The forward-sprint is considered to be, and is regularly performed as, a unique measure of "on-ground" linear-speed performance. Thus far, no investigation has simultaneously studied different forms of linear-speed or investigated whether different forms of linear-speed should be observed as unique performance quality. The purpose of this study was to determine (I) the achievements (i.e. execution time), and (II) the reliability and inter-relationships between various linear-speed performances. The participants were 42 male physical education students with substantial sport-specific backgrounds. We applied a total of six tests: three quadrupedal (supine backward, supine forward, and pronate backward locomotion) and three bipedal-performances (forward sprinting, backward sprinting, lateral shuffling). All of the tests showed appropriate reliability parameters (Cronbach Alpha ranged from 0.91 to 0.97; Inter-Item-R 0.78-0.92; Coefficient-of-Variation 1.3-9.1). The tests used in this study shared between 9% and 50% of the common variance. Our results suggest that different activities require activity-specific tests of linear-speed. This is particularly significant in those sports and activities in which quadrupedal locomotion patterns are highly important (wrestling, physically trained military services, law enforcement, fire and rescue, protective services).
Keywords: bipedal locomotion; factor analysis; quadrupedal locomotion; specific testing.