Effects of traditional judo training session on muscle damage symptoms

This study aimed to analyze the acute effects of a judo training session on muscle strength, delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS), and serum creatine kinase (CK) activity.

Ten male judo athletes participated in this study and performed a 90-min traditional judo training session. The following measurements were performed before and 48 hours after the training: shoulder external/internal rotation isokinetic torque, countermovement jump (CMJ), DOMS, and blood draw for serum CK analysis. Student's t-test with significance level set at 5% and, effect size analysis were used.

Significant reduction was found in jump height in the CMJ after the training session (2.9%; moderate effect; P=0.02). No significant differences were observed in any of the measures of shoulder external/internal rotation isokinetic torque (P>0.05). An increase of the serum CK (49.4%; moderate effect; P=0.01) and DOMS (20.6%; large effect; P=0.003) were noted after the training session when compared to baseline.

Judo training session resulted in increased serum CK activity, and muscle soreness. The decrease of CMJ performance indicates impairment in the lower-limbs muscle power production. However, the lack of difference of shoulder external/internal rotation torque before and 48 hours after the training session may indicate that the interval was enough to recover the upper-limbs strength in judokas of this study. These markers of muscle damage can be used to control muscle adaptation progress and to avoid sports-related disorders of athletes with similar characteristics to those evaluated in this study.