Evaluation of a sports specific training programme in badminton players

We studied the effect of a short three week programme, dominated by specific training, on the aerobic capacity (VO2 max) and ventilatory anaerobic threshold (VanT) of badminton players and also to evaluate the intensity of the specific training on the basis of heart rate and blood lactate concentration. The study was conducted on five women badminton players (age 13-14 yr; height 160-165 cm and weight 47.0-51.5 kg) who were semifinalists in the 1988 subjunior or junior national championships. The VO2 max and VanT were determined at the commencement and at the cessation of the training. The VO2 max was evaluated on an automatic analyser during a graded running protocol on a treadmill and VanT was determined by the gas exchange method from the VE-VO2 relationship. The three week programme was dominated by specific training, apart from other conditioning programme. The mean VO2 max was found to improve from 2.11 l/min (43.8 ml/kg/min) to 2.24 l/min (46.4 ml/kg/min), while the VO2 at VanT improved from 1.48 l/min (30.8 ml/kg/min) to 1.68 l/min (33.7 ml/kg/min). The improvement in both was statistically significant. The mean heart rate and blood lactate concentration during the specific training were 161 b/min and 3.9 mM/l respectively while training with the shuttlecock and 185 b/min and 6.2 mM/l respectively during shadow practice. The findings indicated that the intensity of specific training was quite high, varying from aerobic-anaerobic transition level to aerobic overload region and was able to alter the VO2 max and VanT of the players, even with a short precompetition training.