Techniques and structures are provided to support a short-NAV type wireless medium reservation scheme in a network that utilizes adaptive modulation techniques. The conventional long-NAV medium reservation technique uses a medium reservation period that reserves a wireless medium until the end of a present frame exchange. The short-NAV medium reservation technique, on the other hand, uses a medium reservation period that reserves the wireless medium until the end of the next transmission of the other communicating node involved in a frame exchange. In some embodiments, a short-NAV technique is provided where a medium reservation period is determined based upon a suggested data rate. If a device decides not to use the suggested data rate, the device may utilize packet fragmentation techniques to ensure that a subsequent data transmission does not exceed the specified medium reservation period.