Effects of Active and Passive Recovery on Blood Lactate and Blood pH After a Repeated Sprint Protocol in Children and Adults

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare the effect of active (AR) and passive recovery (PR) after a high-intensive repeated sprint running protocol on physiological parameters in children and adults. Blood lactate (La) and blood pH were obtained during two sets of 5 × 5 s all-out sprints and several times during subsequent 30-min recovery in 16 children and 16 adults. End-exercise La was significantly lower and pH significantly higher in children (La: 5.21 ± 2.73 mmol·L-1; pH: 7.37 ± 0.06) compared with adults (La: 10.35 ± 5.76 mmol·L-1; pH: 7.27 ± 0.10) (p < .01). La half-life during postexercise recovery was significantly shorter in children (AR: 436 ± 371 s, PR: 830 ± 349 s) than in adults (AR: 733 ± 371 s, PR: 1361 ± 372 s), as well as in active compared with passive recovery for both age groups (p < .01). The age x recovery interaction for La half-life only approached statistical significance (p = .06). The results suggest a faster lactate disappearance and an earlier return to resting pH after a repeated sprint running protocol in children compared with adults and a less pronounced advantage of active recovery in children.

Reply to “Discussion: The kinetics of blood lactate in boys during and following a single and repeated all-out sprints of cycling are different than in men — Do children indeed release and remove lactate faster than adults?”

“…The calculations described here agree with those by Kappenstein et al (2015), who found that following repeated high-intensity sprints, the half-life of lactate is shorter in children than adults, in good accord with our own findings . In both studies with either similar or considerably lower peak lactate concentrations the boys appeared to eliminate lactate more rapidly.…”

“…In this context we have recalculated the half-life of lactate, as described elsewhere (Kappenstein et al 2015), following a single and four 30-s sprints by boys and men employing both our biexponential model and the model proposed by Dotan and co-workers (2003) (integrating the half-life calculation of blood lactate kinetic). First, we observed significantly shorter half-lives with both types of exercise for the boys than men (Table 1) and, interestingly, the peak lactate values for the men following the single sprint were quite similar to those for the boys following the four 30-s sprints (men: 11.5 ± 2.1 vs. boys: 12.2 ± 3.6 mmol/L).…”

Eccentric Resistance Training in Youth: Perspectives for Long-Term Athletic Development

“…Throughout youth, the metabolic responses to exercise change with growth and maturation [102]. Following resistance and short-term high-intensity exercise, children have been shown to elicit lower post-exercise peak blood lactate concentrations, faster blood lactate clearance rates [67,75,[103][104][105][106][107][108][109], better blood acid-base regulation [110], lower phosphocreatine (PCr) depletion, faster PCr resynthesis rates [111][112][113][114] and faster heart rate recovery [67,75,108,115]. Explanations for the differential responses in youth have been attributed to factors such as accelerated blood circulation due to smaller body size [69], lower relative muscle mass [109] and lower reliance on glycolysis [67].…”

Clinical use of plasma lactate concentration. Part 1: Physiology, pathophysiology, and measurement

“…Maximal lactate concentrations after exercise range from 6.3 mmol/L (56.8 mg/dL) in Labrador Retrievers during field training, to 14.6 mmol/L (131.5 mg/dL) in dogs after agility testing, to over 30 mmol/L (270.3 mg/dL) in racing Greyhounds . In healthy animals, lactate concentrations fall rapidly following cessation of muscle activity, with an estimated half‐life of 20–60 minutes . Seizure‐induced hyperlactatemia results primarily from vigorous muscle activity and is associated with a similar half‐life .…”