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New research shows just 3 weeks of sprints can reduce fatigue onset by changing mitochondria behaviour
Abertay University sports scientists have found that just three weeks of high intensity sprint training can have a significant impact on elite athlete endurance.
The team from the Department of Health, Sport and Wellbeing worked with nine professional boxers over six weeks to assess how cycle-based sprint training can improve resistance to fatigue and change how mitochondria (the batteries of the body) behave to enhance endurance performance.
Using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) monitors in the University’s Human Performance Lab, researchers measured oxygen consumption in athletes’ muscles.
They found that the training improved mitochondria activity by an average of 160% at the point of fatigue, which resulted in the elite athletes being able to cycle for 8% longer against an increasing workload.
The sprint training was carried out using commercially available exercise bikes that the athletes had access to, with the research team monitoring heart rate to measure exercise intensity.
Over the three-week period, athletes performed three sprint sessions per week consisting of three 30 second bouts of high intensity effort and 60 seconds of rest.
The project was led by sports scientists John Babraj and Andrew Usher (pictured) who also work as lecturers on Abertay’s sports science degree programmes.
Babraj said the research offered further evidence that sprint training is highly effective for elite professional athletes across a range of sports and can be used to enhance performance and reduce fatigue without the need for expensive equipment.
He added:
Work to enhance recovery times and delay the onset of fatigue should form an integral part of any elite athlete’s training schedule and while this work was carried out with boxers, it could equally be applied across a wide variety of sports. The use of NIRS monitors has been key to understanding the full range of benefits that sprint training can have when athletes are training.
Abertay's sports sciences programmes are ranked top in Scotland and in the UK top 10 for both student experience and teaching quality by the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025. The University offers a suite of undergraduate degree programmes, including BSc (Hons) Sport and Exercise Science, BSc (Hons) Sports Development and Coaching, BSc (Hons) Strength and Conditioning, BSc (Hons) Sport and Exercise, BSc (Hons) Physical Activity and Health and BA (Hons) Sport and Management.
The research is published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology.
