ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Elite Sports and Performance Enhancement
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2025.1601074
High-intensity interval training modifies energy supply in male artistic gymnastics and improves floor-specific but not pommel horse-specific endurance performance
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Sports medicine, Institute of Sports Science Sports Medicine, Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
- 2Institute for Applied Training Science, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Lower Saxony, Germany
- 3Department of Sports Medicine, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Well-developed specific endurance performance in artistic gymnastics is a crucial foundation of successful performance. Therefore, the identification of effective training programs for gymnastics-specific endurance performance is an important factor. This study aims to analyze the effectiveness of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on gymnastics-specific endurance performance and changes in energy supply during floor and pommel horse routines. Twenty-five male artistic gymnasts (age: 15.0 ± 1.5 years; weight: 51.2 ± 10.6 kg; height: 160.0 ± 10.4 cm) were allocated to either the experimental (n = 14) or the control group (n = 11). For 6 weeks, the intervention group completed a HIIT two times a week, integrated into the normal gymnastics training. The control group performed normal gymnastics training, including their routine programs for physical fitness development. Floor-and pommel horse-specific endurance performance was determined by the mean jump height in a repeated jump test and by the maximum number of circles in a circle test. Energy supply on the floor and pommel horse was calculated using mobile spiroergometry and the PCr-LA-O2 method. The gain score analysis showed a significantly greater improvement in mean jump height for the intervention group, but no significant effect for the maximum number of circles. In terms of energy supply, the intervention group showed a significantly greater increase in aerobic metabolism on the floor and pommel horse. Additional correlation analyses show relationships between physiological parameters (O2 deficit and VO2 kinetics) and endurance performance as well as the modification of energy supply. The results of the study show that 6 weeks of semi-specific HIIT can improve floor-specific endurance performance and increase the aerobic metabolism during floor and pommel horse routines. Faster VO2 kinetics and the associated lower O2 deficit seem to be important physiological parameters for these improvements.
Keywords: artistic gymnastics 1, HIIT2, gymnastic endurance3, energy metabolism4, VO2 Kinetics O2 deficit5
Received: 27 Mar 2025; Accepted: 10 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Seemann-Sinn, Rüdrich, Sandau, Naundorf and Wolfarth. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Bernd Wolfarth, bernd.wolfarth@charite.de
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.