JOURNAL  OF SPORTS  SCIENCE  & MEDICINE

Research article EFFECT OF 30°C HEAT ON THE ANAEROBIC CAPACITY OF HEAT ACCLIMATISED ATHLETES James P. Finn1,2, Rob J. Wood1 and John F. Marsden11 1National Heat Training and Acclimatisation Centre, Northern Territory Institute of Sport, Marrara, Australia. 2School of Health Sciences, Northern Territory University, Darwin, Australia. Received   28 August 2003 Accepted   31 October 2003 Published   01 December 2003 © Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (2003) 2, 158-162 Search Google Scholar for Citing Articles ABSTRACT The main finding of this study was that for heat acclimatised athletes, there was no significant difference (p=0.58) in anaerobic capacity for temperate (21.8 ± 0.5 °C; 52 ± 5 % relative humidity) compared with warm conditions (29.6 ± 0.5 °C; 51 ± 9 % relative humidity). Anaerobic capacity was estimated using the maximal accumulated oxygen deficit (MAOD) during constant intensity cycling at 120% peak rate of O2 consumption until exhaustion. This yielded mean MAOD values of 3.3 ± 0.9 and 3.5 ± 1.1 L for temperate and warm conditions, respectively. Peak post-exercise lactate values of 14.7 ± 3.8 and 14.4 ± 4.5 mmol·L-1 for temperate and warm conditions respectively, were also not significantly different (p=0.72). Time to exhaustion (TTE) was similarly unchanged (p=0.56), being 175 ± 19 and 170 ± 18 s for temperate and warm conditions, respectively. These results suggest that the MAOD remains a valid test throughout environmental temperatures for the range of 20-30 °C when used with heat acclimatised athletes. KEY WORDS: Maximal accumulated oxygen deficit, anaerobic metabolism, environmental temperature, maximal exercise

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