title: Do maximal aerobic power and blood lactate concentration affect Specific Judo Fitness Test performance in female judo athletes?
abstract: The Special Judo Fitness Test (SJFT) has become the test most widely used by coaches and physical trainers for assessment of competitors' judo-specific physical aptitude and training programme prescription. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the SJFT performance indices and both maximal aerobic power and the level of blood lactate concentrations in female judo athletes. Seventeen female judokas (age: 21.9±1.6 years, body mass: 74.6±27.4 kg, height: 164.5±8.6 cm; BMI: 27.1±8.0 kg·m-2) took part in this study. All participants performed the SJFT, 20 m multi-stage shuttle run test (MSRT), and 30 m straight sprint test (SST), from which we calculated both acceleration (10 m) and the maximal anaerobic speed (MAnS: flying 20 m sprint). A blood sample was taken 3 min after the SJFT. The number of throws was significantly correlated with estimated VO2max (r=0.795, p=0.0001) and both acceleration (r=0.63, p =0.006) and MAnS (r=0.76, p=0.0004). Peak blood lactate recorded after the SJFT was 13.90±1.39 mmol·l-1. No significant correlation was found between blood lactate concentration and the SJFT performance indices. The lack of significant correlation between blood lactate and SJFT performance suggests that lactic anaerobic metabolism has no effect on this type of judo-specific supra-maximal exercise. The observed results can provide coaches and strength and conditioning professionals with relevant information for the interpretation of SJFT performance and the prescription of specific training programmes for female judo athletes.
authors.affiliation: Tunisian Research Laboratory "Sport Performance Optimisation'", National Center of Medicine and Science in Sports (CNMSS), Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Garbouj
authors.affiliation: Tunisian Research Laboratory "Sport Performance Optimisation'", National Center of Medicine and Science in Sports (CNMSS), Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Selmi
authors.affiliation: Tunisian Research Laboratory "Sport Performance Optimisation'", National Center of Medicine and Science in Sports (CNMSS), Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: R Haj
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Sassi
authors.affiliation: Research Unit ''Analysis and Evaluation of Factors Affecting the Sports Performance'', High Institute of Sports and Physical Education, Ksar Said, University of Manouba, Tunisia.
authors.forename: M Haj
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Yahmed
authors.affiliation: Athlete Health and Performance Research Centre, Aspetar, Qatar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chamari
authors.affiliation: Tunisian Research Laboratory "Sport Performance Optimisation'", National Center of Medicine and Science in Sports (CNMSS), Tunis, Tunisia; AUT University, Sports Performance Research Institute New Zealand, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chaouachi
keywords: aerobic power; evaluation; exercise; intermittent high-intensity; judo