Matteo Campagna
ITEN
Menu
Menu

In an archer's urine, lactate mostly follows the physical load and far less the tension of competition

1 study · 16 archers measured

ForContextAgainst202420262024, for, n = 162024, context, n = 162025, against, n = 162025, context, n = 16
Each circle is a study: its position gives the year, its row whether it is for, against or context, its size how many participants it measured. Light circles are studies on other populations or without archers.

There is a single research group on this question, in Lviv, and in practice a single sample: sixteen Ukrainian archers aged nineteen to twenty-two, masters and candidate masters of sport, with lactate and urea measured in the urine before and after shooting, in training and in competition. In the first analysis, published in 2024, the physical load explains 80 per cent of the variation in lactate and the psychological load 3.5, while urea depends for almost 90 per cent on factors the study did not measure; lactate and urea, moreover, do not move together (r = 0.02). In 2025 the same authors, with the same sixteen archers and the same design, look at the data from another side: two months of autogenic training lower lactate in competition by 9.7 per cent against the control group, and in competition the technique explains 21.4 per cent of its variation, while in training its share is not significant. The authors conclude that urinary lactate can be used to track the psychological state in competition: the same sample, read by the same authors, therefore points two ways, with almost no weight for tension in 2024 and a visible weight in competition in 2025, and this is why the status is contested. Neither reading is a tool: eight archers per group, p values in the first paper written in a form that cannot be interpreted, and tension defined by the type of day rather than measured with a questionnaire.

Also phrased as: "urinary lactate in archers"; "urine urea and archery"; "biochemical markers of training load"; "biochemical monitoring of training"; "physical fatigue or competition stress"

In practice

It is often said that archery tires the head more than the body, and that to understand how much a competition weighs you have to look at tension, not muscles: biochemical checks, where they are done, are read as a measure of physical fatigue.

Evidence

  • 2024
    For Archers Published later

    16 qualified male archers aged 19 to 22, randomly split into two groups of 8; two-way analysis of variance in the control group: the physical load explains 80.0 per cent of the variability in urinary lactate, the psychological load 3.5 per cent (3.6 in the abstract), and the interaction between the two is not significant. The p values are written as p > 0.999, a form that cannot be interpreted.

    Comparative analysis of the lactate and urea changes in the athletes-archers urine under different physical and psychological loads · M. Sybil, Ya. Svyshch, A. Vynogradskyi, M. Bura, R. Pervachuk

  • 2024
    Context Archers Published later

    In the same study urea depends on average for 88.8 per cent on factors not considered, for 12.9 on the psychological load and for 1.1 on autogenic training, which is not significant; lactate and urea are not correlated (r = 0.02 in training, r = 0.4 in competition before the load, neither significant). Before the training load, lactate is around 1 mmol/L, within the range of a healthy person without excessive loads.

    Comparative analysis of the lactate and urea changes in the athletes-archers urine under different physical and psychological loads · M. Sybil, Ya. Svyshch, A. Vynogradskyi, M. Bura, R. Pervachuk

  • 2025
    Against Archers Published later

    16 male archers aged 19 to 22 (5 masters and 11 candidate masters), 8 with two months of autogenic training and 8 controls: in competition the urinary lactate of the first group is 9.7 ± 0.4 per cent lower, and the technique explains 21.4 per cent of the variation in competition lactate, against 12.2 per cent in training, which is not significant. On urea its share is 1.25 per cent, not significant. The authors conclude that urinary lactate can be used to track the psychological state in competition: on the same archers as in 2024, a reading that runs against the claim.

    Biochemical Marker of the Monitoring of the Archer's Psychological Auto-Training · Mariya Sybil, Bohdan Vynogradskyi, Fedir Zahura, Marta Bura, Tetiana Matviichuk, Liliia Hula, Olha Pazychuk

  • 2025
    Context Archers Published later

    In the same study, before a shooting session urinary lactate sits between 1.0 and 1.2 mmol/L, at the top of the 0.8 to 1.2 reference range, and in competition it goes above it; urea stays above reference values (3.3 to 5.8 mmol/L) before and after the load, in training as in competition.

    Biochemical Marker of the Monitoring of the Archer's Psychological Auto-Training · Mariya Sybil, Bohdan Vynogradskyi, Fedir Zahura, Marta Bura, Tetiana Matviichuk, Liliia Hula, Olha Pazychuk

Status history

  1. 2024 Reported The first study arrives, on sixteen qualified Ukrainian archers aged nineteen to twenty-two: in the analysis of variance the physical load explains 80 per cent of the variation in urinary lactate and the psychological load 3.5, while urea is driven mostly by unmeasured factors, around 89 per cent. Before shooting, lactate sits at around one millimole per litre, as in a healthy person without excessive loads, and lactate and urea are not correlated with each other. Sixteen archers, a regional journal and p values reported in a form that cannot be interpreted: reported.
  2. 2025 Contested The same authors return to the same sixteen archers and look at the effect of two months of autogenic training, a technique for regulating tension: in competition the lactate of the group practising it is 9.7 per cent lower, and the technique explains 21.4 per cent of its variation, while in training its weight is not significant. The authors conclude that urinary lactate can be used to track the psychological state in competition. It is not a new sample, but it is the same sample read in a direction that runs against the claim, and the status moves to contested.

Related

Related articles

Research lines

Cite
APA

Campagna, M. (2026). In an archer's urine, lactate mostly follows the physical load and far less the tension of competition (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/health/urine-lactate-archer-load

BibTeX
@misc{campagna2026_marcatoriurinecarico,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {In an archer's urine, lactate mostly follows the physical load and far less the tension of competition},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/health/urine-lactate-archer-load},
  note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

Other claims in this domain

See all claims on health and recovery