The effect of time of day on Special Judo Fitness Test in active judokas: Evaluation in terms of chronotype

The present cross-sectional study aims to examine the effect of time of day on the judo-specific performance in judokas, considering their chronotypes. Twenty-four male judokas participated in the study where the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire was administered, and on it, they were divided into morning-type (MT:12-judokas) and evening-type groups (ET:12-judokas). Afterwards, the Special Judo Fitness Test (SJFT) was applied to both groups at three different times (morning: 09:00 h, afternoon: 13:00 h and evening: 17:00 h) with body temperature measured before and after every SJFT performance. As a result, the Group*Test Time interaction significantly affected overall throwing performance during SJFT [F(2,44) = 29.437, p = 0.001, eta 2p: .572]. Furthermore, a significant time effect was found for the SJFT index [F(2,44) = 5.118, p = 0.010, eta 2p: .189] and for the Group*Test Time interaction with the mean value of the index [F(2,44) = 24.424, p < 0.001, eta 2p: .526]. Furthermore, body temperature had a significant time effect [F(2,44) = 301.454, p < 0.001, eta 2p: .932] and the Group*Test Time interaction [F(2,44) = 5.802, p = 0.006, eta 2p: .209]. In conclusion, coaches and exercise experts should consider judo athletes' chronotype when planning special training programs to improve judo-specific anaerobic capacity. Furthermore, to minimize the impact of time of day and chronotype on athletes' performance in competitions, it is recommended that MT athletes develop their judo-specific anaerobic capacity in the evening hours, when their performance is lower, while ET athletes should do so in the morning hours when their performance is lower via randori training.

Journal

CHRONOBIOLOGY INTERNATIONAL

Year

2024

Volume

41

Issue

1

Pages

61-71

ISSN

0742-0528

eISSN

1525-6073

DOI

10.1080/07420528.2023.2276196

WoS UID

WOS:001143453100012