Energetics (and kinematics) of short shuttle runs.

Purposes: The energy cost of shuttle running (C netSR), over distances of 10-20 m, was reported to increase with the shuttle speed and to decrease with the shuttle distance. The aims of this study were to assess C netSR over a shorter distance (5 m), at different speeds, and to estimate the energy cost based on a simple kinematic analysis (C netK).

Methods: Ten subjects (six basketball players, BP; four non-basketball players, NBP) performed ten shuttle runs (SR) with 30 s of passive recovery in-between, over a distance of 5 + 5 m (with a 180° change of direction); these experiments were repeated at different speeds (range 2-3.