Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Serie A Soccer Players’ Physical Qualities

Ermanno Rampinini; Federico Donghi; Marco Martin; Andrea Bosio; Marco Riggio; Nicola A. Maffiuletti

doi:10.1055/a-1345-9262

International Journal of Sports Medicine, Inhaltsverzeichnis

Int J Sports Med 2021; 42(10): 917-923
DOI: 10.1055/a-1345-9262

Training & Testing

Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Serie A Soccer Players’ Physical Qualities

Ermanno Rampinini

¹Human Performance Laboratory, Sport Service Mapei Srl, Olgiate Olona, Italy

,

Federico Donghi

¹Human Performance Laboratory, Sport Service Mapei Srl, Olgiate Olona, Italy

,

Marco Martin

¹Human Performance Laboratory, Sport Service Mapei Srl, Olgiate Olona, Italy

²College of Human Sciences, Bangor University School of Sport Health and Exercise Sciences, Bangor, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

,

Andrea Bosio

¹Human Performance Laboratory, Sport Service Mapei Srl, Olgiate Olona, Italy

,

Marco Riggio

³U.S. Sassuolo Calcio, Sport Science, Sassuolo, Italy

,

Nicola A. Maffiuletti

⁴Schulthess Clinic, Human Performance Lab, Zurich, Switzerland

› Institutsangaben

Abstract

In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced most activities in Italy, including soccer, to cease. During lockdown, players could only train at home, with limited evidence regarding the effect of this period. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of COVID-19 lockdown on professional soccer players’ physical performance. Aerobic fitness and vertical jump were assessed before and after four periods in two different seasons: COVID-19 lockdown, competitive period before lockdown, competitive period and summer break of the 2016–2017 season. Linear mixed models were used to examine within-period changes and between-period differences in changes observed during COVID-19 lockdown and the three other periods. Within-period changes in aerobic fitness showed a significant improvement following COVID-19 lockdown (p<0.001) and a significant decline during summer break (p<0.001). Between-period differences were significant in the comparison of COVID-19 lockdown with both the competitive 2019–2020 season (p<0.01) and summer break (p<0.001). For the vertical jump, only the between-period comparison revealed significant differences as the changes associated with COVID-19 lockdown were worse than those of the two competitive periods, for both absolute (p<0.05; p<0.001) and relative peak power (p<0.01; p<0.001). Home-based training during lockdown was effective to improve aerobic fitness, although it did not allow players to maintain their competitive period’s power levels.

