The main purpose of the present study was to determine the anaerobic parameters obtained by the RAST (Running-based Anaerobic Sprint Test) and the anaerobic threshold of twelve handballers affiliated with the Handball Federation of São Paulo. Moreover, we aimed to study the relationship of the RAST variables, the anaerobic threshold and the lactacidemia response obtained at the beginning, at the interval and at the end of a an official handball match. Measurements were carried out in two days. On the first day, the athletes performed the RAST and then, the anaerobic threshold was obtained by a protocol adapted from Tegtbur et al. (1993). On the second day, the athletes had blood samples collected to determine the blood lactate responses during the three different times of the handball game. Repeated measurements Anova test followed by post hoc Newman-Keuls test whenever needed, were used to compare the blood lactate concentrations during the handball match as well as that one corresponding to the anaerobic threshold. Pearson product-moment coefficient analysis was used to verify the relationships of the RAST variables, the anaerobic threshold and the blood lactate obtained at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of an official handball match. A significance level of 5% was chosen for all cases. Correlations between the RAST parameters and the anaerobic threshold with the blood lactate responses during the handball match have not been observed. According to our results, it is possible to conclude that the variables obtained by the protocol proposed to determine the anaerobic threshold did not present significant correlations with the blood lactate concentrations obtained during the official handball match.
anaerobic parameters; aerobic capacity; lactatemia
