Concurrent Validity of Power Output Derived from the Non-motorised Treadmill Test in Sedentary Adults

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Many consider the Wingate Anaerobic Test (WAnT) as a reference standard assessment mode in the measurement of lower limb short-term power output. However the WAnT is criticised for having low ecological validity, in non-cycling tasks and is reliant on a pre-determined applied force, which might not elicit the highest power output. A viable alternative to the WAnT is the Non-Motorised Treadmill (NMT) Test, which allows for power measurement in all-out intensity effort sprint-running. With the reliability of the NMT to elicit power in sedentary adults already established, the aim was to compare peak power (PP) and mean power (MP) derived from a 10-s sprint on the NMT to that derived from a 10-s WAnT, to establish concurrent validity.

Materials and Methods: Twelve male [age 26.6 ± 2.4 years, body mass (BM) 63.0 ± 7.2 kg] and 11 female (age 25.3 ± 3.6 years, BM 51.0 ± 4.0 kg) sedentary adults participated in the study. PP and MP in absolute, ratio-scaled and allometrically-scaled to BM were analysed. Ratio limits of agreement (LOA) was used to establish the agreement between PP and MP from the NMT and the WAnT.

Results: PP in absolute and ratio-scaled to BM from the NMT was between 1.04 and 1.12 times that of PP from the WAnT in 95% of the attempts (PP: NMT, 647.1 ± 176.4W vs WAnT, 597.0 ± 146.0W). MP in absolute and ratio-scaled to BM from the NMT test was between 0.88 and 0.97 times of that from the WAnT (MP: NMT, 508.9 ± 130.7W vs WAnT, 548.7 ± 131.3W). Power produced on the NMT and the WAnT by sedentary adults shared moderate and acceptable levels of agreement.

Conclusions: These results affirmed that the NMT could be considered as a viable alternative to the WAnT for the assessment of PP and MP in all-out intensity sprint-running lasting 10 s in sedentary adults.

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