Skip to main content

You must be a logged-in member of UHMS or a subscriber to the UHMS Journal in order to download the articles listed within these pages. If you are a member or subscriber, please log in using the Log In button above. If you would like to purchase a membership or a subscription, use the buttons below.

Join the UHMS
Purchase a Subscription

Search UHM/UBR

Blood lactate accumulation during competitive freediving and synchronized swimming

A number of competitive water sports are performed while breath-holding (apnea). Such performances put large demands on the anaerobic system, but the study of lactate accumulation in apneic sports is limited. We therefore aimed to determine and compare the net lactate accumulation (NLA) during com- petition events in six disciplines of competitive freediving (FD) and three disciplines of synchronized swimming (SSW).

The FD disciplines were: static apnea (STA; n = 14); dynamic apnea (DYN; n = 19); dynamic apnea no fins (DNF; n = 16); constant weight no fins (CNF; n = 8); free immersion (FIM; n =10)

The SSW disciplines were solo (n = 21), duet (n = 31) and team (n = 34). Capillary blood lactate concentration wasmeasured before and three minutes after competition performances, and apneic duration and performance variables were recorded.

In all nine disciplines NLA was observed. The highest mean (SD) NLA (mmol•L-1) was found in CNF at 6.3 (2.2), followed by CWT at 5.9 (2.3) and SSW solo at 5 (1.9). STA showed the lowest NLA 0.7 (0.7) mmol•L-1 compared to all otherdisciplines (P < 0.001). The NLA recorded shows that sportsinvolving apnea involve high levels of anaerobic activity. The highest NLA was related to both work done by large muscle groups and long apneic periods, suggesting that NLA is influenced by both the type of work and apnea duration, with lower NLA in SSW due to shorter apneic episodes with intermittent breathing.

DOI: 10.22462/01.02.2018.8