Sport Sci Health (2012) 8:95100 DOI 10.

1007/s11332-012-0133-6

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Aerobic and anaerobic capacity of adult and young professional soccer players
Luca Angius Sergio Olla Marco Pinna Roberto Mura Elisabetta Marongiu Silvana Roberto Francesco Piras Francesco Corona Raffaele Milia Filippo Tocco Alberto Concu Antonio Crisafulli

Received: 3 October 2012 / Accepted: 4 October 2012 / Published online: 15 November 2012 Springer-Verlag Italia 2012

Abstract While VO2max has been widely investigated, there is few research on anaerobic capacity (AC) in soccer players. Previous studies reported that AC is age-dependent and that young individuals had lower AC compared with adults. Thus, we wondered whether AC would have proven more useful than VO2max in differentiating adult soccer players from young players. A total of 37 male athletes from a professional team were recruited and divided into two sub-groups: the adult (AD, n = 20) group, older than 19 years, and the young (YO, n = 17) group, ranged from 16 to 18 years. Each participant underwent an incremental test on a treadmill to assess maximal velocity (Vmax), anaerobic threshold (AT) and VO2max and a supramaximal exercise at a velocity 10 % higher than Vmax to measure AC. The AD group reached higher AT and VO2max with respect to the YO group (55.23 4.65 vs. 51.48 4.73 mL min-1 kg-1), whereas no difference was found in parameters related to the AC. In conclusion, young soccer players had the same AC as adult, but they displayed a lower VO2max. These ndings indicated that AC in professional players is fully developed already when they are young while aerobic capacity is still to be developed.
L. Angius S. Olla M. Pinna R. Mura E. Marongiu S. Roberto R. Milia F. Tocco A. Concu A. Crisafulli (&) The Department of Medical Sciences, Sports Physiology Laboratory, University of Cagliari, Via Porcell 4, 09124 Cagliari, Italy e-mail: crisafulli@tiscali.it R. Mura F. Piras Cagliari Calcio, Cagliari, Italy F. Corona Regional School of Sport of Sardinia, Italian Olympic Committee, Cagliari, Italy

Keywords Aerobic evaluation Anaerobic evaluation Elite athlete performance Exercise physiology Physiological assessment of performance

Introduction Soccer is a team sport that requires the ability to perform high-intensity intermittent exercise [1]. More than 90 % of a soccer game is performed by aerobic metabolism, with an average intensity around the anaerobic lactate threshold [2]. In the light of these facts, the physiological demands of soccer likely require players to be competent in both aerobic and anaerobic capacity [3]. Actually, players maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) is routinely assessed since this variable is recognised to be crucial for a good performance [3]. Moreover, improvements in VO2max have been reported to correlate with improvements in training [4]. As far as the anaerobic metabolism is concerned, recent research has focused on certain tests such as repeated sprint ability, sprint capacity, and muscle power [3, 57], whose outcome is supposed to be related to both alactic and lactic anaerobic capacity. Furthermore, blood lactate (BLa) concentration has been reported to reach high levels during a match, with peak values over 12 mmol L-1 frequently measured. Moreover, after a game muscle glycogen stores may be depleted by approximately 8590 %, thereby highlighting the important role of anaerobic glycolysis as an energy supply mechanism in this sport [1, 8]. Notwithstanding this evidence, surprisingly there are few research on anaerobic capacity (AC) in soccer players. Some authors used fast uphill running or 5 min of maximal running, while others employed bicycle sprint test in order to study the AC in these athletes, obtaining results 1020 % higher than those of untrained controls [3]. An alternative

