It is known that training status and training intensity significantly influence endurance enhancement in endurance sport athletes. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of pre-training level of performance on endurance enhancement in team sport athletes when using sport specific training versus classical endurance training modes. Methods: 93 elite players (62 male, 31 female) from 4 team sports were investigated. They completed a VO2max-Test on a treadmill and a field test for calculating running velocity at 4 mmol/l lactate (v4). Each team was randomly divided into two training groups according to the individual endurance capacities. Group one performed a high intensity interval run training (HIT, 4x4 min at 95% of their maximal heart rate (HRmax)) using sport specific running tracks, while group two performed an extensive run training (ET, 45min at 75% of v4). Both groups followed this regime 3x per week for 4 weeks in addition to the equal team training. To examine the influence of training status on endurance enhancement a median (md) split was applied for baseline parameters considering endurance performance. Men (m) and women (w) were analysed separately. Results: Training methods had no sig. effect on performance enhancement for any of the measured parameters. v4 increased sig. from pre to post training in m and w. VO2max did not change sig. while max. running velocity during the VO2max test increased. ANOVA for pre to post differences in v4 of the two md split groups showed a sig. influence of training status on performance enhancement in men (md: 3.8 m/s, mean value below md: 3.6±0.3 m/s, difference pre to post testing (pre/post): 0.2±0.2 m/s; mean value above md: 4.1±0.1 m/s, difference pre/post: 0.1±0.2 m/s) while in women the influence of training status on performance enhancement was not sig. (md: 3.1 m/s, mean value below md: 2.9±0.2 m/s, difference pre/post: 0.3±0.1 m/s; mean value above md: 3.4±0.2 m/s, difference pre/post: 0.2±0.2 m/s; p=0.63). Changes in VO2max were independent of training status in m and w. Considering training method, HIT was analysed to be more effective for improving v4 in men with a lower training status than ET while there was no influence of training method in women (p=0.70). Discussion and Conclusion: In this group of elite team sport athletes we could show an influence of training status on performance enhancement in m while this was not visible for w. It can not be ruled out that the difference in gender is masked by the generally lower performance level in women. Maybe their level of performance was not high enough to induce and analyze different ways of endurance improvements.
© Copyright 2012 17th Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS), Bruges, 4. -7. July 2012. Veröffentlicht von Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.