Evaluating the Impact of Active and Passive Recovery Strategies and Citrulline-Malate Supplementation in Wrestling: Do the Results Add Up?

Abstract

Purpose: This research aimed to investigate the impact of active and passive recovery strategies as well as Citrulline-Malate (CM) supplementation, on the performance and biomarkers, i.e., hypoxanthine and hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HGPRT) of young, trained wrestlers during the first day of a simulated Free-Style wrestling tournament. Methods: A total of 12 professional freestyle wrestlers (aged 19.2 ± 1.0 years) participated in the study. In a counterbalanced crossover design, twelve wrestlers ingested either a placebo or CM (8g) one hour before the initiation of the tournament. They then completed four consecutive simulated wrestling standard performance tests, each consisting of 6-minute wrestling simulations followed by a 30-minute recovery period, alternating between active and passive recovery. Results: The results showed no significant effects of active versus passive recovery or CM supplementation versus placebo for various performance tests and biomarkers in trained wrestlers across multiple wrestling simulations. However, significant differences were observed in the active vs. passive recovery group for the HGPRT biomarker, burpee agility test, and RPE in the third simulated wrestling session. Other tests, such as hand grip strength, back-leg-chest, and Wrestling-Specific Performance Tests, did not show significant differences among the groups. Conclusions: The findings revealed that there were no significant differences in performance tests or biomarkers between active and passive recovery strategies. Similarly, CM supplementation and placebo groups have not been equally effective in all events, during the simulated wrestling conducted on trained wrestlers. Individual responses to these strategies may vary among trained wrestlers and the recovery requirements can also differ between different events.