In professional football the decline in high-intensity running activities from first to second half is more pronounced in players with a fast muscle typology

Abstract

Muscle typology is heterogeneous among national level football (soccer) players, but positional differences remain unclear. Furthermore, fast typology (FT) individuals fatigue more than slow typology (ST) individuals in lab conditions. Therefore, we investigated if muscle typology is different between playing positions and if the decay in high-intensity activities from the first to the second half is larger in FT football players than in ST players. We estimated muscle typology in 147 male professional football players by measuring soleus and gastrocnemius muscle carnosine via proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Players were classified as ST, intermediate typology (IT) or FT and categorized as goalkeeper, center back, full back, midfielder, winger or forward. Across four seasons in-game distances covered in multiple running speed, acceleration and deceleration zones were collected during the first and second half. We found no differences in muscle typology between positions (p = 0.412). FT players covered 10.9% more high acceleration distance (>3 m.s−2) in the first half than ST players (p = 0.021) and high acceleration distance decay was larger for FT players (−12.4%) than ST (−7.7%; p = 0.006) and IT players (−7.3%; p = 0.010). Moreover, the decline in distance covered in several high-intensity zones tended to be larger in FT players (−11.2% high-intensity >15 km.h−1; −12.7% high deceleration < p < 0.1). In conclusion, possessing a particular muscle typology is not required to play any football position at the national level. However, there are indications that FT players might fatigue more toward the end of the game compared to ST players.