Combined endurance and resistance circuit training in highly trained ...

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Sport Sci Health (2008) 4:51–58 DOI 10.1007/s11332-008-0067-1

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Combined endurance and resistance circuit training in highly trained/top-level female race walkers: a case report Antonio La Torre · Gianluca Vernillo · Pierluigi Fiorella · Clara Mauri · Luca Agnello

Received: 23 October 2008 / Accepted: 20 November 2008 © Springer-Verlag 2008

Abstract Race walking can be considered as a long-distance performance and it can be described as the technical and athletic expression of fast walking. The physiological determinants of these performances have been well documented; moreover, several recent studies demonstrated that concurrent strength and endurance training can improve performance in endurance athletes. Thus, the purpose of this report was to monitor the adaptations of a combined strength, performed by circuit resistance training (CRT), and endurance programme in two top level female race walkers. The subjects were examined before and after 12 weeks of CRT and endurance training and performed an incremental field test to determine maximum oxygen uptake (V˙O2max), running economy (RE) and lactate threshold (LT). The results

A. La Torre · G. Vernillo Faculty of Exercise Sciences University of Milan Milan, Italy P.L. Fiorella · C. Mauri Medicine and Sport Science Institute Italian National Olympic Committee Rome, Italy L. Agnello Department of Basic and Applied Medical Sciences University “G. d’Annunzio” Chieti-Pescara, Italy A. La Torre (쾷) Istituto di Esercizio Fisico, Salute e Attività Sportiva (IEFSAS) Via Giuseppe Colombo 71 20133 Milan, Italy e-mail: [email protected]

showed that 12 weeks of combined CRT and endurance ˙ O2max programme did not correspond to an alteration in V and RE, while improvements in LT and 5-km performance were seen. Key words Race walking · Explosive strength · Circuit resistance training

Introduction The general assumption for walking said that process of locomotion in which the moving body is supported by first one leg and then the other. When the moving body passes over the supporting leg, the other leg swings forward in preparation for its next support phase. One foot or the other is always on the ground, and during that period, when the support of the body is transferred from the trailing to the leading leg, there is a brief period when both feet are on the ground [1]. Race walking can be described as the technical and athletic expression of fast walking; competition walkers attain speeds about double the maximum walking speed of an average person with a less step increase in energy expenditure, maybe due to two factors: (i) less mechanical work done to move forwards and/or (ii) the efficiency of positive work [2, 3]. Moreover, race walking has some other technical aspects, ruled by International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) rule 230, which increase the difficulty of locomotion: (i) loss of contact; and (ii) bent knee. The difference between common walking and race walking and the limits to race walking performance derive directly from these technical and ruling aspects, thus, even endowed with extraordinary physiological qualities,


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a race walker without a strong technique may never achieve significant results. The physiological determinants of long-distance running performance, as race walking, have been well documented. Traditionally, it has been suggested that these factors are: (i) maximum oxygen uptake (V˙O 2max) [4–6]; (ii) lactate threshold (LT) [6, 7]; (iii) running economy (RE) [4, 6, 8, 9]; and (iv) percent of maximum oxygen uptake (%V˙O2max) [4]. These determinants explain >70% of the between-subject variance in long-distance running performance [10]. Factors related to muscular power, such as neuromuscular and anaerobic aspects, have been recently added. Noakes [11] and Green and Patla [12] have suggested that V˙O2max and endurance performance may be limited not only by central factors related to O2 uptake (V˙O2max) but also by so-called ‘‘muscle power’’ factors affected by an interaction of neuromuscular and anaerobic characteristics [13]. These factors can limit, and even can be the precursors to, endurance performance [14–16]. These physiological determinants can be considered as intrinsic factors [17], such as genetic [18–21] and psychic characteristics [22], and extrinsic factors [17], such as lifestyle and daily activity [17, 23, 24], training [23, 25] and environment conditions [26, 27]. It has been suggested that simultaneous training for both strength and endurance may be associated with limited strength development in endurance athletes [11, 26, 27] without changes in the endurance determinants. Whereas, explosive and plyometric training programmes, in endurance athletes, does not behave the development of the endurance determinants [13, 28, 29]. Moreover, a different kind of strength training, circuit resistance training (CRT), deemphasises the brief intervals of heavy, local muscle overload in standard resistance training, providing a more general conditioning that improves body composition, muscular resistance and endurance, and cardiovascular fitness [43, 44]. Although the effect of combined strength and endurance training on physical performance has become a popular research topic in the last decade [33], a few studies have analysed the impact of resistance training on the endurance disciplines and have reported that: (i) plyometric training improves RE and ultimately distancerunning performance, although the exact mechanism by which this occurs remains unclear [13, 34, 35]; (ii) CRT sets are quantitatively similar to traditional strength training sets, but the cardiovascular load is substantially greater. CRT may be an effective training strategy for the promotion of both strength and cardiovascular adaptations and alone induced strength and power improvements that were significantly greater than when resis-

