Aerobic profile during high-intensity performance in professional Saudi athletes

Abstract

Background and Objective: The aerobic power, expressed relative to body mass, of different Saudi elite players is one of the most important area of interest and with great values because of its restrictively that reported in the previously literatures, the present study was conducted to investigate the aerobic characteristics of Saudi elite, Saudi triathlon and soccer players and to compare between measures of aerobic power between both players using graded treadmill protocol to assess maximal cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2max), within a groups of high trained youth Saudi elite players. Materials and Methods: Twenty two professional Saudi athletes, 11 Saudi triathlon athletes, 11 Saudi soccer players were selected. Their Mean±SD for age, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), body fat mass (%), body fat free mass percentage, cardiovascular parameter, including, absolute and relative peak oxygen consumption "VO2max" and maximal heart rate "HR max". Data were analyzed using independent sample t-test and SPSS software. Results: Descriptive statistics for anthropometric characteristics were performed to compare between the means, independent sample. T-test showed mean value of absolute "VO2max" (3605.18±515.74), for triathlon athletes, while football players absolute VO2max, (3645.63±897.60) with non-significant different between the groups. Overall mean of peak training values was (3625.40 mL min-1), relative VO2max was appears to be (53.46±7.242) mL-1 min-1 kg-1, for triathlon athletes, while football athletes relative V02max has a mean value and ±SD of (52.35 ±6.342) mL-1 min-1 kg-1 with non-significant different between the groups. HR max was (157.90±8.167) beats min-1 for triathlon athletes, while football players HR max, was (139.18±6.646) beats min-’with non-significant difference between the groups. Conclusion: This clinical approaches that use Cardio Pulmonary Exercise Testing (CPET) in performance testing revealed that aerobic power, expressed relative to body mass, of Saudi soccer players was in the near range of values normally reported in the literatures for soccer players and triathletes during exercise training as well. Degrees of aerobic achievements during both exercise testing seems to be with non-significant different between Saudi soccer player and Saudi triathlon.