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

ABSTRACT

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 (MT12-judokas) and evening-type groups (ET12-judokas). Afterwards, the Special Judo Fitness Test (SJFT) was applied to both groups at three different times (morning 0900 h, afternoon 1300 h and evening 1700 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, η2p .572]. Furthermore, a significant time effect was found for the SJFT index [F(2,44) = 5.118, p = 0.010, η2p .189] and for the Group*Test Time interaction with the mean value of the index [F(2,44) = 24.424, p < 0.001, η2p .526]. Furthermore, body temperature had a significant time effect [F(2,44) = 301.454, p < 0.001, η2p .932] and the Group*Test Time interaction [F(2,44) = 5.802, p = 0.006, η2p .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.