Boullosa, Daniel A., Nakamura, Fabio Y., Abreu, Laurinda, Crespo-Sánchez, Rubén, Domínguez, Eduardo, and Leicht, Anthony S. (2012) Pre-season training and cardiac autonomic indices in elite Spanish soccer players. In: Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise: American College of Sports Medicine 59th Annual Meeting and 3rd World Congress on Exercise is Medicine (44(5S) Supplement 2) 692. S26-S26. From: ACSM 2012: American College of Sports Medicine 59th Annual Meeting and 3rd World Congress on Exercise is Medicine, 29 May - 2 June 2012, San Francisco, CA, USA.

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Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate changes in performance and cardiac autonomic control (i.e. heart rate [HR] variability [HRV]) in elite soccer players during their pre-season training regime.

Methods: Eight Spanish Premier League soccer players were examined at the first (week 1) and the last week (week 8) of the pre-season period (July-September). Nocturnal HR recordings on 4 days per week were averaged to evaluate the weekly HRV. Players also completed the Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test level 1 (Yo-Yo IR1) for the assessment of specific fitness.

Results: During the pre-season period, there was no significant change (4.5 ± 23.9%) in Yo-Yo IR1 performance (2,475 ± 421 vs. 2,600 ± 786 m, p=0.55), while there was a significant decrement (6.3 ± 4.3%) in maximal HR (HRmax) recorded during the test (191 ± 7 vs. 179 ± 8 bpm, p = 0.004). Over the 8-week pre-season, significant increases in the standard deviation of the long-term continuous HRV (SD2) (174 ± 56 vs. 212 ± 53 ms, p = 0.017), and in the standard deviation of all HR intervals (SDNN) (135 ± 50 vs. 163 ± 41 ms, p = 0.023) were noted. No significant correlations were identified between Yo-Yo IR1 and HRV measures at week 1. In contrast, Yo-Yo IR1 performance was significantly correlated with SDNN (r =0.89, p=0.007) and SD2 (0.92, p=0.003) at week 8. Greater values in HRV at week 1 were substantially associated with lower HRV changes at the end of pre-season (r values ranged from -0.79 to -0.98, p< 0.05). Furthermore, HRV changes were significantly correlated with decreases in HRmax during the pre-season (r values from 0.83 to 0.94, p<0.05).

Conclusions: The current results confirm that despite minimal changes in specific fitness (i.e. Yo-Yo IR1), pre-season training significantly improved various HRV indices in elite soccer players with greater changes evident for those with lower initial HRV levels. Nocturnal HRV may provide an important monitoring tool for identification of cardiovascular function changes in top-class soccer players during pre-season regimes.

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