Purpose: To estimate the contribution of the 3 energy systems to simulated judo matches.
Methods: Twelve judo athletes (18 ± 1 y, 175.1 ± 5.3 cm, 74.3 ± 10.5 kg, 11.7% ± 1.5% body fat, 8 ± 2 y of practice) performed 5 combats with different durations (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 min), against the same opponent, on different days and blinded to the duration. The estimated energy contributions for the oxidative, glycolytic, and ATP-PCr systems were calculated based on oxygen uptake (V̇O2) during activity, Delta of lactate, and the fast phase of excess V ̇ O2, respectively. Analysis of mixed models for repeated measures was used to compare the contribution of the 3 energy systems and different durations of judo matches, followed by a post hoc Bonferroni test.
Results: The oxidative system's contribution (70%) was higher than those of the glycolytic (8%; P < .001) and ATP-PCr (21%; P < .001) energy systems (in all durations), and the ATP-PCr contribution was higher than that of the glycolytic energy system (up to 3 min). In addition, during the match there was an increase in the oxidative (from 50% to 81%; P < .001), a decrease in the ATP-PCr (from 40% to 12%; P < .001), and maintenance of the glycolytic contributions (between 6% and 10%).
Conclusions: There is a predominance of the oxidative system to supply the energy cost of judo matches from the first minute of combat up to the end, compared with the anaerobic systems.
Keywords: blood lactate; combat sports; oxygen consumption; rating of perceived exertion; time–motion.