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Sport Sci Health (2012) 8:95100 Table 1 Demographic characteristics of the young (YO) and the adult (AD) groups YO group (n = 17) Age (years) Height (cm) Body mass (kg) 16.24 0.75 176.18 4.52 64.35 6.32 AD group (n = 20) 24.1 3.74 181.4 5.87 75.2 5.51 P value \0.05 \0.05 \0.05

approach to recruit the AC is to perform supramaximal exercise, which is a strain of short duration performed at an intensity higher than that required to elicit maximal oxygen uptake. This kind of effort is usually achieved in many sport activities such as basketball, volleyball, tennis, baseball, and soccer to name only a few [2, 9]. It was found that during exercise of supramaximal exercise the anaerobic energy sources are recruited [2, 10, 11]. Hence, this kind of effort probably represents a valid tool to study athletes AC. It has been reported several times that AC is agedependent and that young individuals show different responses to short-term exercise when compared with adults [1215]. In particular, young persons have lower AC compared with adults. Thus, we wondered whether a supramaximal test able to recruit AC would have been more useful than the classic VO2max test in differentiating adult elite soccer players from young players who had still to develop the specic AC adaptations required by soccer. This information could be useful to plan specic training programs and/or to discriminate athletes with good AC. To the best of our knowledge, none has investigated on this topic up to the present. Taking into account the above considerations, we devised this investigation with two aims: (a) to develop a specic test to characterise the anaerobic capacity of elite soccer players and (b) to compare the VO2max and the anaerobic capacity between adult and young elite soccer players from the same team. Our hypothesis was that a test able to recruit the athletes anaerobic capacity could show greater difference between adult and young players than the classical VO2max test.

Values are mean SD

performed according to the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the local ethics committee. Experimental procedures VO2max test Each participant underwent an incremental exercise test on `, Italy) to a motorised treadmill (Runrace, Technogym, Forl assess anaerobic threshold (AT) and VO2max. After 3 min of sitting on a bench to gather baseline data, the athlete in study performed an incremental test which consisted of a linear increase in running velocity of 1 km h-1 every min, starting at a speed of 8 km h-1, up to exhaustion, which was taken as the exercise level at which the athlete was unable to maintain the running speed. This velocity was considered as the maximum velocity (Vmax). Achievement of VO2max was considered as the attainment of at least two of the following criteria: (1) a plateau in VO2 despite increasing speed (\80 mL min-1), (2) a respiratory exchange ratio (RER) above 1.10 and (3) a heart rate 10 beats min-1 of predicted maximum heart rate (HR) calculated as 220-age [16]. The VO2max was calculated as the average oxygen uptake (VO2) of the last 15 s of exercise, when we also calculated the VO2max indexed per body mass (VO2 kg-1), maximum carbon dioxide production (VCO2max) and HRmax. The anaerobic threshold was determined using the V-slope method, which detects AT using computerised regression analysis of the slopes of VCO2 versus VO2 plot during exercise [17]. AC test On a separate day from the VO2max test (the interval ranged from 7 to 14 days), athletes performed an AC test, consisting of a resting period of 3 min sitting on a bench to collect baseline data, followed by a 10 min warm-up running at a speed 10 % lower than the speed of the AT previously determined during the VO2max test. At the end of the warm-up, the running speed was gradually increased (in 60 s) to a velocity of 10 % higher than Vmax (VACtest) until exhaustion. Time to exhaustion (TE) was assessed. VO2max and HRmax were calculated in the last 15 s of exercise.

Methods Subjects 37 male athletes from a team of the Italian Serie A championship were recruited and divided into two subgroups on the basis of their age: the adult (AD) group, which comprised 20 athletes more than 19 years (range 1932), and the young (YO) group, which included 17 athletes ranging from 16 to 18 years. Goalkeepers of the team were excluded. Mean values standard deviation (SD) of anthropometric characteristics of both groups are shown in Table 1. None had any history of cardiac or respiratory disease or was taking any medication at the time of the study. All participants exercised regularly at the time of the study (10 and 12 h a week for the YO and the AD group, respectively) and were in the middle of the competitive time of the season. Each athlete was informed about the purpose and the methods of the study and gave the written informed consent. This investigation was

