Authors: Hopkins W.G.¹; Schabort E.J.²; Hawley J.A.³

Source: Sports Medicine, Volume 31, Number 3, 1 March 2001 , pp. 211-234(24)

Publisher: Adis International

Abstract:

The reliability of power in tests of physical performance affects the precision of assessment of athletes, patients, clients and study participants. In this meta-analytic review we identify the most reliable measures of power and the factors affecting reliability. Our measures of reliability were the typical (standard) error of measurement expressed as a coefficient of variation (CV) and the percent change in the mean between trials. We meta-analysed these measures for power or work from 101 studies of healthy adults. Measures and tests with the smallest CV in exercise of a given duration include field tests of sprint running (~0.9%), peak power in an incremental test on a treadmill or cycle ergometer (~0.9%), equivalent mean power in a constant-power test lasting 1 minute to 3 hours on a treadmill or cycle ergometer (0.9 to 2.0%), lactate-threshold power (~1.5%), and jump height or distance (~2.0%). The CV for mean power on isokinetic ergometers was relatively large (>4%). CV were larger for nonathletes versus athletes (1.3 ×), female versus male nonathletes (1.4 ×), shorter (~1-second) and longer (~1-hour) versus 1-minute tests (1.6 ×), and respiratory- versus ergometer-based measures of power (1.4 to 1.6 ×). There was no clear-cut effect of time between trials. The importance of a practice trial was evident in studies with >2 trials: the CV between the first 2 trials was 1.3 times the CV between subsequent trials; performance also improved by 1.2% between the first 2 trials but by only 0.2% between subsequent trials. These findings should help exercise practitioners and researchers select or design good measures and protocols for tests of physical performance.

Keywords: Exercise performance; Exercise tests

Document Type: Review article

Affiliations: 1: Department of Physiology, School of Medical Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand 2: Sports Science Institute of South Africa, Cape Town, South Africa 3: Exercise Metabolism Group, School of Medical Sciences, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

Publication date: 2001-03-01

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