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tance and endurance training were combined [45, 46]. Moreover, in the literature, there are no studies concerning these aspects in race walking. Thus, the aim of this report was to monitor the adaptations of a combined strength, performed by CRT, and endurance programmes in two highly trained female race walkers.

Materials and methods

Subjects Two highly trained females with 11±1 years’ experience, who competed in the IAAF Race Walking Challenge and World Race Walking Cup 2008, were analysed in the present study. The averages of the subjects’ physical and physiological characteristics before and after the training period are presented in Table 1. All participants were fully informed about the aims of the study, the procedures and the training, and gave their voluntary consent before participation. The experimental procedures were in agreement with the Declaration of Helsinki on human experimentation.

Training project The experimental training period lasted for 12 weeks. The total training volume was 1200±30 h/year but 10% of training hours were replaced by CRT. CRT sessions lasted for 20–30 min at a frequency of 3 times per week. The programme included eight different exercises (Fig. 1) without additional weight or with low loads but high or maximal movement velocities (64–160 contractions/training session and 8–12 repetitions/set). The load of the exercises ranged between 0 and 40% of the one-repetition maximum.

Table 1 Physical characteristics and training background of the experimental group Variable

Experimental group Before

Age (years) Height (cm) Body weight (kg) BMI Training background Training (h/year) Circuit training times/week Values are means±SD

23 171.5±0.5 53.4±3.6 18.1±1.4 11±1 1200±30 2

After

52±4.1 17.7±1.5


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Fig. 1 CRT programme

100 % strenght 90 %

aerobic endurance 95% of the LT

80 %

above LT

70 % 60 % 50 % 40 % 30 % 20 % 10 % 0%

Fig. 2 Relative volumes (%) of different training during course of 12-week simultaneous CRT and aerobic endurance training

In detail, workload intensities ranged from 20% to 75% of the athletes’ limits, below (75%) or above (20%) the individual lactate threshold (LT), for example 3×1000 or 1×2000 race walking with 2 min rest between repetitions (Fig. 2).

Measurements Highly trained race walkers were examined before and after 12 weeks of training. The tests were performed in February and then in April before the competition peri-


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od. All tests were performed on a synthetic 400-m track in a climate of 8–16°C without wind. Two testing sessions were conducted. In the first one, the subjects performed an incremental field test to determine maximal oxygen uptake (V˙O2max) where the speed was increased by 1 km/h each minute. Two days later, in the second session, RE was measured as steady-state sub-maximal oxygen uptake during incremental steps of eight minutes at constant velocity with 30 sec of recovery. Throughout the incremental test, the subjects adopted the required velocity by use of an audio-visual system. This system included guide marks set at 20-m intervals along the track and audio signals to determine the speed needed to cover the intervals. A peripheral lactate increase over velocity corresponding to 4 mmol·L–1 during an incremental exercise test can be adopted as an evaluation criterion of the anaer˙ CO2 and V˙E were measured obic threshold [47]. V˙O2, V throughout the test using a telemetric system (K4b2, Cosmed, Rome, Italy) [48, 49] and heart rate (HR) was monitored continuously for all sessions (Polar Electro, Kempele, Finland). Expired gases were measured breathby-breath and averaged every 5 s. Before each test, the O2 analysis system was calibrated using ambient air (20.9% O2 and 0.04% CO2) and calibration gas (16% O2 and 5% CO2). The calibration of the turbine flow-meter of the analyser was performed with a 3-l syringe. During the exercise test, a capillary blood sample was obtained from the ear lobe and analysed for blood lactate concentration (Lactate Pro LT, Arkay Inc., Kyoto, Japan) [50]. The samples were taken immediately after the warmup and after each velocity at the end of the incremental test.

