BACKGROUND: The physiological demands of handball players on international level has increased during the last years mainly due to rule changes. Therefore a scientific funded training method under sports medical supervision gets more and more important. Nevertheless any only limited data are available concerning adequate tests and methods on endurance and sports related assessment of physical performance in handball. OBJECTIVE: Goal of this experimental cross sectional study was to record the endurance of handball players (regional league) in general and related to their sport. This study was performed in conjunction with the development and testing of a new handball specific complexity test (HBKT) and the use of a new lactate analysis software wesp-analysis during a treadmill test (TT). METHODS: 16 semi-professional handball players (mean age: 27.5 +/- 6.78 years) of a regional team were investigated with TT and HBKT on two different days (time delay 72 h). The parameters lactate, heart rate (TT/HBKT) and the time and rate of faults in the HBKT were recorded. RESULTS: The players showed large deficits in basic endurance capacity. There was a great performance difference within the team, especially in the lower intensity regions (< or = 3 mmol/l). Whereas the maximal heart rate was significantly higher in the TT versus the HBKT (TT: 192 +/- 8.67 min (-1) versus HBKT: 180 +/- 9.23 min (-1); p < 0.001; eta(2) = 0.794). The maximum lactate levels showed directly the opposite (10.1 +/- 2.91 mmol/l for TT versus 12.8 +/- 1.99 mmol/l for HBKT; p < 0.001, eta(2) = 0.644). Maximal run velocity (TT) and general performance (HBKT) was related on a mean level (r = -0.566). CONCLUSIONS: The results show the necessity of individual heart rate dependant basic endurance training. The correlation between the tests is a further sign for the significant importance of endurance capacity for sports performance. A comparison of these results to a higher level handball team would yield further information regarding interpretation and grading of the data. HBKT und lactate analysis software wesp-analysis showed to be practical assessment tools.
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