The Effects of Active Recovery Duration After Taekwondo Exercises on Blood Lactate Level and Subsequent Intermittent All Out Exercise Performance

Purpose: To determine the effects the blood lactate levels from a different combination of active and passive recovery duration following a typical repetitive bouts of Taekwondo exercise. Methods: Eight active Taekwondo athletes participated in this study. The repeated measures were the two recovery protocols, i.e. Short Active Recovery (SAR; five minutes active recovery followed by ten minutes passive recovery) and Long Active Recovery (LAR; ten minutes active recovery followed by five minutes passive recovery). The order of the conditions was determined by random assignment to counterbalance test sequence. Serial capillary blood lactate levels were taken for each test conditions. Result: Blood lactate levels were significantly increased at the end of the Taekwondo exercise in both SAR and LAR trials (13.93 and 13.09 mmol/l, respectively). There were no significant main effects for types of recovery protocols on both absolute and relative blood lactate levels during exercise and at the end of recovery period (reduction by 67.39% and 66.92% at the end of SAR and LAR respectively). Conclusion: Taekwondo exercises predominantly rely on anaerobic metabolism based on a high blood lactate response. Recovery protocols applied in this study significantly reduced blood lactate even though no significant difference effect was observed between the two protocols.