Abstract
The Wingate anaerobic test (WAnT) has been used extensively to evaluate performance in soccer, however, a comprehensive sport-specific normative database has not been available so far. Therefore, the main aim of the present study was to develop norms of the main indices of the WAnT with regards to age in soccer. A secondary aim was to examine the relationship of WAnT with two common field tests, 20 m sprint and vertical jump, and study the variation of this relationship by age and playing position. Hundred and ninety five male soccer players (age 18.1 ± 4.9 years) performed the WAnT, and a sub-sample of 190 soccer players (age 19.4 ± 5.1 years) performed 20 m sprint, squat (SJ) and countermovement jump (CMJ). Age was related very largely with peak power (R2 = 0.57) and mean power of the WAnT (R2 = 0.60) when they were expressed in W, and largely (R2 = 0.41 and R2 = 0.33, respectively) when they were expressed in W.kg−1, whereas it did not relate with fatigue index. After being adjusted for age, a relationship of SJ (B = 3.91, 90% CI: 2.49, 5.32; R2 = 0.26), CMJ (B = 3.59, 90% CI: 2.22, 4.95; R2 = 0.24) and 20 m sprint (B = −0.06, 90% CI: −0.10; −0.01; R2 = 0.19) with peak power of the WanT was observed. In summary, Ppeak and Pmean were related very largely to age, especially during adolescence, and percentile norms of these indices were developed for 1-year age groups from 11 to 21 years old and for a single adult age group (22–39 years old). These findings on the largest dataset of soccer players ever studied would be expected to offer a practical tool to the members of the sports medicine team (e.g., exercise physiologists, fitness trainers, and coaches) working with them.
Highlights
The Wingate anaerobic test (WAnT) has been a major laboratory test of short-term high-intensity performance in the field of soccer exercise physiology/exercise testing (Al-Hazzaa et al, 2001; Meckel et al, 2009)
The total sample was classified into 1 year age groups from 11 to 35 years to study the relationship of the WAnT with age and develop percentile norms
Age was related very largely with peak power (R2 = 0.57) and mean power of the WAnT (R2 = 0.60) when they were expressed in W, and largely (R2 = 0.41 and R2 = 0.33, respectively) when they were expressed in W.kg−1, whereas it did not relate with fatigue index (Figure 1)
Summary
The Wingate anaerobic test (WAnT) has been a major laboratory test of short-term high-intensity performance in the field of soccer exercise physiology/exercise testing (Al-Hazzaa et al, 2001; Meckel et al, 2009). This test has been shown to differentiate soccer players from athletes of other sports (Kalinski et al, 2002; Harbili, 2015; Jakovljevicet al., 2018). It discriminated soccer players with cerebral palsy from their healthy peers and general population, too (Yanci et al, 2016). To the best of our knowledge the largest existing dataset of WAnT included 457 male athletes of various sports including soccer players, age 18– 25 years old (Zupan et al, 2009), this dataset did not present classification of performance by sport
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