A Pre-season Comparison of Aerobic Fitness and Flexibility of Younger and Older Professional Soccer Players

Abstract

Aerobic fitness and flexibility generally present age-related decreases, yet the influence of age on these variables in soccer players is still unknown. We obtained oxygen consumption (VO₂) and heart rate (HR) at 12 km · h^− 1, anaerobic threshold and maximum intensities, and athletes’ flexibility profiles using Flexitest (FLX). Pre-season data (2005–2011) from the 2 extreme age terciles (n=54) – YOUNGER (17–22 years old) and OLDER (27–36 years old) – of a group of 162 players from an elite Brazilian soccer club were compared. The effects of aging were also assessed by contrasting VO₂, HR and FLX linear regressions – slope and intercept – vs. age-predicted and reference values. The results were similar between the YOUNGER and OLDER terciles for VO₂max, at 62.7±6.1 vs. 63.2±6.2 mL · kg^− 1 · min^− 1, respectively (p=0.67), effect size (ES)=0.08, and for FLX, at 43±5.9 vs. 41±6.0, respectively (p=0.11, ES=0.34); the YOUNGER tercile exhibited higher values for HRmax than the OLDER tercile, at 194±8.1 vs. 189±8.8 b · min^− 1, (p<0.01, ES=0.59). Players in the OLDER tercile did not present an age-predicted decrease in VO₂max, whereas HRmax and FLX diminished with age as predicted. We conclude that, at least for these variables, younger and older players were effectively identical in their pre-season levels of conditioning.

Key words

sports - cardiopulmonary exercise testing - Flexitest - heart rate

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