Competitive level, recovery type and blood lactate removal after a judo combat

The objective of this study was to verify if competitive level influences blood lactate LA removal during both AR and passive recovery (PR) after a judo combat. Twenty-five male adult judo players (10 elite – medallists in Brazilian National or International competitions and 15 nonelite – non medallists in those competitions) performed, in two different days, a 5-min judo combat, followed by 15-min PR or AR (70% of the AT velocity, ≅ 50% VO2peak), randomly determined. LA was measured at rest, 1, 3, 5, 10 and 15 min after each combat. VO2peak and anaerobic threshold velocity (ATv) were measured in a treadmill test. The comparison between situations was done through a three way ANOVA (group, recovery type and time) with repeated measures, followed by Tukey test. There was an effect of the three factors on LA and interactions time-competitive level and time-recovery type. LA was lower after combat in elite compared to nonelite judo players, during AR compared to PR and as expected decreased over time. The interactions showed that the differences in LA between elite and nonelite groups decreased over recovery time. The opposite was observed between AR and PR. The difference between elite and nonelite judo players could not be attributed to the aerobic power or capacity. A possible explanation for this difference can be a lower glycolytic activation due to a higher technical level in elite compared to nonelite.