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Moreover, blood samples were obtained with a nger prick and blood lactate (BLa) concentration was measured at rest, at the end of running, and at the 3rd and the 5th min of recovery using a portable lactate analyser (Lactate Pro, Arkray Inc., Kyoto, Japan) [18], to nd out the peak lactate concentration (BLapeak). The anaerobic capacity was dened as the product TE 9 BLapeak. The mean excess of carbon dioxide production (CO2excess) during 5 min of recovery following the AC test was also assessed to obtain a further index of anaerobic capacity [1921]. The CO2excess was calculated as follows CO2excess V CO2 RERrest V O2 ; where RERrest is the RER at rest [19]. The rationale behind the use of CO2excess as an index of lactate accumulation lies in the fact that at tissue pH, lactic acid dissociates and produces H? which is buffered by HCO3- and other cell buffers. The amount being buffered by HCO3- leads to H2CO3 production which in turn dissociates in H2O and CO2 [17, 21]. In this way, an excess of CO2 (CO2excess) is produced and it is superimposed on the CO2 normally deriving from aerobic metabolism. Throughout the VO2max and the AC tests athletes wore a portable metabolic system (MedGraphics VO2000, St. Paul, MN, USA) for pulmonary gas exchange and HR collection. This system is able to provide a three-breath average of variables through telemetric transmission and it has been demonstrated to be reliable and to have a good agreement compared to a standard metabolic cart for laboratory use [22, 23]. This device weighs about 1.2 kg and includes the metabolic unit, battery pack, harness, chest belt for heart rate monitoring, face mask, and breathing valve. It is worn on the subjects chest with a harness, without limiting the athletes movements. Prior to testing, the VO2000 was calibrated according to the manufacturers instructions. Tests were conducted between 03.00 and 07.00 p.m. in a temperature-controlled room (room temperature set at 22 C, relative humidity at 50 %). During both the VO2max and the AC test the treadmill inclination was set at a gradient of 1 % to compensate for the lack of air friction [24]. Athletes were strongly verbally encouraged to give maximal effort throughout tests. Statistical analysis Data are presented as mean SD. The normality assumption was checked using the KolmogorovSmirnov test. The a level was set at P \ 0.05. Differences between groups in VO2max, VO2 kg-1, VCO2max, HRmax, Vmax, velocity at anaerobic threshold (Vat) obtained from the VO2max test and VO2max, VCO2max, HRmax, TE, BLapeak, TE 9 BLapeak, CO2excess, VACtest obtained from the AC test were studied by means of the unpaired t test. Signicance

was set at P \ 0.05. Statistics were calculated employing a commercially available software (Graph-Pad Prism).

Results All the players completed the protocol and everyone fullled the selected criteria for VO2max achievement in the VO2max test. Table 1 shows the physical characteristics of the AD and YO groups. On average, the adults were taller and heavier than the younger participants. Figure 1 is relative to the data from the VO2max test and it shows that the AD group reached higher absolute and indexed VO2max values in comparison with the YO group (panels a and b). In detail, adult participants showed a mean VO2max level of 55.23 4.65 mL min-1 kg-1, whereas young athletes had a VO2max of 51.48 4.73 mL min-1 kg-1. Figure 1 also shows that the AD group achieved a higher VCO2max than the YO group (panel c), whereas the YO group had a higher HRmax (panel d). Moreover, Fig. 1 (panels e and f) shows that adults exhibited higher Vmax (17.7 0.8 vs. 16.29 1.16 km h-1) and VAT level than young participants (15.4 1.27 vs. 13.88 1.05 km h-1). Figure 2 depicts results from the AC test. Panel a demonstrates that in this test the AD group was able to achieve higher absolute VO2max levels in comparison with the YO group. However, this assertion was not true in terms of indexed VO2max (53.61 4.84 vs. 52.29 5.44 mL min-1 kg-1 for the AD and the YO groups, respectively; P [ 0.05). Figure 2 also shows that in response to the AC test the AD group had higher VCO2max and VACtest values with respect to the YO group (panels b and d, respectively), whereas young athletes reached higher HRmax levels (panel c). Finally, no difference was detected in any of the anaerobic capacity indexes taken into account in the present investigation (i.e. TE, BLapeak, TE 9 BLapeak, and CO2excess, panels e, f, g, and h, respectively).

