It is not uncommon for coaches to have athletes run multiple sprints with short rest periods in between as a form of conditioning. Many coaches do not know how the rest period impacts sprint performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the impact of rest periods on the repeated sprint performance.

Twelve athletes performed five 40-meter maximal sprints on two separate days. On one day they had 30-second rest periods and on the other day they had 3-minute rest periods between each sprint. Testing days were separated by 24 hours to ensure that athletes were recovered from the previous session. Prior to testing, athletes performed a standardized warm-up. Sprint times were measured using an electronic timing system. Statistical analysis were performed using a repeated measures analysis of variance.   

Results indicate that the longer rest period (3 minute) yields better sprint performance throughout the 5 sprints and that sprint times would progressively increase, with the last sprint being the slowest for the 30-second rest condition.