Rugby union is an intermittent sport often having periods of high-intensity efforts with incomplete recoveries. Total distances reported in the literature have ranged between 4800 and 5200 m for forwards and 5600 and 6000 m for backs, whereas sprint distances have ranged between 350 and 510 m. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated in other similar team sports, such as rugby league, that as the level of competition rises from nonprofessional to professional level, the requirement for a higher number of sprints and need for higher strength and power abilities becomes paramount to game performance. Rugby union`s international competitions tend to have small (ie, 1-2 wk) transition periods from national clubs to international games; this can pose problems for coaches and strength and conditioning experts in preparing players adequately. The search for useful methods that are able to shorten adaptation times within these small preparation periods from different levels of competition could provide a potential edge for physical performance. It was recently found that RSA performance was improved after a 2-week intensified training period with elite soccer players after competition. This may have good carryover to rugby union, which has a high number of repeated-sprint requirements. Although RSA training is well accepted to improve this quality, utilizing RSA in hypoxic conditions (the so-called "repeated-sprint training in hypoxia," [RSH]) has shown superior results when compared with similar training in normoxia (RSN)6 in several sports. It should be noted that while the majority of studies have shown positive RSA results when comparing RSH with RSN, there is still some debate on the overall effectiveness of RSH as well as debate on the mechanisms for the performance increase. It has been speculated that the main underlying mechanism relies on the peripheral compensatory vasodilation in response to the hypoxia-induced hypoxemia, inducing a better resistance to fatigue in fast-twitch fibers, hence increasing the ability to repeat short bouts of exercise at maximal intensity.One cannot rule out that RSH has also a positive impact on the anaerobic and glycolytic pathway, as shown previously. To date, all RSH studies have been conducted out of the competition. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a few RSH sessions in the context of "real" high-level competition schedules. For that, we evaluated the feasibility and effectiveness of an "in-season" RSH-shock microcycle (ie, 4 additional sessions over a 2-wk period). We hypothesized that RSH would positively influence RSA performance in team-sport athletes during the short-term preparation to a game. Our main aim was to assess the effectiveness of a few RSH sessions in the context on "real" high-level competition schedules.
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