Continuous vertical jump test is a reliable alternative to wingate anaerobic test and isokinetic fatigue tests in evaluation of muscular fatigue resistance in endurance runners

Background: Endurance athletes face the challenge of sustaining performance while managing cumulative fatigue during half marathons and ultra-marathons while the evaluation of muscular fatigue resistance in endurance runners is essential to optimize training and race-day performance. This study aimed to assess the validity of total work measured during the continuous vertical jump test (CVJT) as an alternative to Wingate anaerobic power test (WAnT) and isokinetic fatigue test (ISO FAT) for evaluating muscular fatigue resistance and to test whether these measures correlated to race performance during half marathon (HM) and ultra marathon (UM) races. Methods: Twenty-two male recreational distance runners (age: 35.23 ± 21.12 years, height: 171.13 ± 21.35 cm, weight: 69.49 ± 11.25 kg) were recruited in this study. Anthropometrics, WAnT, ISO FAT, and CVJT were interspersed 24 h of recovery, within 7 weeks. Results: Total work during WAnT was highly associated with the measures of ISO FAT and CVJT both pre-race and post-race conditions (p < 0.001). Bland Altman limits of agreement (LOA) revealed that total work measures of ISO FAT and CVJT both during baseline and following HM and UM races (Hedge’s g: 0.411; 0.353; 0.428; 0.435) were lower than WAnT while their 95% LOA represented 23.46%, 32.81%, 35.02%, and 36.79% of WAnT, respectively. Conclusion: Strong internal consistency and reproducibility in total work measures and the magnitude of the difference among tests suggests that CVJT, WAnT, and ISO FAT warrant interchangeability in assessing muscular fatigue resistance. These findings offer important implications and highlight the utility and feasibility of CVJT as an alternative to WAnT and ISO FAT for training load assessment.