THE EFFECTS OF SPECIFIC TRAINING ON CARDIORESPIRATORY ENDURANCE AMONG YOUNG JUDOKAS

Abstract

ABSTRACT

The primary aim of this research was to determine the changes in cardiorespiratory endurance of young judokas during an eight-week specificallydesigned trainingprogram. The research was carried out on a sample of 25 young, highly selected judokas, all members of the extended list of cadet and junior national team members of Serbia, aged 14 to 18. All of the participants were included in a specificallydesigned training program which lasted for eight weeks, and represented a combination of highly-intense activities of very short duration, specific strength exercises, the improvement of specific judo techniques and judo matches (randori). The results of the analysis indicated that cardiorespiratory endurance among young judokas after an eight-week specificallydesigned training program had not undergone any statistically significant changes. Furthermore, the value of VO_2peakwas somewhat elevated at the final measuring. The explanations for these results can be found in the fact that young judokas were not subjected to a rapid reduction in body weight, and instead through increased intensity of the training load were able to decrease their body fat percentage. In addition, we can justifiably assume that the level of training load, during this specificallydesigned training program, was sufficient for the previously achieved level of cardiorespiratory endurance to be maintained. The results of this research confirm that the basis for daily planning and programming should consist of precisely diagnosed procedures for the evaluation of the characteristics of athletes, since they offer insight into the proper application of training load.

Key words: judo, cardiorespiratory endurance, training, adaptation.