ANAEROBIC CAPABILITY OF SOCCER PLAYERS WITH DIFFERING AEROBIC POWER LEVELS

Abstract

As contemporary soccer is played at a higher pace and intensity, players have to adapt to physical requirements of the game. Players with higher aerobic power levels seem to have relatively lower anaerobic power levels. Possessing low anaerobic capability in spite of a high aerobic power might be disadvantageous. We aimed to investigate anaerobic capabilities of soccer players with differing aerobic power levels. Two groups of soccer players with high (n = 19, 21.4 ± 2.3 years of age, VO2max = 63.7 ± 5.2 ml.min-1.kg-1) and low (n = 36, 23.0 ± 3.9 years of age, VO2max = 50.6 ± 3.2 ml.min-1.kg-1) mean aerobic power were compared in terms of their anaerobic power. Aerobic power was indirectly estimated via the Astrand cycle ergometer test, and anaerobic performance was evaluated by means of the Wingate anaerobic test and also by measuring 10-m and 30-m sprint times, clocked with optical sensors. Statistical analysis was done through unpaired t-testing. Peak anaerobic power scores of the group with high aerobic power were higher (p<0.01) than that of the group with low aerobic power. No significantly different figures were found for the 10-m and 30-m sprint times, peak power/kg body mass, total average power and average power/kg body mass parameters, between the two groups. We conclude that soccer players with high aerobic power levels may possess high anaerobic capability at the same time, which adds to their total physical performance capacity.