Energy expenditure and lactate concentration in sports dancers in a simulated final round of the standard style competition

Abstract

purpose. To determine the energy expenditure in dancers and the nature of energy transformations which take place during a simulated final round of sports dance competition in standard style. methods. The study involved 6 sports dancing couples in highest dance classes (4 couples in S class, 2 couples in A class) according to WDSF (World Dance Sport Federation). There were two phases of the study. The first phase was to determine anthropometric indices, the second -to carry out a simulation of a tournament round in standard style. During a simulated final round of sports dance competition, heart rate (HR) and lactate concentration (La -) were measured, respiratory indicators were recorded (VO 2 , VcO 2 , RER), and energy expenditure was calculated. results. The VO 2 values rated during each round differed statistically significantly between the group of men and women, (34.59 ± 3.82 ml · min -1 · kg -1 and 44.18 ± 4.34 ml · min-1 · kg -1 ; F = 41.07, p = 0.01). The mean respiratory exchange ratio was 1.08 ± 0.07 in men and 1.06 ± 0.07 in women. During a round, the lactate concentration increased, and at the end, after the last dance, it reached the value of 12.9 ± 2.1 mmol · l -1 in women and 13,3 ± 2.7 mmol · l -1 in men. The energy expenditure after the completed round in men was 16.6 ± 1.3 kcal · min -1 and was higher than in the group of women, 10.7 ± 1.0 kcal · min -1 (F = 3.67; p = 0.01). The highest energy expenditure in all subsequent dances was noted during quickstep. conclusions. The study results complement the knowledge on the intensity of dance effort and confirm that the dance effort during sports competition is one of the heavy forms of physical activity based on aerobic and anaerobic energy processes. Therefore, the periodization of dance couple training process should considerably take into account the implementation of training loads that would help building solid aerobic and anaerobic capacity.

Anaerobic endurance of dance sport athletes

“…Anaerobic endurance is the capacity to perform repeated, short maximal exertions at the highest possible level. This is increasingly important in contemporary sports, thus becoming a desirable part of the preparation of athletes [4,8,10,14], e.g. in dance sport [1,2,7,13].…”

“…Physical preparation of dancers constitutes an essential element of their training structure. To obtain and present excellent technique and characteristics of each dance, a dance couple must have a high level of endurance [1,6,8]. Today, many couples participating in dance sport competitions around the world face the problem of highquality movement on the dance floor during all rounds of competitions [6].…”

“…It has been proved that during one dance, dancers' pulse rates ranged from 60% to 95% of the maximum heart rate (HR max). Short intermissions between dances of high intensity make phosphocreatine resynthesis insufficient for the demanded energy and thus the energy must be produced by anaerobic glycolysis, which will result in increased fatigue and reduced work efficiency [6,8,12].…”