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Intensity effect of active recovery from glycolytic exercise on decreasing blood lactate concentration in prepubertal
1Ribstein Center for Sport Medicine Sciences and Research, The Wingate Institute, Netanya, Israel.
Insights
Children clear blood lactate faster with active recovery than passive recovery after intense exercise. This study compared active versus passive recovery methods in young athletes, finding active recovery significantly speeds up lactate clearance.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric exercise physiology
- Sports science research
- Human recovery kinetics
Background:
- Children exhibit faster post-exercise recovery than adults.
- Physiological mechanisms differentiating pediatric and adult recovery remain under-explored.
- Understanding lactate ([La]) clearance is crucial for optimizing athletic recovery.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare blood lactate ([La]) decrease during active recovery versus passive recovery in children after intense exercise.
- To investigate the impact of varying active recovery intensities on lactate clearance in youth.
Main Methods:
- 15 healthy prepubertal children (9-11 years) underwent intense cycling exercise.
- Four recovery protocols were tested: passive and active recovery at 40%, 50%, and 60% peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak).
- Blood lactate concentration ([La]), heart rate (HR), and oxygen consumption (VO2) were monitored during recovery.
Main Results:
- Active recovery significantly accelerated blood lactate ([La]) decrease compared to passive recovery.
- The half-life of [La] was significantly shorter during all active recovery intensities (10.3-11.5 min) versus passive recovery (22.0 min).
- No significant differences in [La] half-life were observed among the different active recovery intensities.
Conclusions:
- Active recovery enhances blood lactate ([La]) clearance in children, mirroring findings in adults.
- Further research is needed to correlate lactate clearance with actual performance recovery in both genders.
- Investigating sex-based differences in pediatric recovery responses is warranted.
Purpose:
Children's performance after intense exercise is known to recover faster than that of adults. However, very little is known about the physiological processes that differentiate children from adults in their recovery. The purpose of this study was to compare, in children, the decrease in blood lactate concentration ([La]) during various intensities of active recovery from highly intense exercise with that during passive recovery.
Methods:
Subjects were 15 healthy, physically active, prepubertal, 9- to 11-yr-old boys (N = 8) and girls (N = 7). Subjects performed three 40-s cycling bouts at 150% peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak), with two 50-s rest intervals, followed by 2 min of passive recovery and 23 min of one of four randomly-assigned recovery levels: passive and 40%, 50%, and 60% VO2peak (RP, R40, R50, and R60, respectively).
Results:
Mean values of peak [La] (by treatment) ranged between 9.9 +/- 1.5 and 10.8 +/- 2.0. Whereas HR and VO2 remained relatively higher, [La] decreased faster during all active recoveries compared with the passive mode. [La] during R60 was higher compared with [La] during R40. [La] was slightly higher in the first 10 min of R40 compared with R50, whereas from the 15th min onward, this difference was reversed. A similar pattern was seen in the boys and girls, separately. The calculated half-life of [La] was significantly higher during the passive compared with all three active recoveries, with no differences among the latter (22.0 +/- 5.0, 10.3 +/- 1.9, 10.5 +/- 2.2, and 11.5 +/- 2.1 min during RP, R40, R50, and R60, respectively).
Conclusions:
In summary, similar to the case in adults, the decrease in [La] after intense exercise in children is faster during active recovery compared with the passive mode. Further research is required to determine whether performance recovery parallels that of [La] in children and adults of both genders.