ECSS Paris 2023: CP-AP15
INTRODUCTION: Badminton is a racket sport characterized by rallies involving a wide variety of shots, with a reported high frequency of approximately once per second. Match play requires frequent multidirectional acceleration and deceleration, necessitating substantial lower limb power and aerobic capacity [1]. To optimize physical training, it is necessary to clarify the relationship between external load during badminton match play and physical fitness. External load during matches can be quantified as accumulated acceleration loads (AAL) [2]. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the association between AAL during match play and physical fitness variables, such as lower limb power and peak oxygen uptake. METHODS: Twenty-five male collegiate badminton players (highly trained; Tier 3) participated in this study. All participants completed three games, regardless of the outcomes of the first and second games. External load and heart rate (HR) during matches were recorded using an inertial measurement unit and an HR monitor. AAL defined as the sum of changes in three-dimensional acceleration, was calculated as described by Boyd and Aughey (2011) [2] and quantified within four acceleration-intensity thresholds. Participants completed an incremental cycling test on a separate occasion to determine peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) and maximal incremental power (MIP), defined as the mean power output over the final 1 min of the test. Moreover, participants performed two 6-s all-out cycling sprints against 7.5% of body mass, separated by 120 s of recovery, peak power (PP) was recorded, and the higher value from the two trials was used for analysis. RESULTS: No significant correlations were observed between AAL at each intensity threshold and VO2peak, MIP or 6-s PP (r = -0.007 – 0.37, p > 0.05). In addition, AAL (10.3 ± 1.3 vs. 10.5 ± 1.4 a.u., p >0.05) and HR (162.4 ± 7.3 vs. 157.9 ± 8.5 bpm, p > 0.05) during the match, and VO2peak (64.7 ± 2.6 vs. 64.1 ± 3.9 ml·min-1·kg-1, p > 0.05), MIP (5.2 ± 0.3 vs. 5.1 ± 0.4 W·kg-1), PP (11.8 ± 0.7 vs. 11.9 ± 0.4 W·kg-1, p > 0.05) were comparable between winners and losers. CONCLUSION: AAL during the match was not associated with the physical fitness measures assessed in this study. The participants in this study demonstrated higher aerobic power than those in a previous study, in which participants were ranked between 49 and 164 in the world rankings [3]. This may indicate that aerobic power was not a primary limitation factor for the match external load observed in this highly trained cohort. Therefore, different associations might be observed in athletes with lower aerobic power and a VO2peak value of approximately 65 ml·min-1·kg-1 may be sufficient for this level of badminton performance. 1. Alcock and Cable (2009). Int. J. Perform. Anal. Sport. 2. Boyd and Aughey (2011). Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 3. Faude et al. (2007). Eur. J. Appl. Physiol.
Read CV Hiroki HommaECSS Paris 2023: CP-AP15
INTRODUCTION: Tennis is a high-intensity, intermittent sport characterized by brief bouts of near-maximal effort interspersed with short periods of active recovery between points (1, 2). Match performance depends on the integrated contribution of multiple physical qualities, including speed, agility, muscular power, endurance, strength, and neuromuscular coordination (3). However, the seasonal time course of the physiological parameters underpinning these qualities in NCAA Division II tennis players remains poorly described. The aim of the study was to evaluate physiological parameters in female tennis players during their NCAA Division II season. METHODS: Eight female NCAA-D II tennis players participated in the study (20.1 ± 1.5 years, 167.2 ± 7.5 cm, 63.2 ± 7.2 kg). During the season, on average, they played 20.5 matches (273.4 games) each. Body composition (DEXA), countermovement jump height (force plate), maximal oxygen consumption (Metabolic System), tennis-specific agility T-test, reaction time (Dynavision), and anaerobic power (modified Wingate) were measured before, mid-season, and immediately after the season. Repeated-measures ANOVA with Greenhouse–Geisser correction was used to assess time effects, followed by Holm-adjusted post-hoc tests when appropriate. Effect sizes were reported as partial eta-squared (η²). RESULTS: A significant time effect was observed for relative VO₂max (F = 9.96, p = 0.017, η² = 0.714). VO₂max declined from pre-season to mid-season (44.3 ± 2.3 to 41.4 ± 2.5 mL·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹, p = 0.007), then rebounded from mid-season to post-season (41.4 ± 2.5 to 43.3 ± 3.7 mL·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹, p = 0.042), with no difference between pre- and post-season (p = 0.166). No significant time effects were observed for body mass, fat mass, fat-free mass, bone mineral density, jump height, peak force, impulse, take-off velocity, reaction time, or anaerobic power variables (all p > 0.05), although several neuromuscular and power variables showed moderate-to-large effect sizes across the season (η² ≈ 0.13–0.22). CONCLUSION: Across the competitive season, NCAA Division II women’s tennis players maintained body composition and neuromuscular performance, but demonstrated a transient mid-season reduction in aerobic capacity that recovered by post-season. This suggests that in-season training and competition may temporarily compromise aerobic fitness without impairing power or strength, highlighting the importance of targeted conditioning strategies to preserve endurance across the season. References: 1. Kovacs, M. S. (2006). Applied Physiology of Tennis Performance. Br. J. Sports Med., 40(5), 381–386. 2. Kraemer, W. J., et al. (2003). Physiological Changes with Periodized Resistance Training in Women Tennis Players. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., 35(1), 157–168. 3. Reid, M. et al. (2008). Strength and Conditioning in Tennis: Current Research and Practice. J. Sci. Med. Sport , 11(3), 248–256.
Read CV Nauris TamuleviciusECSS Paris 2023: CP-AP15
INTRODUCTION: In 1986, two pioneers set their sight beyond the horizon. What sounds like the plot of the film ‘Top Gun’ actually referrers to the theory of Alois ‘Maverick’ Mader and Hermann ‘Goose’ Heck on the metabolic origin of ‘anaerobic threshold’ [1]. It was assumed that maximal rates of oxidative and substrate-level phosphorylation are promising parameters to simulate energy metabolism. Thereby, the authors introduced a new parameter that we know today as maximal lactate accumulation rate (ċLamax). Research on ċLamax has gained increased attention in recent years and is already applied in several (endurance) sports. However, this parameter falls victim to physiological misconceptions and suffers from inconsistencies regarding terminology, procedures and calculation approaches. This hinders the proper use in science and practice aiming to improve exercise testing and training prescription. METHODS: To provide recommendations for application and future research and to summarise the current evidence on ċLamax, the findings of sixty accepted peer-review Journal articles in English language were extracted in a recent invited review [2]. This article highlights the origin, development, terminology, procedures, reliability, specificity, applicability and adaptability of ċLamax. RESULTS: The ċLamax has already been applied in sports like (hand-)cycling, running, swimming, rowing, kayaking and paratriathlon, gained increased popularity since 2017 and has spread across the globe. The percentage of German affiliations (260 authorships in total) decreased from 80% (until 03/2023) to 55% (03/2023–10/2025). Six different categories for terminology and astonishing 23 different abbreviations were found. Most frequently (n=23), ċLamax was determined by performing a 15-s all-out sprint test, while recent reviews recommend 10–12 s [2,3]. Females accounted for only 25% of all participants tested in all studies. Reporting of warm-up and starting procedures as well as post-exercise blood sampling was quite heterogenous. Expect for using handheld analysers, ċLamax demonstrated ‘good’ to ‘excellent’ reliability and was found to be highly specific to extremity and exercise modality. Whereas ċLamax was associated with sprint performance and strength parameters, its utility to predict/simulate individual performances ≥ 1 min was inconclusive. CONCLUSION: The ċLamax is a promising augmentation for metabolic profiling that can be determined with fairly low effort and time. However, this experimental approach only allows for a net estimate of glycolytic abilities that does not reflect cellular processes. Future studies need to validate ċLamax by means of enzyme activity and/or muscle fiber typology, focus on female athletes (currently only 25%) and assess its adaptability to certain (high-intensity) training regimes. Additionally, there is currently no data on the ‘durability’ of ċLamax. References 1) Mader & Heck (1986) Int J Sports Med 2) Quittmann (2026) Eur J Appl Physiol 3) Langley et al. (2025) J Sci Cycling
Read CV Oliver Jan QuittmannECSS Paris 2023: CP-AP15