Repeated-sprint training in hypoxia improves team-sport-specific repeated-sprint ability: Does training volume matter?

Hypoxia training is a condition in which the body is deprived of adequate oxygen supply during the training. Since 2013, repeated-sprint training in hypoxia (RSH) became popular in various team sports including football, handball, and rugby. In comparing to sea-level training, players gain extra enhancement through the RSH in their sea-level repeated-sprint ability (RS), and hence, augmenting their competitive edge in game situations. In Hong Kong, the specific hypoxic training regimen is usually taken place on a non-motorized treadmill installed in an ample hypoxic chamber. In last year, both Hong Kong Handball and Football Teams who adopted RSH performed exceptional well in the 2018 Asian Games (Please refer to related Links below). Nevertheless, several unclears associated to team-sport performance enhancement with the RSH are still existed. These include the lack of empirical data related to (1) the impact of the training volume of the RSH on enhancing the RS of team-sport players; (2) the RS enhancement with RSH in a real or simulated game situation of certain team sports with prolonged game duration; (3) the effects of RSH on the enhancement of RS with rapid change of direction; and (4) the delayed effects of the RSH on RS enhancement in team-sport players. The purposes of the proposed study are to examine the acute and delayed effects of RSH training volume on the improvement of the RS in (i) a simulated team-sport intermittent exercise protocol, (ii) a team sport-specific curved sprint test that involves rapid change of direction, and (iii) a maximum team sport-specific high-intensity intermittent running protocol, by comparing the specific adaptations to the identical RSH regimens with explicit differences in training volume in team-sport players. The potential findings of the present study would elucidate the impact of the training volume of the RSH on the enhancement of players’ RS. It would also demonstrate the effectiveness of RSH on improving the RS during a simulated game situation of team sport, as well as that involves rapid change of direction. Such precise information of the RSH would facilitate strength and conditioning coaches of team sports at professional and semi-professional levels to periodize the specific RSH effectively for players to achieve optimal performance during their competition season.