The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity of the running anaerobic sprint test (RAST) in anaerobic assessment and predicting short-distance performance. Forty members of the armed forces were recruited for this study (age 19.78 +/- 1.18 years; body mass 70.34 +/- 8.10 kg; height 1.76 +/- 0.53 m; body fat 15.30 +/- 5.65 %). The RAST test was applied to six 35-meter maximal running performances with a 10-second recovery between each run; the peak power, mean power, and the fatigue index were measured. The study was divided in two stages. The first stage investigated the reliability of the RAST using a test-retest method; the second stage aimed to evaluate the validity of the RAST comparing the results with the Wingate test and running performances of 35, 50, 100, 200, and 400 m. There were not significant differences between test-retest scores in the first stage of the study (p > 0.05) and were found significant correlations between these variables (intraclass correlation coefficient approximately = 0.88). The RAST had significant correlations with the Wingate test (peak power r = 0.46; mean power r = 0.53; fatigue index r = 0.63) and 35, 50, 100, 200, and 400 m performances scores (p < 0.05). The advantage of using the RAST for measuring anaerobic power is that it allows for the execution of movements more specific to sporting events that use running as the principal style of locomotion, is easily applied and low cost, and due to its simplicity can easily be incorporated into routine training. We concluded that this procedure is reliable and valid, and can be used to measure running anaerobic power and predict short-distance performances.

The break point of the curve of blood lactate vs exercise load has been called anaerobic threshold (AT) and is considered to be an important indicator of endurance exercise capacity in human subjects. There are few studies of AT determination in animals. We describe a protocol for AT determination by the "lactate minimum test" in rats during swimming exercise. The test is based on the premise that during an incremental exercise test, and after a bout of maximal exercise, blood lactate decreases to a minimum and then increases again. This minimum value indicates the intensity of the AT. Adult male (90 days) Wistar rats adapted to swimming for 2 weeks were used. The initial state of lactic acidosis was obtained by making the animals jump into the water and swim while carrying a load equivalent to 50% of body weight for 6 min (30-s exercise interrupted by a 30-s rest). After a 9-min rest, blood was collected and the incremental swimming test was started. The test consisted of swimming while supporting loads of 4.5, 5.0, 5.5, 6.0 and 7.0% of body weight. Each exercise load lasted 5 min and was followed by a 30-s rest during which blood samples were taken. The blood lactate minimum was determined from a zero-gradient tangent to a spline function fitting the blood lactate vs workload curve. AT was estimated to be 4.95 +/- 0.10% of body weight while interpolated blood lactate was 7.17 +/- 0.16 mmol/l. These results suggest the application of AT determination in animal studies concerning metabolism during exercise.

The purpose of this study was to verify the physiological responses and the match characteristics of table tennis and also to compare these responses in 2 different performance-level athletes from official tournaments. Twenty male table tennis players (12 regional experience-RP and 8 national and international experience-NP) were participants in the study. Blood lactate concentration ([LAC]) and heart rate (HR) were measured as physiological parameters in 21 official table tennis matches, and other 12 matches had recorded the duration of rally (DR), rest time, effort and rest ratio (E:R), total playing time (TPT), effective playing time (EPT), and frequency of shots by video analyses. The [LAC] verified in all matches was 1.8 mmol.L (+/-0.8), whereas the [LAC] peak was 2.2 mmol.L (+/-0.8). There were no significant differences between the 2 groups (p > 0.05) in both parameters. The HR was 164 b.min (+/-14), corresponding to 81.2% (+/-7.4) of the predicted maximum HR. As characteristics of the matches, the DR corresponded to 3.4 seconds (+/-1.7), rest time to 8.1 seconds (+/-5.1), E:R to 0.4 (+/-0.2), TPT to 970.5 seconds (+/-336.1), EPT to 44.3% (+/-23.7), and frequency of shots to 35.3 balls.min (+/-7.7). Among groups, the rest time was lower in RP than in NP. Consistently, the E:R and EPT were higher in RP than in NP (p < 0.05). The results suggest that table tennis matches present the aerobic system as a principal output energy, the phosphagenic system being the most important during efforts. The information pertaining to the physiological profile and the characteristics of table tennis should be used by coaches planning physical training and specific exercise prescriptions aiming at achieving maximal sport performance.