Abstract Aims:

This study aimed to investigate the effects of aerobic exercise on the learning of a sports motor skill.

Methods:

Forty individuals were allocated to the Practice + Exercise Group (PEG) and for the Practice Group (PG). All participants practiced the underhand serve of the Volleyball; all of them were naïve regarding the motor task. The participants (age/ years: PEG: 21.7 ± 3.06, PG: 20.25 ± 1.95) performed a pre-test with five trials, an acquisition phase with fifteen blocks/ 5 trials each, a post-test with five trials, and a twenty-four hours retention test composted by five trials. The PEG was submitted to an aerobic exercise session immediately after the acquisition phase. It was provided by running around the sports court, for 20 minutes, with an intensity of 85% of the máx heart rate. The PG rest after the acquisition phase. The score and variable errors were the dependent variables. For the motor improvement during the practice, the Anova two way followed by Tukey posthoc test was run, for the retention test was used a T-test, an alpha of 5% was adopted.

Results:

All groups increased their score through the practice, with no significant difference between them. In the retention test, the PEG demonstrated better motor performance than PG; it may be related to improvements in the consolidation mechanisms induced by aerobic exercise.

Conclusion:

The aerobic exercise may be a neuromodulatory strategy to enhance the learning of complex motor skills.