Energy System Contributions in Upper and Lower Body Wingate Tests in Highly Trained Athletes.

PURPOSE: This study compared the energy system contributions and relationship between mechanical and energy system variables in upper and lower body Wingate tests (WAnT) in judo athletes. METHOD: Eleven male judo athletes (18 ± 1 years, 174.3 ± 5.3 cm, 72.6 ± 9.9 kg, 11.8 ± 1.7% body fat) attended two laboratory sessions to perform two WAnT (upper and lower body) and two incremental tests (upper and lower body). The energy contributions of the oxidative, glycolytic, and phosphagen (ATP-PCr) systems were estimated based on oxygen consumption ( V˙O2 ) during WAnT, delta of lactate, and the fast phase of excess V˙O2 , respectively. RESULTS: The upper and lower body presented similar results of oxidative (21 ± 4% vs 23 ± 3%) and ATP-PCr system contributions (29 ± 6% vs 32 ± 5%). The glycolytic system contribution (50 ± 5% vs 45 ± 4%) was higher in the upper body. The variance of mechanical variables in upper body was explained by glycolytic (R2 = 0.49-0.62) and oxidative systems (R2 = 0.44-0.49), whereas the variance of mechanical variables in lower body was explained by ATP-PCr (R2 = 0.41-0.55) and glycolytic systems (R2 = 0.62-0.94). CONCLUSIONS: During WAnT, the glycolytic system presented the major energy contribution, being higher in the upper body. Moreover, mechanical and energy system variables presented a distinct relationship when comparing upper and lower body WAnT.

Energy-System Contributions to Simulated Judo Matches.

PURPOSE: To estimate the contribution of the 3 energy systems to simulated judo matches. METHODS: Twelve judo athletes (18 ± 1 y, 175.1 ± 5.3 cm, 74.3 ± 10.5 kg, 11.7% ± 1.5% body fat, 8 ± 2 y of practice) performed 5 combats with different durations (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 min), against the same opponent, on different days and blinded to the duration. The estimated energy contributions for the oxidative, glycolytic, and ATP-PCr systems were calculated based on oxygen uptake (V̇O2) during activity, Delta of lactate, and the fast phase of excess V ̇ O2, respectively. Analysis of mixed models for repeated measures was used to compare the contribution of the 3 energy systems and different durations of judo matches, followed by a post hoc Bonferroni test. RESULTS: The oxidative system's contribution (70%) was higher than those of the glycolytic (8%; P < .001) and ATP-PCr (21%; P < .001) energy systems (in all durations), and the ATP-PCr contribution was higher than that of the glycolytic energy system (up to 3 min). In addition, during the match there was an increase in the oxidative (from 50% to 81%; P < .001), a decrease in the ATP-PCr (from 40% to 12%; P < .001), and maintenance of the glycolytic contributions (between 6% and 10%). CONCLUSIONS: There is a predominance of the oxidative system to supply the energy cost of judo matches from the first minute of combat up to the end, compared with the anaerobic systems.