Effects of Different Fatigue Levels on Physiological Responses and Pacing in Judo Matches

Abstract

Franchini, E, Takito, MY, Alves, ED, Shiroma, SA, Julio, UF, and Humberstone, C. Effects of different fatigue levels on physiological responses and pacing in judo matches. J Strength Cond Res 33(3): 783–792, 2019—The objective of this study was to compare athletes' pacing during judo match simulation between different fatigue states. Twelve judo athletes (30.2 ± 3.2 years old, 85.6 ± 10.8 kg, 181.0 ± 5.7 cm, 19 ± 7 years of judo experience) completed three 4-minute matches against the same opponents, at 15-minute intervals in 3 different conditions: after warm-up (Control; C); after a regular training session (totaling 90 minutes); after a high-intensity interval exercise (2 blocks of 10 sets of 20-second all-out uchi-komi, with 10-second interval between sets and 5-minute interval between blocks). All matches were mediated according to the official rules, filmed, and analyzed concerning: rating of perceived recovery (RPR), rating of perceived exertion (RPE), heart rate (before and after match), blood lactate concentrations [La] before, peak after match and delta (peak minus the prematch values), and time-motion measures (frequencies and durations of actions). Time-motion measures included athlete displacement without contact, gripping, attack, feint, groundwork combat, pauses, and high- to low-intensity effort ratio. The experimental conditions resulted in different physiological and perceived responses prematch (HR, [La], RPR) and postmatch simulations (HR and [La]peak), with no change in RPE and few changes in technical variables. There was a decrease in grip dispute time, and increase in time of displacement without contact. These technical changes were enough to preserve the pace during the matches, which seemed to be controlled by the athletes to maintain their number of attacks, feints, and RPE.

Effects of grape juice consumption on muscle fatigue and oxidative stress in judo athletes: a randomized clinical trial

“…The participant's capillary lactate was analyzed using an Accutrend Plus® in the third interval of the fighting simulations to evaluate the intensity of the exercises. Values of lactate between 6-10 were considered moderate intensity (Franchini et al 2019).…”

Assessment of the Anaerobic Speed Reserve during Specific High-Intensity Exercise in Judo Athletes

“…The use of high-intensity interval training has led to improved aerobic and anaerobic power and capacity among combat athletes generally [11,17], and for judo activities specifically [13]. However, we only found two studies that analyzed acute physiological responses to high-intensity interval uchi-komi [3,14].…”

“…Among the judo-specific exercises, the uchi-komi (technique repetition) is the most popular [16]. Given the relevance of this exercise and intermittent physical demands in judo, previous studies have used the uchi-komi in their testing protocols [1,2,29], to investigate both acute [3,14,17] and chronic [13] physiological and perceptual responses.…”

“…As the judo match's temporal structure is 2:1 or 3:1 (i.e., 20-30 s effort periods interspersed by 10 s breaks), recent investigations have used the 2:1 all-out uchi-komi protocols to verify its effects on aerobic and anaerobic fitness [13], and on subsequent match performances [17]. However, in neither the acute [14,17] nor the chronic study [13] there were reports of the relative intensity related to physiological markers such as maximal aerobic and anaerobic power, given that all aforementioned studies were characterized by all-out protocols. Relative intensity, especially the use of the anaerobic speed reserve (i.e., the maximal sprint speed minus the maximal aerobic speed), has been an important aspect for predicting the time-to-exhaustion in a given protocol, and for reducing physiological response variability between athletes who differ in these respects [22].…”

Photobiomodulation Therapy Does Not Attenuate Fatigue and Muscle Damage in Judo Athletes: A Randomized, Triple-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial

“…Athletes require attenuation of fatigue to maintain physical performance for longer periods, supporting high loads during training, high-intensity actions during competition, and reducing the risks of injuries (Abd-Elfattah et al, 2015; Takito et al, 2019). Moreover, they require attenuated muscle damage following training sessions and matches to accelerate recovery, which may result in maintenance of physical performance for the following sessions/matches (Nicol et al, 1996; Horita et al, 1999; Howatson and Van Someren, 2008).…”