Effects of Static Stretching on Repeated Sprint and Change of Direction Performance

Purpose: Toexamine the effects of static stretching during the recovery periods of field-based team sports on subsequent repeated sprint ability(RSA) and change of direction speed (CODS) performance. Methods: On four separate occasions, 12 male team-sport playersperformed a standardized warm-up, followed by a test of either RSA or CODS (on two occasions each) in a counterbalanceddesign. Both tests involved three sets of six maximal sprint repetitions, with a 4-min recovery between sets. During the breakbetween sets, the participants either rested (control [CON]) or completed a static stretching protocol (static stretch [SS]). The RSAtest involved straight-line sprints, whereas the CODS test required a change of direction (100-) every 4 m (total of four). Mean,total (sum of six sprints), first, and best sprint times (MST, TST, FST, and BST, respectively) were recorded for each set. Results:There was a consistent tendency for RSA times to be slower after the static stretching intervention, which was supported bystatistical significance for three performance variables (MST 0–5 m set 2, MST 0–20 m set 2, and TST set 2; P G 0.05). Thistendency was also supported by moderate effect sizes and qualitative indications of ‘‘likely’’ harmful or detrimental effects associatedwith RSA-SS. Further, sprint times again tended to be slower in the CODS-SS trial compared with the CODS-CON across all sprintvariables, with a significantly slower (P G 0.05) BST recorded for set 3 after static stretching. Conclusion: These results suggest thatan acute bout (4 min) of static stretching of the lower limbs during recovery periods between efforts may compromise RSAperformance but has less effect on CODS performance.