Influence of bout duration on exercise demands during small-sided games in elite young football players

Abstract

Purpose: The aims of this dissertation were twofold: (i) to compare the exercise demands between two intermittent small-sided games (SSGs) and (ii) examine their temporal changes throughout SSGs repetitions, while controlling for exercise duration and relative space per players. Methods: Eight young male professional football players (age 16.3 ± 0.5 years) performed a 4v4 plus goalkeepers SSG under two intermittent formats: long bout (LB; 3 reps × 6 min) and short bout (SB; 6 reps × 3 min), separated for 2-min passive recovery. Pitch dimensions were (length 24m × width 17m) with relative space per-player of 51m2 in both formats. Exercise demands were recorded by using wearable 10-Hz global positioning system (GPS) technology and HR monitors. Results: Higher values of total distance, low intensity running (< 12 km·h-1), explosive distance (>1.2 m·s-2), accelerations frequency >2 m·s-2 and player load were observed during LB than SB (ES= 0.94, 0.95, 0.81 and 0.89, respectively; p<0.05). Similarly, peak heart rate was moderately higher during LB than SB (ES: 0.50; p= 0.001). Moreover, within-formats analyses revealed moderately higher decreases in peak and mean heart rate when compared the 2nd and 3rd bouts to the last 3 bouts during the SB format (ES=0.72, 0.53, respectively; p<0.05). Conclusions: LB intermittent SSG format can be prescribed to achieve high physical and physiological demands, while ensuring a workload maintenance across repetitions.