Effects of body contact during incremental and intermittent exercise on running power in handball players

The purposes of this study were to (1) examine the eŠect of body contact (BC) on running power, and (2) evaluate the relationship between physical ability and BC in the measurement of both aerobic exercise and intermittent anaerobic running power. The subjects comprised 14 male university handball players; all subjects were court players. There was a signiˆcantly lower the running distances achieved in the yo-yo intermittent endurance test [yo-yo IE] with full BC than yo-yo IE, and a signiˆcant relationship was present between the ˆnal distances run during the yo-yo IE and yo-yo IE with full BC. Intermittent exercise was measured by the intermittent shuttle sprint test (ISST) that involved eight 20-m shuttle sprints with a 20-s rest period after each sprint. The subjects exhibited a signiˆcantly lower retention rate during the eighth repetition of the ISST with BC than during the eighth repetition of the ISST without BC, but there was no signiˆcant correlation between the mean retention rates during the two tests. The positive correlation between retention rates during the ISST BC and muscle strength and body weight showed since 2 ～ 3 sets of the ISST with BC. And negative correlation between retention rates during the ISST BC and yo-yo IE showed since 5 sets of the ISST with BC. These results indicate that intermittent anaerobic running power is important to high aerobic ability. But, intermittent exercise that includes BC is necessary to take in higher body weight and muscle strength to prevent a decrease in running power.