Physiological Effects of High-Intensity Interval Training on Roller Skier Performance: A Systematic Review

Abstract

The present systematic review aimed to summarize the research results on the effect of HIIT on qualified roller and cross-country skiers’ physiological and performance indicators.

The review was performed using digital scientific databases: Web of Science, PubMed, SCOPUS, and the internet platform Research Gate. The following search keywords were used: High-intensity interval training AND roller skiing. After considering eligibility and removing duplicates, only three original research papers on the physiological effects of high-intensity interval training on roller skiers' performance were selected.

The main conclusion from this review was that static interval training protocols such as 4 x 4 minutes for all sorts of endurance are still the preferred choice for HIIT research and have overtaken this field. As looking for research on HIIT in connection with roller skiing we once again find this static approach with 2 to 10 minutes timed intervals with a predetermined total session load. There was only one publication on the dynamic HIIT approach. The numerous meta-analyses’ results show that this static approach consistently does not bring positive results: in each investigated HIIT group, we see that the performance and physiological characteristics did not respond to the static HIIT protocols application. Therefore, the topic of dynamic duration HIIT protocols is widely open for investigation in the future.