Analysis and comparison by gender of lactate production in young breastroke swimmers

INTRODUCTION The aim of this study was to assess the differences by gender of lactate production in the 200 m breaststroke swimming, at the anaerobic threshold. Mader’s test, proposed on 1976 and modified in distance from its original version, is used to calculate the anaerobic threshold from the lactate production after a second 200 m breaststroke, in a swimming battery test. This is very useful to assess the proper swimming speed in the seasonal training planning. METHODS Twelve male (age 17.3 ± 0.2 years; height 181.2 ± 4.7 m; weight 73.2 ± 2.9 kg; best time on 200 m breaststroke 131.25 s) and female national-level swimmers (age 16.0 ± 0.2 years; height 166,4 ± 3.3 m; weight 54.2 ± 2.6 kg; best time on 200m breaststroke 143.56 s) participated in the study. Tests were performed in a 25 m swimming pool. Each swimmer twice swam a 200 m breaststroke trial: the first at 2 to 3 mmol/L (17 to 20 s slower than the personal record); the second, 30 minutes after the first, at the maximum speed. Blood lactate was measured (Lactate Pro Analyzer) three minutes after the end of each trial. Paired Student’s t test was applied to compare male and female performances and lactate production at the anaerobic threshold between. RESULTS At the anaerobic threshold, male swimmers swam the 200 m breaststroke in 145.72 ± 2.76 s, while females swimmers performed 159.12 ± 3.38 s (p < 0.01). The male swimmers’ lactate production at the anaerobic threshold was 11.0 ± 1.59 mmol/L, whereas female swimmers produced 9.3 ± 1.91 mmol/L (p < 0.05). DISCUSSION Males better performed the 200 m breaststroke swimming at the anaerobic threshold than females.. This can be easily explained by the difference in power between genders. With regard to the lactate production, female swimmers exhibited significantly lower values than males, probably due to the lower ratio between muscle mass and blood volume and to lower glycolytic activity of the skeletal muscles associated with a higher oxidative capacity of the lactate. High aerobic capacity is important for a good 200 m performance; in fact there is a high correlation between the speed corresponding to 4 mmol/L lactate production and the speed of swimmers during the 200 m race. REFERENCES Heck H, Mader A, Hess G, Mücke S, Müller R, Hollmann W. Justification of the 4-mmol/L lactate threshold. (1985) Int J Sports Med. 6(3):117-30. Janssen P. (2001). Lactate threshold training. Running, Cycling, Multisport, Rowing, X-Country Skiing. Human Kinetics, Champaign IL. Olbrecht J, Madsen O, Mader A, Liesen H, Hollmann W. (1985) Relationship between swimming velocity and lactic concentration during continuous and intermittent training exercises. Int J Sports Med. 6(2):74-7. Telford R.D., Hahn A.G., Catchpole E.A., Parker A.R., Sweetenham W.M. (1988) Postcompetition blood lactate concentration in highly ranked Australian swimmers .In: Swimming V, Ungerechts Ed., Human Kinetics, Champaign IL, 277-283.