Reliability of a Novel Badminton Intermittent Exercise Protocol

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Badminton is a sport characterized by high-intensity activity interspersed with short rests requiring specific physiological fitness, skills and game tactics. This study aimed to develop, describe and establish the reliability of a novel badminton intermittent exercise protocol, to simulate singles match-play (Part A) and assess match-fitness (Part B). Method: Twelve well-trained male badminton players performed a two-part protocol, mimicking the demands and activity of match-play, on two occasions with at least 72-h recovery. Part A imitated match-play and consisted of 40 stages alternating between 20 s work – receiving shuttlecocks from a launcher and ghosting (simulated) actions – and 40 s rest. Part B was an open-ended period, challenging match-fitness, designed to exhaust participants within 10 min. Physiological responses (heart rate, blood lactate and ratings of perceived exertion) (Part A and B) and time to exhaustion (Part B) were determined both times. Results: There were no differences in performance and physiological responses between trials (p > .05). The protocol demonstrated excellent reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient > 0.89) for all variables. Time to exhaustion (Part B) was 198 ± 98 s and 194 ± 82 s, respectively. Mean (Part A) and peak (Part B) heart rates were 166 ± 9; 191 ± 8 b∙min⁻¹ and 166 ± 9; 191 ± 7 b∙min⁻¹ and blood lactate concentrations (Part B) 11.8 ± 2.3 and 11.5 ± 2.1 mmol∙l⁻¹ for trials 1 and 2, respectively. Conclusion: The protocol reliably induces match-like responses and can be used to assess match-fitness for training/research purposes.

KEYWORDS:

• Fitness
• performance
• representative
• singles
• sport-specific

Acknowledgments

The authors would like the participants for their valuable assistance with this project. The authors thank Mr. Muhammad Balya’ Bin Mahmood for his assistance with the data collection.

Supplementary material

Supplementary material for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.

Additional information

Funding

The first author, Chia, J.S was supported by a National Institute of Education Research Scholarship and by the Institute for Sports Research at Nanyang Technological University. This study was made possible through a Start-Up grant (SUG 02/15 SB) from the Office of Education Research, National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University.