Development of aerobic endurance and repetitive strength in special army unit members

A sample of 25 subjects, members of a Croatian Army special unit, mean age 22 years, underwent a 4.5-month specially programmed kinesiologic training. The aim of the study was to determine the treatment effects on the development of aerobic endurance and repetitive strength as a basis for the development of the capacities needed for acting in urgent combat situations. A battery of nine variables for evaluation of aerobic endurance and repetitive strength was used on four occasions at 6-week intervals. Discriminant functions of differences in the variables between the measurements showed the changes in the capabilities to be ever more pronounced after each of the treatment phases. After the first phase of training, changes in the variables of aerobic endurance were more pronounced than in the repetitive strength variables. The second phase of training was followed by comparable changes in both aerobic endurance and repetitive strength variables, whereas the third phase of training entailed greater changes in the repetitive strength variables than in aerobic endurance.