The changes in psychomotor performance during progressive endurance exercise

The study was aimed at the evaluation of psychomotor performance during an incremental endurance exercise in dependence on the concentration of lactate (LA), adrenaline (A) and noradrenaline (NA) in the blood. Twenty two 3rd league soccer players aged 21.3±1.4 years with an average maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) of 53.8 ml. kg-1.min-1 volunteered to take part in the experiment. During an incremental cycling exercise the choice reation time (CRT) and the number of proper reactions (NPR) were recorded at consecutive workloads during which venous blood samples were drawn for analyses of LA, A and NA in order to determine the lactate, adrenaline and noradrenaline tresholds. Two phases were identified in the workload-dependent changes in psychomotor performance. During the first phase of the incremental endurance exercise the choice reaction time (CRT) decreased significantly (p<0.001) while NPR increased, whereas during the second phase there was an opposite tendency (p<0.001) to an increase in CRT with a concomittant decrease in NPR. The highest psychomotor performance was recorded at 76% VO2max (HR=164 ± 4.7 beats. min-1). The shortest CRT and the highest NPR were recorded at the workloads exceeding LA, A and NA tresholds