What is the recommended rest period between sprint intervals lasting 30 seconds?

The recommended rest period between sprint intervals lasting 30 seconds is 2 minutes. This duration is optimal for allowing adequate recovery while supporting performance. Sprint intervals are intense and can lead to significant fatigue, requiring sufficient rest to maintain the quality of subsequent efforts.

In this scenario, 2 minutes of rest helps to replenish phosphocreatine stores and clear metabolic byproducts, enabling the athlete to maintain a high level of intensity during repeated sprints. It strikes a balance between recovery and maintaining training intensity, essential for improving both endurance and sprint performance.

Longer rest periods, such as 4 or 6 minutes, may allow for even more recovery but could reduce the training effects associated with repeated near-maximal efforts, while shorter rest like 1 minute is generally insufficient to recover fully from the intensity of a 30-second sprint. This approach of 2 minutes aligns with guidelines for high-intensity interval training, emphasizing performance maintenance across multiple intervals.