Rest Period For Activating Sprint Speed

Elite soccer athletes trying to get an edge on reaching the ball sometimes try to trigger postactivation potentiation. The rest period after running 20-meter sprints with 30% body weight assistance is typically around 4 minutes. A study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research looks at the impact of over-speed sprints with a shorter rest period.
 
Twenty four female soccer players were tested for sprint speed before performing 5 separate training sessions. Each session started with a dynamic warm up followed by a 20-meter sprint using 30% body weigh assistance. They waited 30-seconds, 1, 2 or 4 minutes before running a no body weight sprint. The first 5-meter split of that sprint was fastest after 1 or 2 minutes of rest and worked best for highly trained athletes.