The main purpose of this study was to show the importance of functional evaluation as a procedure used in the physiological control of pre-season physical training for professional soccer players. In a preliminary round aiming at the 1999 São Paulo soccer championship, 23 soccer players belonging to the Departament of Professional Soccer of Associação Portuguesa de Desportos were evaluated and then assembled in Aguas de Lindoia, a resort in São Paulo State, for a 16-day period. All of them were submitted a battery of tests comprising cardiorespiratory, metabolic, odontological, and lower limb isokinetic evaluation, as well as body fat and anaerobic power percentage by the Wingate test and field tests. These were the results and parameters evaluated: in the ventilatory threshold, 2 (VT2): VO2 = 49.09 ± 4.83 ml.kg-1.min-1;%VO2 = 82.7 ± 5.8; running speed = 12.8 ± 0.9 km.h-1; HR = 174 ± 9 bpm; in maximum exercise: V E BTPS = 137.3 ± 11.3 L.min-1; running speed = 17.6 ± 0.7 km.h-1; HR = 191 ± 8 bpm; VO2 peak = 59.28 ± 3.52 ml.kg-1.min-1; lactic acid = 10.5 ± 1.5 mM. Wingate test: peak power = 13.5 ± 1.1 w.kg-1; mean power = 10.1 ± 0.6 w.kg-1; fatigue index = 53.0 ± 7.7%; isokinetic test: angular speed at 60°S-1 right leg extension and flexion = 298 ± 72 and 198 ± 44 Nm, respectively; at 300° S-1 extension and flexion = 137 ± 32 and 121 ± 26 Nm, respctively. Angular speed at 60°S-1 left leg extension and flexion = 272 ± 62 and 185 ± 45 Nm, respectively; at 300° S-1 extension and flexion 138 ± 28 and 122 ± 27 Nm, respectively. The intensity of aerobic and anaerobic training was controlled in the field by measuring lactic acid. To this end, the authors used a portable measuring device. The body-building training was carried out at a 60% maximum charge for each exercise. The limber-up and swimming-pool exercises were exhaustively carried out by the soccer players. Each training session (morning and afternoon) lasted 120 minutes on average. Therefore, considering the short time designed for this phase of preparation, the importance of a multidisciplinary functional evaluation is even more justifiable, for, according to the results, it allows one to detect and correct possible deficiencies with an objectively-oriented soccer player training.
Physiological evaluation; Physical training; Pre-season; Soccer players; Sports Medicine
