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Comparison of exertional indices following moderate training in collegiate athletes
S J Thomas1, T E Cooney, D J Thomas
1Department of Orthopaedics, Hamot Medical Center, Erie, PA 16550, USA.
Background:
To better understand the inflammatory response to two divergent training modalities: running and weight training.
Experimental Design:
prospective, repeat measures, observational study of subjects over the course of 8-10 weeks of training. Data analysis was consonant with this design and included a repeat measures ANOVA with multiple posthoc comparisons. The level of significance was set at 0.05.
Setting:
collegiate athletic training facilities.
Patients:
twenty-two subjects comprised the study group. These included both male and female collegiate athletes, ages 17-22 years of age with a mean height of 178.6 cm, a mean weight of 77.5 kg and a mean lean body mass of 67.2 kg. Exclusion criteria consisted of hemophilia or chronic conditions requiring anti-inflammatory medication.
Interventions:
training for runners (n=11) consisted of multiple 5-km runs throughout the course of a 60-75 minute workout. For a comparable time period, weight trainers participated in multiple joint, total body strengthening workouts.
Measures:
four exertional indices were examined. These included serum levels of creatine kinase, lactate, Interleukin-6, and C-reactive protein. Assessments of these markers were made immediately before and after each training session. Three sessions were monitored over an 8-10 week period.
Results:
The data show that moderate exertion is accompanied by modest increases in these markers. Mean serum values did not exceed 125 U/L for serum creatine kinase, 5 mM/I for lactates, and 2.6 pg/ml for IL-6. C-reactive protein was sporadically detectable in weight lifters only. These increases were detected immediately postexercise. Each training modality produced a unique profile for creatine kinase and IL-6, suggestive of a training effect.
Conclusions:
Overall, the levels for all exertional markers reported herein are well below those reported for exhaustive exercise. As consistent exhaustive efforts can catalyze overtraining syndromes, periodic assessments of these exertional indices could help to document the appropriateness of the training stimulus.