The Effects of Short Term Overwork on Blood Lactate and Ammonia Concentrations in Elite Junior Weightlifters

Blood lactate and ammonia concentrations have been utilized extensively as markers of exercise intensity and as possible determinants of the over-trained condition. The present study examined the effects of a 1 wk high velum training camp on blood lactate ({LAJ) and ammonia ((NH 3 ]) concentrations. Subjects were 28 junior elite male weightlifters (X age= 17.3 ~1.4 yr; X BM= 67.8 ~11.8 kg), Blood samples were drawn at four time periods before (T 1 ) and after (T2) 7 d of intensive, high volume weight-training {2-3 workouts/day): resting, pre-exercise, 5 m post-exercise, and 15 m post-exercise. The exercise bout on T 1 and T 2 consisted of a brief warm-up and single snatch attempts performed every 15 s as the weight progressively increased until the subject & could not execute the lift successfully. A repeated measures ANOVA with a Fisher's LSD post hoc revealed significant increases. (p < 0.05) for [LAJ and [NH 3 J from pre- to post-exercise bouts. There were no differences in performance measures from T1 to T2. In addition, [LA] was significantly higher at T1 5 m (12.1 ~1.98 to 7.6 ±2.09 mmol· L-1) and 15 m (7.0 ±2.56 to 4.5 ±_1.78"'mmol - L-1) post-exercise while [NH 3 ] increased significantly at rest on T2 (33 +17.56 to 68 +38.53 μ.mol· L- 1 ) and at 5 m post-exercise on T1 {184 ±63.37 to-143 ±_64.32 μmol · L-1. Performance measures and [LA] results suggest a positive training adaptation from T1 to T2; however, the higher resting [NHJ] at T2 may be indicative of symptoms of overwork.