Metabolic and Cardiorespiratory Responses of Semiprofessional Football Players in Repeated Ajax Shuttle Tests and Curved Sprint Tests, and Their Relationship with Football Match Play

Tomasz Gabrys, Arkadiusz Stanula, Urszula Szmatlan-Gabrys, Michal Garnys, Luboš Charvát and Subir Gupta
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Tomasz Gabrys: Department of Physical Education and Sport Science, Faculty of Pedagogy, University of West Bohemia, 301 00 Pilsen, Czech Republic
Arkadiusz Stanula: Institute of Sport Science, The Jerzy Kukuczka Academy of Physical Education, Mikołowska 72A, 40-065 Katowice, Poland
Urszula Szmatlan-Gabrys: Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Rehabilitation, University of Physical Education, 31-571 Krakow, Poland
Michal Garnys: 4Sport Lab, Laboratory of Physical Preparation, 00-951 Warsaw, Poland
Luboš Charvát: Department of Physical Education and Sport Science, Faculty of Pedagogy, University of West Bohemia, 301 00 Pilsen, Czech Republic
Subir Gupta: Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of West Indies, Cave Hill 11000, Barbados

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 21, 1-13

Abstract: In this study, the Ajax Shuttle Test (AST) and the Curved Sprint Test (CST) were conducted on semiprofessional football players to evaluate (1) their test performance, (2) the extent of anaerobic glycolysis by measuring blood lactate, (3) performance decrement and onset of fatigue, and (4) the correlation between selected physiological variables and test performance. Thirty-two semiprofessional Polish football players participated in this study. Both AST and CST were conducted on an outdoor football ground and were conducted in two sets; each set had six repetitions. In the case of AST, the total duration for 6 repetitions of the exercise in Sets 1 and 2 were 90.63 ± 3.71 and 91.65 ± 4.24 s, respectively, whereas, in the case of CST, the respective values were 46.8 ± 0.56 and 47.2 ± 0.66 s. Peak blood lactate concentration [La] after Sets 1 and 2 of AST were 14.47 ± 3.77 and 15.00 ± 1.85 mmol/L, and in the case of CST, the values were 8.17 ± 1.32 and 9.78 ± 1.35 mmol/L, respectively. Performance decrement in AST was more than in CST, both after Set 1 (4.32 ± 1.43 and 3.31 ± 0.96 in AST and CST, respectively) and Set 2 (7.95 ± 3.24 and 3.71 ± 1.02 in AST and CST, respectively). Only in a few of the repetitions, pulmonary ventilation (V E ) and oxygen uptake (VO 2 ) were found to be significantly correlated with the performance of the volunteers in both AST and CST. Respiratory exchange ratio (RER) was significantly correlated with most of the repetitions of AST, but not with CST. The study concludes that (1) AST shows more dependence on the anaerobic glycolytic system than shorter repetitive sprints (as in CST), (2) there is more performance decrement and fatigue in AST than in CST, and (3) early decrease in performance and fatigue in the semiprofessional football players in AST and CST may be due to the insufficiency of their aerobic energy system.

Keywords: aerobic; performance decrement; fatigue; lactate; football (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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