Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test performances within an entire football league during a full season

Abstract

The study examined Yo-Yo intermittent recovery level 2 (YYIR2) and submaximal YYIR1 test performances in 172 male semi-professional football players (age; 25.8 ± 4.1 years) representing all teams in a top league at pre-season, start-season, mid-season and end-season. YYIR2 performance was 847 ± 227 m (±SD) at pre-season and rose (P < 0.05) by 128 ± 113 m to 975 ± 205 m at start of season and further (P < 0.05) by 59 ± 102 m to 1034 ± 211 m at mid-season. Submaximal YYIR1 HR was 90.9 ± 4.2% HR_max at pre-season, which was higher (P < 0.05) than at start, mid and end of season (87.0 ± 3.9, 85.9 ± 4.1 and 87.0 ± 3.7% HR_max, respectively). Peak YYIR2 performance and minimum YYIR1 HR were 1068 ± 193 m and 85.1 ± 3.8% HR_max, respectively, with ~50% of the players peaking at mid-season. Top-teams and middle-teams had higher (P < 0.05) peak YYIR2 scores (1094 ± 205 and 1121 ± 152 m, respectively) than bottom-teams (992 ± 185 m). YYIR2 performance was 16% higher (P < 0.05) and YYIR1 HR was 1.4% HR_max lower (P < 0.05) for regular players than non-regular players at pre-season and remained lower (P < 0.05) throughout the season. Central defenders had poorer (P < 0.05) YYIR performances compared to other positional roles. In conclusion, YYIR performances are highly variable within a football league over a season and are influenced by league ranking, regularity of competitive play and playing position.

Keywords:

• Yo-Yo IR2 test performance
• submaximal Yo-Yo IR1 test
• heart rate
• playing position
• league ranking
• regular players

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the players, their coaches and clubs, as well as the cooperation and support of the Faroese Football Association (FSF). Moreover, the effort and technical assistance of Sigfridur Clementsen, Jógvan Martin Olsen, John Petersen, Álvur Hansen, Finnbjorn Zakariassen, Piotr Krakawski, Jón Pauli Olsen, Tony Paris, Eyðun Klakkstein, Oddbjørn Joensen, Eli Hentze, Kryztof Popzenski, Johan Nielsen and Pauli Poulsen during the testing procedure is highly acknowledged.