Anaerobic testing using the Wingate and Evans-Quinney protocols with and without toe stirrups

Abstract

Recently, considerable attention has been focused on the measurement of maximal anaerobic power. The Evans-Quinney (1981) protocol which considers leg volume as well as body weight in establishing optimal load settings on the bicycle ergometer has been shown to result in significantly higher anaerobic power outputs than the body weight-relative Wingate protocol. The purpose of this investigation was to compare the anaerobic power outputs during bicycle ergometer work using the Wingate and Evans-Quinney protocols with and without toe stirrups. Fifty male physical education and varsity athletes (average age 22.6 years) volunteered to participate in this experiment. All subjects performed a total of four maximal 30-second anaerobic power tests utilizing the force settings established by the Wingate (load [L] = 0.075 kp/kg body weight) and Evans-Quinney (L = -0.4914-0.2151 (weight, kg) + 2.1124 (leg volume, litre) protocol. The subjects were randomly assigned to one of four counterbalanced orders of test administration. Analysis of data indicated significant differences (P less than or equal to .05) among the variables of: 5-second peak power (W), 30-second anaerobic capacity (W) and percent fatigue as a function of test protocol. Significantly higher values were obtained for all variables under the Evans-Quinney test procedure using toe stirrups while the Wingate test procedure without toe stirrups showed significantly lower values for all variables. It was concluded that the Evans-Quinney load setting protocol with toe stirrups resulted in significantly higher power measures than any of the other treatments tested.