Discussion One of the purposes of this study was to investigate on the anaerobic capacity of elite soccer players using a supramaximal running test able to recruit this energy supply system. The test was developed considering similar previous experiences using the cycle-ergometer, which reported that supramaximal cycling till exhaustion at workloads ranging from 110 to 150 % of the maximum workload achieved in a precedent VO2max test, was capable to recruit athletes anaerobic capacity and to yield high level of BLa accumulation [10, 11, 25]. Thus, taking into account these previous experiences, we used a

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98 Fig. 1 Maximum values of oxygen uptake (VO2max, a), indexed oxygen uptake (VO2 kg-1, b), carbon dioxide production (VCO2max, c), heart rate (HRmax, d), velocity (Vmax, e), and velocity at anaerobic threshold (VAT, f) during the incremental test in the young (YO) and the adult (AD) groups. Values are mean SD. *P \ 0.05 between groups

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supramaximal running test in order to stress the anaerobic capacity of soccer players. Actually, after the AC test athletes reached on average a Blapeak of about 12.5 mmol L-1, without any detectable difference between groups. This level is not far away to what reported by Ekblom [1], in 16 national elite soccer players. This author measured a mean BLa concentration of 14.2 mmol L-1 after a test devised to study players anaerobic capacity (i.e. 5 min maximal running test on a treadmill). Moreover, the Blapeak level we found after the AC test was in line with the peak BLa reported during real games, when values above 12 mmol L-1 have been frequently measured [1]. The second and perhaps more important aim of the present investigation was to compare parameters of aerobic and anaerobic capacities between adult and young elite soccer players to test the hypothesis that the greater difference between groups could be detected in anaerobic rather than in

aerobic capacity. On the basis of the results of the present research this hypothesis should be rejected since no differences between groups have been detected in any of the studied parameters related to anaerobic capacity (i.e. TE, BLapeak, TE 9 BLapeak, and CO2excess). This nding appears to indicate that the anaerobic capacity is fully developed already when soccer players are young. An alternative explanation could be that a high anaerobic capacity is not an essential players characteristic to perform at high level in soccer. Rather, soccer probably requires a well-developed ability to recover after high-intensity intermittent bouts of exercise that do not stress maximally the anaerobic capacity. The sprint duration in soccer has been in fact reported to be commonly shorter than 6 s [8, 26], a duration probably too short to recruit the anaerobic capacity. In this regard, it is important to underlie that from the outcomes of the present study it appeared that the most

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Sport Sci Health (2012) 8:95100 Fig. 2 Maximum values of oxygen uptake (VO2max, a), carbon dioxide production (VCO2max, b), heart rate (HRmax, c), velocity (VACtest, d), time to exhaustion (TE, e), blood lactate peak (Blapeak, f), anaerobic capacity index (TE 9 Blapeak, g), and excess of carbon dioxide production (CO2excess, h) during the supramaximal test in the young (YO) and the adult (AD) groups. Values are mean SD. *P \ 0.05 between groups

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striking difference between groups was in aerobic variables as the VO2max of the AD group was higher than that of the YO group both in terms of absolute and indexed values, thereby demonstrating that adult elite soccer players had higher aerobic capacity than young players. Moreover, AD

players showed higher Vmax and VAT, which indicated that AD players relied on the aerobic metabolism more than YO athletes while running. This fact is in accordance with the concept that the aerobic metabolism plays a crucial role in sport activities

