.68 ml-kg^-1 min^-1 vs. 2497 ± 63. 21 ml-kg^-1 min^-1) and in the reduction of the times for the 14 km individual time trial (2489 ± 4.24 s vs. 2338.25 ± 18.73 s) and the 20 km time trial (2775 s vs. 2674 s) for training classes T1 and T2, respectively. Therefore, four weeks of HIIT training had a positive effect on VO₂max, muscular power output, and athletic performance in T1 and T2 para-cycling athletes.