Three-, four- and five-day microcycles: the normality in professional football

Gualtieri, Antonio, Vicens-Bordas, Jordi, Rampinini, Ermanno, Ferrari-Bravo, Duccio and Beato, Marco (2024) Three-, four- and five-day microcycles: the normality in professional football. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance. ISSN 1555-0265 (In Press)

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Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to quantify training and match day (MD) load during three-, four- and five-day microcycles in professional adult football, as well as analyzing the effect of the microcycle length on training load produced the day after the match (MD+1) and the day before the match (MD-1).
Methods: The study involved 20 male professional football players whose external and internal load were monitored for a whole season. Training exposure (EXP), total distance covered (TD), high-speed running distance (HSR), sprint distance (SD), individual sprint distance above 80% of the individual maximum velocity (D>80%), number of accelerations (ACC) and decelerations (DEC) were quantified as well as rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and session training load (sRPE-TL).
Results: Microcycles length affected most of the variables of interest: HSR (F = 9.04, p < 0.01), SD (F = 13.90, p < 0.01), D>80% (F = 20.25, p < 0.01), accelerations (F = 10.12, p < 0.01) and decelerations (F = 6.01, p < 0.01). There was an interaction effect between training day and microcycle type for SD (F = 5.46, p < 0.01), D>80% (F = 4.51, p < 0.01), accelerations (F = 2.24, p = 0.06) and decelerations (F = 3.91, p < 0.01).
Conclusions: Coaches seem to be influenced by shorter microcycles in their training proposal, preferring sessions with a reduced muscle impact during shorter microcycles. Independently by the length of the congested fixture microcycle, the daily load seems to decrease when MD approaches.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: team sports, soccer, GPS, monitoring, congested fixture
Subjects: Q Science > QP Physiology
Divisions: Faculty of Health & Science > Department of Science & Technology
Depositing User: Marco Beato
Date Deposited: 20 May 2024 08:42
Last Modified: 20 May 2024 08:42
URI: https://oars.uos.ac.uk/id/eprint/3753

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