Our aim was to investigate aerobic and anaerobic power, correctly measuring metabolic response during graded maximal exercise testing and short-term high power testing continuously for four years, from 1996 to 1999. The subject, who was twice the male national karate champion, was recruited to participate the experiments. The subject underwent the incremental exercise test every 30 watts/3 min until exhaustion to measure the peak oxygen uptake (VO
2peak), CO
2 production, (VCO
2peak) and ventilation (VEpeak) as an index of the aerobic power, and to determine capillary blood lactate concentration ( [La]b) VO
2peak were 50.6, 45.2, 52.1, and 53.0 ml/kg/min, respectively. Peak [La] b increased 4.40, 6.15, 7.10, and 6.51 mM/L, respectively, and the delayed onset of blood lactate accumulation during incremental exercise was also observed, being due to higher buffering capacity which is associated with glycolytic enzymes in the muscles. Anaerobic power as measured by the total power for 10 sec on a high-power bicycle ergometer also increased from 936 to 1053 watts, which revealed a much higher anaerobic power compared with competitors in other sports. These results suggest that the karate champion in the heavy weight class had relatively average aerobic power and additionally greater anaerobic power, which may be due to glycolytic potential in the skeletal muscles.
View full abstract