The Wingate Test

·         Determine your anaerobic capacity
·         Determine your peak anaerobic power
·         Determine your fatigue index
 
WHAT IS THE WINGATE TEST?
 
The Wingate test, also known as the Sprinter’s test, is used to assess anaerobic power during short duration cycling. The actual data consists of 30 seconds of cycling performed at a very high workload while maintaining as high a cadence as possible. The resistance used is based on a percentage of body weight, and is further refined by the activity level and gender of the athlete. The results of collected data yield information about the following aspects of anaerobic fitness:
·         Anaerobic power: the highest mechanical power an athlete achieves during the course of the Wingate test divided by body weight. This value describes the “explosiveness” of the muscles used.
·         Anaerobic capacity: the average power maintained through the test divided by body weight. Anaerobic capacity describes the amount of anaerobic energy produced in a certain amount of time. The higher your capacity, the longer you can perform in anaerobic conditions such as sprinting.
·         Anaerobic fatigue: peak power minus minimum power divided by the test time. This data describes anaerobic endurance, or how long an athlete can maintain a level of anaerobic activity. The higher the number, the faster an athlete will fatigue when performing at an anaerobic level.
These values are of interest to sprinters as a way to quantify anaerobic capacity and compare fitness levels over time. All three of these data points are scaled so that they can be compared between serial tests or between different athletes.
 
WHAT TO EXPECT DURING THE TEST:
The Wingate test takes around 20 minutes with warm-up and cool-down, but the data comes from only 30 seconds of the protocol. Before the test begins, we record the athlete’s weight and activity level. This information allows calculation of an optimal resistance for the data phase of the test. The workload during this phase will be sufficiently large so that the athlete should fatigue considerably during the 30 seconds it lasts.
Once the test begins, the athlete first warms up at a low workload. Next, a phase with 20 seconds with zero resistance allows the athlete to speed their cadence up as fast as possible. At this point, the previously calculated high workload will begin. The athlete must try to maintain their cadence as fast as possible from the beginning, which ensures that they reach a true anaerobic power peak before fatiguing. After 30 seconds of high workload, the workload will decrease again for a cool-down, and the data will be analyzed. Percentile norms for anaerobic power are as follows*:
 

 
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

*MAUD, P.J. and SHULTZ, B.B. (1998) Norms for the Wingate anaerobic test with comparison to another similar test. Res Q Exerc Sport, 60 (2), p. 144-151.