Speed demon
ASR - what is it?
Modern hockey is physiologically demanding and requires more than a large aerobic base for players to optimise their contribution. Conventional conditioning training typically balances a mix of aerobic and repeated intermittent efforts, with training interventions tailored by including GPS and HR data for each player. We need to look to move beyond this and apply a good deal more fidelity to assessments and prescriptions. We have taken a deep dive into Maximal Aerobic Speed (MAS) earlier; the lowest running speed at which maximum oxygen uptake (VO2 max) occurs, often referred to as the velocity at VO2 max (vVO2 max). It is crucial to factor the role of Maximal Sprint Speed (MSS) in our conditioning programs. It’s simply the fastest speed a player can attain and the difference between these two measures is known as the Anaerobic Speed Reserve (ASR).
How do we test for Maximal Sprint Speed?
Use a measure of the time for the first 10 meters from a stationary start as a score for acceleration, and the time to run between 30-60 meters for a flying sprint maximal speed.Non-track athletes will reach their peak speed somewhere between 20-40 meters from the start; Bellenger et.al, (2015). In the US NCAA field hockey system, it is the 40 yard sprint that is the standard test measure. It has been found to be a highly reliable test with test–retest reliabilities typically above .95, but ranging from .89 to .97.
Armed with our previous MAS calc and now with a MSS we can benchmark each player’s ASR and start tailoring programs that suit each individual.
How to use ASR to Shape Fitness Planning & Outcomes
Firstly, having objective performance data for each player will reveal differences that must be addressed in your program, set benchmarks, goals and with wearable data and player reported RPEs, tailor programs that can adjust and evolve as needed.
Let’s look at a straightforward example of two 35+ Masters players in the same squad.
Player A
MAS 20 km/hr
MSS 36 km/hr
ASR 16 km/hr
Player B
MAS 20 km/hr
MSS 30 km/hr
ASR 10 km/hr
Here, we have two players with identical MAS scores but substantially different sprint speeds. If, as a coach, I set the intensity of a short duration HIIT session based only on an aerobic indicator like MAS every time, the athlete with the higher MSS ends up working at a lower percentage of their maximal capacity i.e. sub-optimally. It is important we consider prescribing sessions based around intervals set at % ASR as well.
As Diego Sanders puts it
Ideally, exercise intensity for HIIT, particularly within the short duration HIIT domain, should be individualized using a combination of aerobic and anaerobic capacity parameters, in order to have the same training impact among different individuals.
Interestingly, Du & Tao (2023) investigated physiological and performance adaptations to high-intensity interval training (HIIT) prescribed as a proportion of anaerobic speed reserve (ASR) compared to HIIT prescribed using maximal aerobic speed (MAS) with sprint kayakers. Sure, this is not hockey Dorothy with sprint kayaking a straight line effort with no pauses or changes of direction, but still the findings are of interest.
They found
Overall, a short period of ASR-HIIT improves 500-m and 1,000-m paddling performances in highly trained sprint kayak athletes. Importantly, inter-subject variability (CV) of physiological adaptations to ASR-HIIT was lower than MAS-HIIT. Individualized prescription of HIIT using ASR ensures similar physiological demands across individuals and potentially facilitates similar degrees of physiological adaptation.
The relatively less variability of performance derived through the ASR-HIIT helps hone consistent, across squad physiologic outcomes. That said, hockey player prescriptions need to cover both MAS and ASR with relative % contributions to overall effort tuned into individual athlete profiles and periodised timing, among a host of other factors the coaching staff need to consider. Sandford et.al, (2019) explored the application of the MAS and ASR to profiling world class 800 metre runners. Sandford, later on has distilled the measures into what he calls the Speed Reserve Ratio (SRR) as part of an approach termed Locomotor Profiling; Sandford,Laursen & Buchheit (2021).
SRR = MSS (kph) / MAS (kph)
He uses this with field sports squads in formulating practical profiling for training sessions. In a cricket example given he has found they fell into 3 distinct capability groups based around their fitness measures:
Sprint Centric
Mixed
Aerobic Centric
Propensities for each tend to follow muscle fibre composition groupings with the Sprint Centric profiles predominantly possessing Type 2 fast twitch types.
Along with Locomotor Profiling any coaches, sports scientists and erstwhile conditioning advisers to a hockey squad must also take into account the 12 HIIT Variables as recommended by HIIT Science before propounding generic or individualized prescriptions. This is of particular salience for older masters players, many of whom have pre-existing health conditions that have to be considered in conjunction with these 12 factors.
The HIIT 12 will be examined in a later post.
References
Bok, Daniel, Jere Gulin, Dario Škegro, Sanja Šalaj, and Carl Foster. 2023. “Comparison of Anaerobic Speed Reserve and Maximal Aerobic Speed Methods to Prescribe Short Format High-Intensity Interval Training.” Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, May. https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.14411.
Du, Geng, and Tao Tao. 2022. “Effects of a Paddling-Based High-Intensity Interval Training Prescribed Using Anaerobic Speed Reserve on Sprint Kayak Performance.” Frontiers in Physiology 13: 1077172.
Julio, Ursula F., Valéria L. G. Panissa, Ana C. Paludo, Elaine D. Alves, Fábio A. D. Campos, and Emerson Franchini. 2020. “Use of the Anaerobic Speed Reserve to Normalize the Prescription of High-Intensity Interval Exercise Intensity.” European Journal of Sport Science: EJSS: Official Journal of the European College of Sport Science 20 (2): 166–73.
Sanders, Dajo. n.d. “[No Title].” Accessed July 11, 2023. https://hiitscience.com/the-anaerobic-speed-power-reserve-maximizing-training-prescription/.
Sandford, Gareth N., Sian V. Allen, Andrew E. Kilding, Angus Ross, and Paul B. Laursen. 2019. “Anaerobic Speed Reserve: A Key Component of Elite Male 800-M Running.” International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance 14 (4): 501–8.
Sandford, Gareth N., Andrew E. Kilding, Angus Ross, and Paul B. Laursen. 2019. “Maximal Sprint Speed and the Anaerobic Speed Reserve Domain: The Untapped Tools That Differentiate the World’s Best Male 800 M Runners.” Sports Medicine 49 (6): 843–52.
