Research summary · Training and performance
Letting athletes allocate rest during repeated cycling efforts
Twenty-seven varsity athletes, including 17 women, completed nine 30-second cycling efforts with either fixed 90-second rests or self-allocated rests, keeping total recovery time equal.
- Publication year
- 2026
- First published online
- Publication type
- Randomized crossover experiment
- Journal
- Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport
- Population / context
- Varsity athletes · High-intensity cycling
What the publication reports
Self-selected recovery produced a small increase in power output and substantially greater perceived autonomy. Exertion, fatigue and enjoyment did not differ. Exploratory sex differences in rest allocation did not translate into a sex-specific performance response.
Limits and interpretation
This acute laboratory comparison does not establish better long-term fitness or competition performance. The modest effect and exploratory sex analyses require replication in larger, sport-specific samples.
Read the source
Consult the original record for the full author list, methods, references, funding and competing-interest disclosures.
Fixed Versus Self-Selected Rest Durations During Repeated High-Intensity Cycling: Effects on Performance and Sex-Specific Rest Strategies
Original publication / indexed recordPMID: 42842422DOI: 10.1080/02701367.2026.2742219Reader discussion
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