Effects of stretching, sport massage, light exercise and hot pack on recoveries of work capacity and blood lactate after strenuous exercise / 体力科学

ABSTRACT

The effects of stretching, sport massage, light exercise (80% of the subjects' anaerobic threshold), and hot pack on the recoveries of work capacity and blood lactate (La) after strenuous exercise were compared with the resting recovery conditions. In each experiment for the four recovery strategies, twelve male physical education students participated as subjects. The subjects performed 5-s maximal effort cycle ergometer exercise bouts, repeated 8 times with 20-s rests (W 1) . A 33-min rest period was given after W 1, and then the same exercise as W 1 was performed again (W 2) . During the rest period (from 9 to 19min after W 1), one of the recovery strategies was practiced for 10min. The subjects also participated in a control experiment (rest recovery) on another day. Blood samples were taken from the earlobe to determine La. The rate of work capacity recovery was significantly higher than the control when stretching was performed, but no significant difference was observed in the recovery rate of La. The same tendency was also observed in the case of sport massage. In the case of light exercise, on the other hand, the recovery rate of La was significantly higher than the control, whereas the recovery rate of work capacity was not significantly different. Many of the subjects complained that the intensity of light exercise was too hard. No significant differences were found in the recovery rates of both work capacity and La by application of a hot pack. These results suggest that stretching and sport massage are effective for accelerating recovery of work capacity. Light exercise was not effective in this study. However, considering previous investigations which showed light exercise to be effective, it might be effective if an abequate work intensity is given. A hot pack is suggested not to be effective. No significant correlation was observed between the recovery rate of La and that of work capacity. Thus it seems that the recovery of work capacity is regulated by factors other than La.