Key words

coronavirus - hometraining - field test - pandemic

Volltext

Referenzen

References
1 Stølen T, Chamari K, Castagna C. et al. Physiology of soccer: An update. Sports Med 2005; 35: 501-536
2 Harper DJ, Carling C, Kiely J. High-intensity acceleration and deceleration demands in elite team sports competitive match play: A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. Sports Med 2019; 49: 1923-1947
3 Svensson M, Drust B. Testing soccer players. J Sports Sci 2005; 23: 601-618
4 Silva JR, Brito J, Akenhead R. et al. The transition period in soccer: A window of opportunity. Sports Med 2016; 46: 305-313
5 Impellizzeri FM, Rampinini E, Marcora SM. Physiological assessment of aerobic training in soccer. J Sports Sci 2005; 23: 583-592
6 Casajús JA. Seasonal variation in fitness variables in professional soccer players. J Sports Med Phys Fitness 2001; 41: 463-469
7 Sassi A, Marcora SM, Rampinini E. et al. Prediction of time to exhaustion from blood lactate response during submaximal exercise in competitive cyclists. Eur J Appl Physiol 2006; 97: 174-180
8 Morgans R, Di Michele R, Drust B. Soccer match play as an important component of the power-training stimulus in Premier League players. Int J Sports Physiol Perform 2018; 13: 665-667
9 Haugen TA, Tønnessen E, Seiler S. Anaerobic performance testing of professional soccer players 1995–2010. Int J Sports Physiol Perform 2013; 8: 148-156
10 McMillan K, Helgerud J, Grant SJ. et al. Lactate threshold responses to a season of professional British youth soccer. Br J Sports Med 2005; 39: 432-436
11 Bekris E, Mylonis E, Gissis I. et al. Variation of aerobic performance indices of professional elite soccer players during the annual macrocycle. J Sports Med Phys Fitness 2019; 59: 1628-1634
12 Fessi MS, Zarrouk N, Filetti C. et al. Physical and anthropometric changes during pre- and in-season in professional soccer players. J Sports Med Phys Fitness 2016; 56: 1163-1170
13 Meckel Y, Doron O, Eliakim E. et al. Seasonal variations in physical fitness and performance indices of elite soccer players. Sports (Basel) 2018; 6: 14
14 Eirale C, Bisciotti G, Corsini A. et al. Medical recommendations for home-confined footballers’ training during the COVID-19 pandemic: From evidence to practical application. Biol Sport 2020; 37: 203-207
15 Sarto F, Impellizzeri FM, Spörri J. et al. Impact of potential physiological changes due to COVID-19 home confinement on athlete health protection in elite sports: A call for awareness in sports programming. Sports Med 2020; 50: 1417-1419
16 Jukic I, Calleja-González J, Cos F. et al. Strategies and solutions for team sports athletes in isolation due to COVID-19. Sports (Basel) 2020; 8: 56
17 Mohr M, Nassis GP, Brito J. et al. Return to elite football after the COVID-19 lockdown. Manag Sport Leis 2020; 1-9
18 Harriss DJ, MacSween A, Atkinson G. Ethical standards in sport and exercise science research: 2020 update. Int J Sports Med 2019; 40: 813-817
19 Sirtori MD, Lorenzelli F, Peroni-Ranchet F. et al. A single blood lactate measure of OBLA running velocity in soccer players. Med Sport (Roma) 1993; 43: 281-286
20 Impellizzeri FM, Mognoni P, Sassi A. et al. Validity of a submaximal running test to evaluate aerobic fitness changes in soccer players. J Sport Sci 2004; 22: 485-598 (Abstract 547)
21 Henderson MJ, Fransen J, McGrath JJ. et al. Individual factors affecting rugby sevens match performance. Int J Sports Physiol Perform 2019; 14: 620-626
22 Hopkins WG, Marshall SW, Batterham AM. et al. Progressive statistics for studies in sports medicine and exercise science. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2009; 41: 3-13
23 Fitts RH, Booth FW, Winder WW. et al. Skeletal muscle respiratory capacity, endurance, and glycogen utilization. Am J Physiol 1975; 228: 1029-1033
24 Laursen PB, Jenkins DG. The scientific basis for high–intensity interval training: optimising training programmes and maximising performance in highly trained endurance athletes. Sports Med 2002; 32: 53-73
25 Morin JB, Jiménez-Reyes P, Brughelli M. et al. When jump height is not a good indicator of lower limb maximal power output: theoretical demonstration, experimental evidence and practical solutions. Sports Med 2019; 49: 999-1006
26 Kons RL, Ache-Dias J, Detanico D. et al. Is vertical jump height an indicator of athletes' power output in different sport modalities?. J Strength Cond Res 2018; 32: 708-715
27 Narici M, De Vito G, Franchi M. et al. Impact of sedentarism due to the COVID-19 home confinement on neuromuscular, cardiovascular and metabolic health: physiological and pathophysiological implications and recommendations for physical and nutritional countermeasures. Eur J Sport Sci 2020; Epub ahead of print.
28 Bosquet L, Berryman N, Dupuy O. et al. Effect of training cessation on muscular performance: a meta-analysis. Scand J Med Sci Sports 2013; 23: e140-e149
29 Mujika I, Padilla S. Muscular characteristics of detraining in humans. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2001; 33: 1297-1303
30 Stokes KA, Jones B, Bennett M. et al. Returning to play after prolonged training restrictions in professional collision sports. Int J Sports Med 2020 41: 895-911
31 Cohen DD, Restrepo A, Richter C. et al. Detraining of specific neuromuscular qualities in elite footballers during COVID-19 quarantine. Sci Med Football 2020. Epub ahead of print. doi: 10.1080/24733938.2020.1834123
32 Myer GD, Faigenbaum AD, Cherny CE. et al. Did the NFL lockout expose the Achilles heel of competitive sports?. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2011; 41: 702-705