High intensity efforts during competition in professional football

Abstract

The aim, of this work was to quantify the number and duration of the very high-speed running and sprinting events (VHSRS) and the recovery interval between them in 36 first and second division professional soccer players. The players were monitored through GPS devices during two official matches. The average duration of the EMAVS was 2.58 ± 0.44 seconds with an average interval between them of 107.07 ± 67.00 s. The mean heart rate (HR) during the EMAVS was 164.92 ± 12.39 p.p.m., reaching 85% of the maximum HR. No significant differences were found between the duration of the VHSRS, the intervals between them and the HR reached (p≤0.05 in all cases), with great individual variability. The use of the duration of the EMAVS, the recovery times and the HR reached during them, would be very useful to design the interval training in football.