Exercise and Sports Sciences Graduate Program, Gama Filho University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Int J Sports Med. 2012 Nov;33(11):867-72. doi: 10.1055/s-0032-1311597. Epub 2012 Jun 15.
Aerobic fitness and flexibility generally present age-related decreases, yet the influence of age on these variables in soccer players is still unknown. We obtained oxygen consumption (VO(2)) and heart rate (HR) at 12 km · h (- 1), anaerobic threshold and maximum intensities, and athletes' flexibility profiles using Flexitest (FLX). Pre-season data (2005-2011) from the 2 extreme age terciles (n=54) - YOUNGER (17-22 years old) and OLDER (27-36 years old) - of a group of 162 players from an elite Brazilian soccer club were compared. The effects of aging were also assessed by contrasting VO(2), HR and FLX linear regressions - slope and intercept - vs. age-predicted and reference values. The results were similar between the YOUNGER and OLDER terciles for VO(2max), at 62.7 ± 6.1 vs. 63.2 ± 6.2 mL · kg (- 1) · min (- 1), respectively (p=0.67), effect size (ES)=0.08, and for FLX, at 43 ± 5.9 vs. 41 ± 6.0, respectively (p=0.11, ES=0.34); the YOUNGER tercile exhibited higher values for HRmax than the OLDER tercile, at 194 ± 8.1 vs. 189 ± 8.8 b · min (- 1), (p<0.01, ES=0.59). Players in the OLDER tercile did not present an age-predicted decrease in VO(2max), whereas HRmax and FLX diminished with age as predicted. We conclude that, at least for these variables, younger and older players were effectively identical in their pre-season levels of conditioning.
有氧适能和灵活性通常随年龄增长而下降，但足球运动员的这些变量受年龄的影响仍不清楚。我们使用 Flexitest（FLX）获得了 12km·h-1 时的耗氧量（VO2）和心率（HR）、无氧阈和最大强度，以及运动员的灵活性特征。对来自巴西一家精英足球俱乐部的 162 名球员中 2 个极端年龄三分位数（n=54）的季前数据（2005-2011 年）进行了比较，这 2 个年龄三分位数为 YOUNGER（17-22 岁）和 OLDER（27-36 岁）。还通过对比 VO2、HR 和 FLX 线性回归的斜率和截距与年龄预测值和参考值，评估了衰老的影响。在 VO2max 方面，YOUNGER 三分位数和 OLDER 三分位数的结果相似，分别为 62.7±6.1 和 63.2±6.2 mL·kg-1·min-1（p=0.67），效应量（ES）为 0.08，在 FLX 方面，YOUNGER 三分位数和 OLDER 三分位数的结果相似，分别为 43±5.9 和 41±6.0（p=0.11，ES=0.34）；YOUNGER 三分位数的 HRmax 值高于 OLDER 三分位数，分别为 194±8.1 和 189±8.8 b·min-1（p<0.01，ES=0.59）。OLDER 三分位数的球员在 VO2max 方面没有出现年龄预测的下降，而 HRmax 和 FLX 则如预测的那样随年龄增长而下降。我们得出结论，至少在这些变量方面，年轻和年长的球员在赛季前的身体状况方面实际上是相同的。
