THE EFFECT OF SWIMMING ON BLOOD LACTATE LEVELS AFTER INTENSE PHYSICAL EFFORT IN CONTACT SPORTS
THE EFFECT OF SWIMMING ON BLOOD LACTATE LEVELS AFTER INTENSE PHYSICAL EFFORT IN CONTACT SPORTS

Summary/Abstract: In combat sports, physical recovery is an essential factor for optimizing performance, as it is conditioned both by the development of the functional capacity necessary to sustain prolonged effort and by the improvement of motor skills and offensive and defensive technical-tactical strategies, applied in order to obtain a decisive competitive advantage. The efficiency of functional recovery after intense effort allows athletes to sustain a higher training volume, which leads to improved training levels and higher competitive performance. Swimming, although established as a performance sport, is also recognized for its recreational benefits and its role in improving quality of life, an effect facilitated to a large extent by the horizontal position of the body during activity. The objective of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of aquatic movement in post-exercise recovery among combat athletes. The sample comprised 22 athletes practicing judo and taekwondo, aged between 20 and 30 years, equally divided into two groups. The experimental group underwent an active swimming recovery session (20 minutes at 55-65% of maximum heart rate), while the control group underwent passive recovery. The research protocol included lactic acid testing at three key time points: before exercise, immediately after intense exercise and after an aquatic recovery session. The results indicate a significant decrease in lactic acid levels following aquatic recovery, highlighting the effectiveness of this method. The study supports the integration of aquatic movement into the recovery strategies of performance athletes.

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