ABSTRACT
Introduction
The coinciding of month of Ramadan with international basketball competitions could affect players’ performance.
Objective
This field investigation examined the impacts of a basic training program in small-sided games and repeated sprint ability during intermittent fasting for Ramadan (R) and one month after Ramadan (AR) [control month] on body composition, agility and lower limb power.
Methods
Sixteen basketball players (age, 23.4±2.3 years) performed two training programs [small-sided games (SSG) and repeated sprint ability (RSA)] during R and AR, interrupted by fifteen days of total recovery. The players were randomly allocated to two groups (GSSG, n=8 and GRSA, n=8). Body composition, agility T test, squat jump (SJ) test, countermovement jump (CMJ) test and five-jump (FJT) test performances were measured on four occasions: before R (P1) and at the end of R (P2),as well as before AR (P3) and at the end of AR (P4).
Results
The results showed that body mass (BM), body mass index (BMI) and body fat (BF %) decreased significantly at the end of R for both groups (all p < 0.001). Moreover, the performances in the agility T test, SJ test, CMJ test and FJT test improved significantly at the end of R for both groups (p<0.001 and p<0.01). Also, by comparing R with the control month, we recorded significantly better agility and FJT performances in the R month (p < 0.001).
Conclusions
This study indicated that Ramadan combined with RSA and SSG training may improve agility and lower limb power, enabling coaches and physical trainers to choose between these two training modalities, depending on the training objectives. Level of evidence II; Diagnostic Studies - Investigating a diagnostic test.
Training; Physical performance; Body composition
