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Uphill sprint vs. intermittent running in young soccer players: acute physiological responses

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to compare the acute effects of uphill repeated sprinting “with long recovery” (RS) and uphill intermittent running (IR) training on heart rate (HR) and blood lactate (BL) responses.

Methods

Thirteen young male soccer players randomly performed in two separate occasions, on a slope (10 %), an RS and an IR session. RS consisted of three sets of eight maximal uphill 20-m sprints with long (90 s) recovery between sprints, and 8 min passive rest between sets, whereas IR consisted of 24 repetitions of 22-m sub-maximal (95 % of maximum speed achieved in an incremental test) uphill runs interspersed by a 15-s downhill walking recovery, lasting for a total duration of 8 min.

Results

The mean HR, expressed as the percentage of HRMAX, was significantly higher in IR than in RS (86.1 ± 3.1 vs. 77.0 ± 4.5 %, respectively, p < 0.05). Conversely, BL measured after 3 min was significantly higher in RS (5.9 ± 1.1 mmol L−1) than in IR (2.9 ± 1.2 mmol L−1, p < 0.05).

Conclusions

The differences found between RS and IR may be attributed to the different work/recovery ratios and speed characteristics. Therefore, uphill IR seems more suitable when the target is to tax the aerobic system, while RS may be more suitable when the focus is on stimulating the speed without increasing the metabolic demand.

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Acknowledgments

This study was not supported by any sources of funding.

Conflict of interest

Gianfranco Ibba, Fabio Pizzolato, Rocco Di Michele, Marco Scorcu, Giuseppe Attene, Giorgos Paradisis, Pablo Anon, Karim Chamari and Johnny Padulo declare they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cagliari Calcio Spa, Cagliari, Italy

    Gianfranco Ibba & Marco Scorcu

  2. Department of Neurological and Movement Science, University of Verona, Verona, Italy

    Fabio Pizzolato

  3. Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Rocco Di Michele

  4. Faculty Medicine and Surgery, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy

    Giuseppe Attene

  5. Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Science, University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Giorgos Paradisis

  6. High Performance Sports Graduate Program, Faculty of Social Science, Lomas de Zamora National University, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Pablo Anon

  7. Athlete Health and Performance Research Centre, ASPETAR, Qatar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar

    Karim Chamari

  8. Tunisian Research Laboratory “Sports Performance Optimization” National Center of Medicine and Science in Sport, Tunis, Tunisia

    Johnny Padulo

  9. Laboratory of Physiology of Sport, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy

    Gianfranco Ibba

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  1. Gianfranco Ibba
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Correspondence to Johnny Padulo.

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Ibba, G., Pizzolato, F., Di Michele, R. et al. Uphill sprint vs. intermittent running in young soccer players: acute physiological responses. Sport Sci Health 10, 61–66 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-014-0174-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-014-0174-0

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