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Sport Sci Health (2012) 8:95100 8. Spencer M, Bishop D, Dawson B, Goodman C (2005) Physiological and metabolic responses of repeated-sprint activities. Sports Med 35(12):10251044 9. Crisafulli A, Melis F, Tocco F, Laconi P, Lai C, Concu A (2002) External mechanical work versus oxidative energy consumption ratio during a basketball eld test. J Sports Med Phys Fit 42(4):409417 10. Crisafulli A, Tocco F, Pittau G, Lorrai L, Porru C, Salis E, Pagliaro P, Melis F, Concu A (2006) Effect of differences in postexercise lactate accumulation in athletes hemodynamics. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab 31(4):423431 11. Hargreaves M, McKenna MJ, Jenkins DG, Warmington SA, Li JL, Snow RJ, Febbraio MA (1998) Muscle metabolites and performance during high-intensity, intermittent exercise. J Appl Physiol 84(5):16871691 12. Boisseau N, Delamarche P (2000) Metabolic and hormonal responses to exercise in children and adolescents. Sports Med 30(6):405422 13. Gaul CA, Docherty D, Cicchini R (1995) Differences in anaerobic performance between boys and men. Int J Sports Med 16(7):451455 14. Kaczor JJ, Ziolkowski W, Popinigis J, Tarnopolsky MA (2005) Anaerobic and aerobic enzyme activities inhuman skeletal muscle from children and adults. Pediatr Res 57(3):331335 ger E, Scheele K, Mayer D, Diehm K, Reischle K, 15. Wirth A, Tra Weicker H (1978) Cardiopulmonary adjustments and metabolic response to maximal and submaximal physical exercise of boys and girls at different stages of maturity. Eur J Appl Physiol 39(4):229240 16. Howley ET, Bassett DR, Welch HG (1995) Criteria for maximal oxygen uptake: review and commentary. Med Sci Sports Exerc 27(9):12921301 17. Beaver WL, Wasserman K, Whipp BJ (1986) A new method for detecting anaerobic threshold by gas exchange. J Appl Physiol 60:20202027 18. Mc Naughton LR, Thompson D, Philips G, Bakx K, Crickmore L (2002) A comparison of the Lactate Pro, Accusport, Analox GM7 and Kodak Ektachem lactate analysers in normal, hot and humid conditions. Int J Sports Med 23(2):130135 19. Anderson GS, Rhodes EC (1998) A review of blood lactate and ventilatory methods of detecting transition thresholds. Sports Med 8(1):4355 20. Crisafulli A, Vitelli S, Cappai I, Milia R, Tocco F, Melis F, Concu A (2009) Physiological responses and energy cost during a simulation of a Muay Thai boxing match. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab 34(2):143150 21. Hirakoba K, Maruyama A, Misaka K (1993) Effect of acute sodium bicarbonate ingestion on excess CO2 output during incremental exercise. Eur J Appl Physiol 66(6):536541 22. Byard AD, Dengel DR (2002) Validity of a portable metabolic measurement system. Med Sci Sports Exerc 34:S149 23. Olson TP, Tracy JE, Dengel DR (2003) Validity of a low-ow pneumotach and portable metabolic system for measurement of basal metabolic rate. Med Sci Sports Exerc 35:S143 24. Jones AM, Doust JH (1996) A 1 % treadmill grade most accurately reects the energetic cost of outdoor running. J Sport Sci 14(4):321327 25. Crisafulli A, Tangianu F, Tocco F, Concu A, Mameli O, Mulliri G, Caria MA (2011) Ischemic preconditioning of the muscle improves maximal exercise performance but not maximal oxygen uptake in humans. J Appl Physiol 111(2):530536 26. Mohr M, Kunstrup P, Bangsbo J (2003) Match performance of high-standard soccer players with special reference to development of fatigue. J Sports Sci 21(7):519528 27. Gaitanos GC, Williams C, Boobis LH, Brooks S (1993) Human muscle metabolism during intermittent maximal exercise. J Appl Physiol 75(2):712719

involving repeated bouts of short-duration supramaximal exercise since it allows the aerobic re-synthesis of substrates previously consumed by the anaerobic metabolism, thus facilitating the recovery between bouts. Moreover, previous studies report that while aerobic contribution to a single, short-duration exercise bout is relatively small, there is an increasing aerobic contribution when bouts are repeated [8, 20, 27]. Accordingly, to this point of view there is a nding that VO2max has been found capable of differentiating soccer players with different abilities and also useful in detecting improvements with training [3]. Another result of the present study was that AD ran at higher maximal speeds than YO players, thus conrming that speed is a very important component in soccer and that coaches should try to develop this ability in the young players to cope with adult soccer capacities. In conclusion, young soccer players seem to have the same anaerobic capacity as adult elite athletes. However, young players show lower VO2max, anaerobic threshold, and maximum speed than adults. Taking into account the results of the present investigation, we suggest that training programs of young soccer players should point at developing the aerobic metabolism and running capacities to cope with adult soccer players abilities.
Acknowledgments This study was supported by the University of Cagliari, the Italian Ministry of Scientic Research, and the National Olympic Committee of Italy. The authors wish to thank the Cagliari Calcio Team, Dr. Marco Scorcu, Dr. Francesco Todde, Dr. Gianfranco Ibba of the Cagliari Calcio Medical staff. Conict of interest The authors do not have conicts of interest that are relevant to the content of the manuscript.

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