Aerobic fitness of elite soccer players linked to player positions


Date:
January 20, 2022
Source:
University of Waterloo
Summary:
Researchers have linked the fitness of elite soccer players to
the positions they play. The ability to make this assessment can
help coaches regulate individual training loads based on player
position, according to a recent study.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Researchers have linked the fitness of elite soccer players to the
positions they play.


==========================================================================
The ability to make this assessment can help coaches regulate individual training loads based on player position, according to a recent study.

The study found that all positions on a soccer pitch except centre
backs showed a strong association between aerobic power training and high-intensity performance.

"It is perhaps not surprising because centre backs cover less distance
and perform fewer power events than other field positions," said Matteo Masucci, a PhD candidate in Kinesiology and Health Sciences at the
University of Waterloo.

"Centre backs face the pitch and control the situation. They have a
slower pace and play more of a mental or tactical game. Midfielders
analyze everything in front and behind them and must react in both these directions. Strikers need to express maximal effort to get a shot off
at the right time." Researchers worked with data from 62 Italian Serie
A soccer players over a full season between 2014-15 and 2018-19 and
tested whether targeted treadmill training and lactate blood samples
from the players' earlobes properly assessed aerobic fitness -- the
overall amount of energy required to perform a high- power event like acceleration or deceleration.

"When paired with videos of on-field performance, our analysis showed that
the link between aerobic fitness and repeated high-intensity sequences
in a game varied with the position a soccer competitor played," said
Masucci, who is also a soccer coach.

It was found that during a 90-minute game, an elite soccer player can
make up to 1,400 activity changes and up to 200 short multidirectional high-intensity efforts, necessitating physical conditioning not only in
terms of speed but in movement pattern changes as well.

Previous studies have investigated the association between aerobic fitness
and soccer, but only in the speed category. Masucci said because of the acceleration and deceleration that elite soccer players must expend, as
well as the time it takes to recover from high-intensity sequences, it is
also important to study high-power events that are not related to speed.

"These findings mean that coaches can use lactate blood samples and
incremental treadmill assessments to provide valuable information about
soccer players," Masucci said. "Players who have a high metabolic power distance cut-off equal to or higher than 1,450 m for centre backs, 1,990 m
for full-backs, 2,170 m for midfielders and 1,670 m for forwards could be considered as having superior aerobic fitness. Therefore, when planning training and game strategy, coaches should consider these individual differences in physiological and physical performance." The study, Relationship between aerobic fitness and metabolic power metrics in elite
male soccer players, was led by Vincenzo Manzi (Universita` Telematica
Pegaso), and co-authored by Masucci, Giuseppe Annino, Cristian Savoia,
Giuseppe Caminiti, Elvira Padua, Rosario D'Onofrio and Ferdinando
Iellamo. It was published in the journal Biology of Sport.

special promotion Explore the latest scientific research on sleep and
dreams in this free online course from New Scientist -- Sign_up_now_>>> academy.newscientist.com/courses/science-of-sleep-and-dreams ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Waterloo. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Vincenzo Manzi, Giuseppe Annino, Cristian Savoia, Giuseppe Caminiti,
Elvira Padua, Matteo Masucci, Rosario D'Onofrio, Ferdinando Iellamo.

Relationship between aerobic fitness and metabolic power metrics
in elite male soccer players. Biology of Sport, 2022; DOI: 10.5114/
biolsport.2022.106389 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220120091205.htm

--- up 6 weeks, 5 days, 7 hours, 13 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)