Results The V˙O2max before and after 12 weeks of CRT was 3209±436 vs. 2882±651 ml·kg–1·min–1, respectively (Fig. 3). Before and after the 12 week programme, immediately after the end of the V˙O2max test, mean blood lactate concentration was 8.75±1.06 mmol·L–1 and 8.85±0.64 mmol·L–1, respectively (Fig. 4). The LT at velocity corresponding to 4 mmol·L–1 was, before and after the protocol, 12.4±0.2 km·h–1 and 12.9±0.1 km·h–1, respectively. There were no changes in RE (Fig. 5). The maximal heart rate was, before and after training, 189±8 vs. 190±7 beats·min–1, respectively (Fig. 6).

Discussion The main purpose of the present report was to test the effects of a CRT on race walking performance. As showed by Paavolainen et al. [13], the combined explosive strength and endurance training improved force, running velocity, RE and 5-km running performance in well ˙ O2max, trained endurance athletes without any changes in V according to what we find in the present report, where the aerobic capacity of the subjects does not improve after 12 weeks of combined CRT and endurance training. Moreover, in the literature there are discordant data about the possible changes of the LT after concomitant endurance and strength training. Several studies have shown no changes in LT after the training protocol [13, 40], while Marcinik et al. found an improvement in the subjects’ LT [42]. Along with Jung [41], we hypothe-

4000

pre post

VO2max (mL·kg-1·min-1)

3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 12.00

13.00

14.00

Speed (km·h-1) Fig. 3 V˙O2max and speed relationship before and after 12 weeks of CRT. Values are means±SD

15.00

16.00


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12.00

pre

Blood lactate concentration (mmol·L-1)

post 10.00

8.00

6.00

4.00

2.00

0.00 11.00

12.00

13.00

Speed

14.00

15.00

(km·h-1)

Fig. 4 Blood lactate curve before and after 12 weeks of CRT. Values are means±SD

300.0

pre post

RWE (mL·kg-1·min-1)

250.0

200.0

150.0

100.0

50.0

0.0 11.00

12.00

13.00

Speed (km·h-1)

Fig. 5 RWE and speed relationship before and after the 12 weeks of CRT. Values are means±SD

sise that after CRT the muscle fibres are capable of producing more absolute force, working at a lower percentage of maximum strength during endurance activity compared with pre-training. This decrease in effort may have resulted in a decrease in anaerobic energy production, resulting in a decrease in blood lactate concentration [42]. Regarding the RE, but in our opinion it would be better to refer to race walking economy (RWE), in contrast to the literature [35, 39], we found a worsening. This may

be due to the intrinsic factors of race walking, as the technical and biomechanical aspects may require a longer period of adaptation after the training. In conclusion, we have shown that 12 weeks of a combined circuit training and endurance programme improve the 5-km performances but there were no corresponding ˙ O2max. alterations in V Further research is needed to establish whether such race walking improvements derive from an increased stride length or stride frequency or both and, as suggest-


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Sport Sci Health (2008) 4:51–58 210

pre post

Heart rate (beats·min-1)

200

190

180

170

160

150 11.00

12.00

13.00

Speed

14.00

15.00

(km·h-1)

Fig. 6 Heart rate and speed relationship before and after 12 weeks of CRT. Values are means±SD

0.24.46 0.24.29

5 km performance (h·mm·ss)

0.24.12 0.23.54 0.23.37 0.23.20 0.23.02 0.22.45 0.22.28 0.22.11 2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Years Fig. 7 Average of the 5-km performance from 2005 to 2008

ed by Nummela et al. [51], if these improvements might be due to enhancement in ground contact times. In our opinion, this improvement might enhance 5-km performance (Fig. 7) after 12 weeks of training. Thus, further research is needed to establish if this improvement is due to combined CRT and endurance training. According to Häkkinen et al. [52] the present data do not support the concept of the ‘‘interference effect’’ in strength

development and muscle hypertrophy when strength training is performed concurrently with endurance training. Instead, in our opinion, explosive strength development in the subjects seems to be due to an improvement in the rapid neural activation of the trained muscles. In addition, according to Nummela et al. [51], the results of the present study support the idea that distance runners’ performance is related to neuromuscular capacity to produce force.


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Practical applications Collectively, these findings add further support to the interpretation of the results of the training study in which combined endurance and CRT improved skeletal muscle force–velocity characteristics, such as, maybe, motor unit recruitment and synchronisation. Further research is needed to determine whether more intense or more prolonged circuit training improves RE and the performance of highly trained race walkers. Acknowledgements The authors wish to thank the athletes and coach Vincenzo Fiorillo for his assistance in data collection and technical support. Conflict of interest statement The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest related to the publication of this article.

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