Eight weeks of autogenic training lower archers' urinary lactate in competition

The summary today

Only one research group, in Lviv, has asked the question: sixteen Ukrainian national-level archers split at random into two groups of eight, half doing ten to twelve minutes of autogenic training a day for two months and half training as usual. In competition the autogenic group had 9.7% less lactate in their urine than the controls, while in training there was no difference: the method accounted for 12.5% of the variation in training, not significant, and 21.4% in competition. The same experiment has been published twice, in 2024 and 2025, and the two papers count as a single study. The limits weigh more than the result. Eight archers per group, a urinary marker that depends on how much the archer has drunk and that does not appear to have been corrected for urine concentration, shares of variance that change from one analysis to the next, ethics committee approval dated May 2024, after the measurements had ended, and no shooting scores published: whether lower lactate means less stress, or better arrows, remains the authors' hypothesis. Urea, measured alongside, does not move.

Also phrased as: "autogenic training reduces competition stress"; "autogenic training and lactate"; "relaxation before competition and fatigue"; "urinary lactate as a marker of competition stress"

Evidence

• 2024
  For Archers Published later

  16 Ukrainian national-level archers (5 Masters of Sport and 11 Candidate Masters, aged 19-22), 8 doing autogenic training before every session for two months and 8 controls: in competition, after at least eight weeks, urinary lactate after the load was 9.7% (±0.4) lower in the experimental group; during training camps there was no difference. In the one-way analysis of variance the method accounts for 12.5% of the variation in lactate in training, not significant, and 21.4% in official competition.

  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 two-way analysis on the experimental group alone, the authors attribute 68.4% of the variation in lactate to autogenic training (68.2% in the conclusions) and 6.4% to psychological load, against the 21.4% of the one-way analysis: figures that cannot be compared with one another. They also report an improvement of 10 to 11 points in training in the experimental group, without showing the data.

  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
  For Archers Published later

  Second publication of the same experiment, with the same 16 archers and the same groups of 8: in competition urinary lactate 9.7% (±0.4) lower in the autogenic group (p<0.05) and a share of variance attributed to the method of 21.4%; in training a contribution of 12.2%, not significant. It counts once together with the 2024 paper. For the same training session the text also reports a 14.5% larger rise in lactate in the experimental group, but treats it as no effect.

  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

  Urinary urea rises after training in both groups with no difference between them, and the contribution of autogenic training to its excretion is 1.25% (±0.52), not significant in training or in competition: if the method changes anything, it does not change metabolism across the board.

  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

  The dose used: sessions of 10 to 12 minutes a day, 5 to 6 times a week, for 8 weeks before every training session, in three parts, namely relaxation, stillness and then, standing, mental rehearsal of the correct shot with eyes closed before each arrow.

  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 experiment appears: sixteen Ukrainian national-level archers aged nineteen to twenty-two, allocated at random to two months of autogenic training or to their usual training only, with lactate collected in urine before and after training sessions and competitions. In competition the trained group has 9.7% less lactate than the controls, while during training camps there is no difference: the method accounts for 12.5% of the variation in training, not significant, and 21.4% in competition. It is a single study, with eight people per group, an indirect outcome and a regional journal, so the evidence in favour is there and it is limited.
2. 2025 Reported The same group republishes the same experiment in another journal: sixteen archers, the same 9.7% reduction in competition, the same 21.4% share, and in training a contribution of 12.2% that does not reach significance. These are two papers on the same sample and they count once, so the status does not move. Two pieces of information are new: the dose, ten to twelve minutes a day on five or six days a week, and a null result, because urinary urea rises after training in both groups and autogenic training accounts for 1.25% of it.

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Research lines

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