Active and Passive Recovery in Climbing – Difference in Lactate accumulation, Muscular Strength in Forearms, Heart Rate and Blood Oxygen Saturation when Climbing Intervals

Sammanfattning: Background: Climbing is a sport that puts high physical demands on the entire body. Due to the amount of isometric contractions the forearms are exposed to while climbing, the accumulation of lactic acid lowers the pH of the blood making it more acidic. This causes discomfort in the working muscles and reduces the ability to continue on the same working intensity and is often a limiting factor for a climber to maintain a high level of performance throughout a training session or during competition. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate how active and passive recovery, when performing intervals on a campus board affect climbers’ lactate concentration, muscular strength of the forearms, heart rate and the blood oxygen saturation. This in order to see which of the two recovery methods that most likely keeps the performance as high as possible throughout a training session or competition. Methods: Two different recovery methods, active and passive, were tested in order to see how they effected the physical aspect the study aimed to investigate. Active climbers (n = 7) with different experience were recruited for this study and they all performed two tests each, one where active recovery where applied and one where passive recovery were applied. The two methods were tested one week a part in a cross-over manner. The tests for both methods consisted of a 15-minute-long standardized warm-up followed by five one-minute intervals performed on a campus board. In-between the climbing intervals a one-and-a-half-minute recovery period were programmed for both methods. During the active recovery the subject’s heart rate were held at 60% of HRmax and for the passive recovery the subjects were seated down allowed no movement. For both methods, the subjects were seated down for a ten-minute passive recovery after they had performed the five intervals. Results: The findings of this study showed some significant differences between active and passive recovery, and that lactate levels were kept lower when active recovery were applied after the second (p = 0.04) and the third interval (p = 0.03), as well as five minutes after the fifth interval (p = 0.03). No significant differences between the two methods tested were found for the other physical aspect examined in this study. Conclusion:In regard to the findings of this study, lower levels of lactate are achieved when active recovery is the performed. This suggest that active recovery when climbing is the most beneficial recovery method in order to keep a high performance throughout a training session or competition.