Development of a specific anaerobic field test for aerobic gymnastics

• Published in: PloS one 2015-04, Vol.10 (4), p.e0123115-e0123115
• Main Authors: Alves, Christiano Robles Rodrigues, Borelli, Marcello Tadeu Caetano, Paineli, Vitor de Salles, Azevedo, Rafael de Almeida, Borelli, Claudia Cristine Gomes, Lancha Junior, Antônio Herbert, Gualano, Bruno, Artioli, Guilherme Giannini
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Anaerobic Threshold - physiology; Athletes; Athletic Performance - physiology; Competition; Correlation analysis; Exercise Test - methods; Female; Field study; Field tests; Gymnastics; Gymnastics - physiology; Humans; Lactic acid; Metabolism; Oxygen Consumption; Physical education; Reliability analysis; Reproducibility of Results; Running - physiology; Training
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0123115

The current investigation aimed to develop a valid specific field test to evaluate anaerobic physical performance in Aerobic Gymnastics athletes. We first designed the Specific Aerobic Gymnast Anaerobic Test (SAGAT), which included gymnastics-specific elements performed in maximal repeated sprint fashion, with a total duration of 80-90 s. In order to validate the SAGAT, three independent sub-studies were performed to evaluate the concurrent validity (Study I, n=8), the reliability (Study II, n=10) and the sensitivity (Study III, n=30) of the test in elite female athletes. In Study I, a positive correlation was shown between lower-body Wingate test and SAGAT performance (Mean power: p = 0.03, r = -0.69, CI: -0.94 to 0.03 and Peak power: p = 0.02, r = -0.72, CI: -0.95 to -0.04) and between upper-body Wingate test and SAGAT performance (Mean power: p = 0.03, r = -0.67, CI: -0.94 to 0.02 and Peak power: p = 0.03, r = -0.69, CI: -0.94 to 0.03). Additionally, plasma lactate was similarly increased in response to SAGAT (p = 0.002), lower-body Wingate Test (p = 0.021) and a simulated competition (p = 0.007). In Study II, no differences were found between the time to complete the SAGAT in repeated trials (p = 0.84; Cohen's d effect size = 0.09; ICC = 0.97, CI: 0.89 to 0.99; MDC95 = 0.12 s). Finally, in Study III the time to complete the SAGAT was significantly lower during the competition cycle when compared to the period before the preparatory cycle (p < 0.001), showing an improvement in SAGAT performance after a specific Aerobic Gymnastics training period. Taken together, these data have demonstrated that SAGAT is a specific, reliable and sensitive measurement of specific anaerobic performance in elite female Aerobic Gymnastics, presenting great potential to be largely applied in training settings.