PARKOUR: MEASUREMENT OF ENERGETIC AND MORPHOPHISIOLOGICAL METABOLISM IN ITS PRACTITIONERS

ABSTRACT

Introduction:  Parkour is an activity that uses the own body to move from a point to another in the environment.

Objective:  Analyzing the behavior of the energetic metabolism and the cardiorespiratory system during a parkour session.

Method:  Eighteen parkour practitioners were evaluated. The behavior of the energetic metabolism during the parkour session was measured by heart rate (HR), lactate and glucose.

Results:  The results indicated that the average HR during the training session was 167.64 ± 7.05 bpm representing 84.36 ± 3.52 %. The initial lactate level was 4.49 ± 3.08 mmol/L and the final level was 9.23 ± 3.08 mmol/L where p-value for both variables was p = 0.0007. The initial glucose was 73.6 ± 20.71 mg/dL and the final glucose 76.06 ± 20.20 mg/dL, with a p-value of p = 0.7408. In terms of body composition, the fat percentage was 8.78 ± 2.82 %, the skinfold with highest fat amount was the abdomen 12.32 ± 5.69 mm.

Conclusion:  The conclusion was that the parkour modality has predominance of the anaerobic glycolytic metabolism, with support of the aerobic metabolism. Besides, due to the specificity of the modality, its practitioners have low levels of body fat.

Keywords: exercise; blood chemical analysis; energy metabolism