Fitness2u Wingate Test

Introduction

The Wingate test is an excellent assessment tool for coaches, allowing them to assess an athlete's anaerobic capacity.

What is the point?

Speed is a combination of both aerobic and anaerobic abilities. While an athlete must have an aerobic base to build their training upon, it is their anaerobic ability which will ultimately see them first across the finish line.

The Wingate Anaerobic 30 cycle Test (also known as WANT) was developed in Israel in the 1970s, at the institute that bears its name. While it is used by coaches in a number of sports, as it is ergometer based, it works best for cyclists.

What do you need?

A mechanically braked bicycle ergometer
A stopwatch
An assistant

How do you do the test?

Perform a 10 minute warm
Then, begin pedaling as fast as possible without any resistance
After 3 seconds, a fixed resistance is applied to the flywheel
Continue to pedal "all out" for 30 seconds
An electrical or mechanical counter continuously records flywheel revolutions in 5 second intervals

Resistance Settings:

Flywheel resistance is typically set at 0.075 kg per kg body mass. Thus for a 70 kg person, the flywheel resistance would equal 5.25 kg (70 kg x 0.075).

For testing power and sprint athletes, resistance can be set to 1.0 kg x body mass or higher (up to 1.3 kg).

What results you'll get :

This is a good tool for measuring improvements in performance over the course of a season. Various measures can be taken including Peak Power output, Relative Peak Power output, Anaerobic Fatigue, and Anaerobic Capacity.

Peak Power Output (PP)

The highest power output, observed during the first 5 seconds of exercise, indicates the energy generating capacity of the immediate energy system (intramuscular high energy phosphates ATP and PC). PP is calculated as follows:

PP = Force x Distance (number of revolutions x distance per revolution) / Time in minutes (5 secs = 0.0833 min).

Percentile norms for Peak Power for active young adults is:

	Male	Female
%Rank	Watts	Watts
90	822	560
80	777	527
70	757	505
60	721	480
50	689	449
40	671	432
30	656	399
20	618	376
10	570	353

Relative Peak Power Output (RPP)

Peak power output relative to body mass is calculated as follows:

RPP = PP / Body mass (kg)

Percentile norms for Relative Peak Power for active young adults is:

	Male	Female
%Rank	Watts.Kg	Watts.Kg
90	10.89	9.02
80	10.39	8.83
70	10.20	8.53
60	9.80	8.14
50	9.22	7.65
40	8.92	6.96
30	8.53	6.86
20	8.24	6.57
10	7.06	5.98

Anaerobic Fatigue (AF)

AF represents the systems total capacity to produce ATP via the immediate and short-term energy systems. AF provides percentage decline in power output and is calculated as follows:

AF = ((Highest 5 sec PP - Lowest 5 sec PP) ? (Highest 5 sec PP)) x 100.

Anaerobic Capacity (AC)

Total work accomplished in 30 secs. AC is calculated as follows:

AC = Sum of each 5 sec PP - or...
AC = Force x Total distance in 30 secs.

What is being measured again?

This is an excellent measure of both peak anaerobic power and anaerobic capacity.