Date of Award

January 2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Kinesiology & Public Health Education

First Advisor

John S. Fitzgerald

Abstract

The relationship between ventilatory threshold (VT1, VT2) and repeated-sprint ability (RSA) in competitive male ice-hockey players was investigated. Forty-three male ice-hockey players (age 20.0 ± 1.4 years; height 182.5 ± 6.3 cm; body mass 84.8 ± 6.5 kg; percent body fat 11.8 ± 2.8%; relative O2peak 55.0 ± 4.5 mL/kg/min) competing at the Division I, Division III, and Junior A level volunteered to participate in the study during the off-season. Participants first performed an incremental graded exercise test on a skate treadmill to determine their VO2peak, final stage completed, VT1, stage at VT1, VT2, and stage at VT2. Analysis of aerobic fitness was assessed by MedGraphics Breezesuit™ software (v-slope). After at least 48 hours, participants performed an on-ice repeated shift (RSA) test consisting of 8-maximal skating bouts lasting approximately 25 seconds interspersed with 90 seconds of passive recovery, to determine first gate, second gate, and total sprint decrement (%dec). Pearson product-moment correlations and multiple regressions were used to assess the relationship between aerobic fitness variables (VO2peak, final stage completed), ventilatory threshold variables (VT1, VT2, Stage at VT1, and Stage at VT2) and RSA (first gate, second gate, and total course decrement). Moderate negative correlations were detected between second gate decrement and VT1 (r=-0.33, p<0.05) and VT2 (r=-0.30, p<0.05). There were also strong negative correlations between second gate decrement and both stage at VT1 and stage at VT2 (r=-0.55, p<0.001; r=-0.58, p<0.001, respectively). Stage at VT2 was the only variable that was substantially correlated with both first gate (r=-0.35, p<0.05) and total course decrement (r=-0.42, p<0.05). Multiple regressions revealed that stage at VT1 and Stage at VT2 were stronger predictors of second gate performance decrement than VO2peak, explaining 9% and 14% of the variance, respectively (p<0.05). However, stage at VT2 was not a significant independent predictor of total course decrement (p=0.08). The results of this study demonstrated that RSA is more strongly correlated with VT and work rates at VT than VO2peak. The results of this study suggest that the implementation of a training program to improve VT (VT2) may lead to improvements in RSA performance. Further longitudinal research is necessary to assess this effect.

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