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Seasonal Variations in Physical Fitness and Performance Indices of Elite Soccer Players

The aim of the study was to investigate seasonal variations in fitness and performance indices of professional male soccer players. Eighteen professional male soccer players (age range 22–32 years) completed three similar sets of tests at three stages of the season: before preseason; after preseason...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Meckel, Yoav, Doron, Ofer, Eliakim, Eyal, Eliakim, Alon
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5969193/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29910318
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/sports6010014
Descripción
Sumario:The aim of the study was to investigate seasonal variations in fitness and performance indices of professional male soccer players. Eighteen professional male soccer players (age range 22–32 years) completed three similar sets of tests at three stages of the season: before preseason; after preseason and the middle of the competitive in-season. A significant decrease in body mass and percent fat was found during the preseason. A significant improvement (p < 0.05) was found in the vertical jump (preseason: 37.0 ± 5.3, post-preseason: 39.0 ± 4.8, mid-season: 40.3 ± 5.5 cm), the 4 × 10-m agility test (preseason: 8.1 ± 0.2, post-preseason: 7.9 ± 0.2, mid-season: 8.1 ± 0.3 s), flexibility (preseason: 45.2 ± 8.8, post-preseason: 48.2 ± 7.0, mid-season: 49.9 ± 6.9 cm) and aerobic capacity (preseason: 52.7 ± 6.6, post-preseason: 56.4 ± 6.0, mid-season: 57.4 ± 5.4 mL/kg/min) during preseason, with no further change during mid-season. Repeated sprint test (RST) (6 × 30-m) performance indices showed significant deterioration (p < 0.05) in ideal sprint time (IS; preseason: 21.8 ± 1.0, post-preseason: 23.0 ± 0.8, mid-season: 23.2 ± 0.8 s) and total sprint time (TS; preseason: 22.5 ± 0.7, post-preseason: 23.5 ± 0.6, mid-season: 23.8 ± 0.6 s) during preseason, with no further changes during mid-season. However, performance decrement (PD) significantly decreased during the preseason with no change during mid-season. The findings suggest that while power training was probably responsible for the anaerobic fitness improvement, the high-volume training led to improvement in aerobic fitness during the preseason. However, the low-intensity aerobic-type training, coupled with the high total training load, may have led to fatigue and decreases in IS and TS during the preseason.