Pre-match Warm-Up Dynamics and Workload in Elite Futsal.

Nuno Silva,João Brito,Bruno Travassos,Bruno Gonçalves,Eduardo Abade

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.584602

Abstract

Warming up prior to competition is a widely accepted strategy to increase players’ readiness and achieve high performances. However, pre-match routines are commonly based on empirical knowledge and strongly influenced by models emerging from elite team practices. The aim of the present study was to identify and analyze current pre-match warm-up practices in elite futsal. Forty-three elite players were analyzed during their pre-match warm-up routines during the Portuguese Futsal Cup Final 8. Warm-up tasks were classified according to duration, type of activity, sequence, and structure. External load variables included the total distance covered, total distance covered per minute, running distance per minute, sprinting distance per minute, number of accelerations per minute, and number of decelerations per minute. Results highlighted that warm-up routines lasted for 27.5 ± 9.2 min and included nine major different tasks. Open-skill activities were prioritized by coaches; competitive and non-competitive futsal-specific tasks were included in 90% of the total warm-up routines, with higher focus on non-competitive tasks (68% of total time). The intensity progressively increased during warm-ups, mainly because of the higher number of accelerations and decelerations per minute. Pre-match warm-up routines strongly endorse futsal-specific and representative tasks in order to establish pre-match settings able to prepare players for the upcoming game. When designing pre-match warm-up routines, coaches should be aware that duration, sequence, and type of tasks may affect players’ acute performance and readiness.

Highlights

Futsal is a complex and dynamic team sport requiring players to combine decision-making processes and intermittent high-intensity actions such as sprints and changes of direction (BarberoAlvarez et al, 2008)
post-activation potentiation (PAP) is strongly related to the enhanced central activity of the motor neurons (Tillin and Bishop, 2009), spinal cord reflex activity, and phosphorylation of the myosin chain (Smith and Fry, 2007), which leads to an increase in the sensitivity of the myofilaments to Ca2+ (MacIntosh, 2003)
Post-activation performance enhancement (PAPE) occurs when a high-intensity voluntary conditioning contraction leads to enhancement of subsequent involuntary muscular performance without confirmatory evidence of classical PAP (Cuenca-Fernandez et al, 2017)

Summary

Introduction

Futsal is a complex and dynamic team sport requiring players to combine decision-making processes and intermittent high-intensity actions such as sprints and changes of direction (BarberoAlvarez et al, 2008). Pre-match warm-up plays an important role in order to help players to cope with these demands and support acute performance potentiation. Pre-match Warm-Up in Futsal that may be key to improve players’ readiness and potentiate neuromuscular performance before training or competition. Under the scope of performance potentiation, neuromuscular function appears to be acutely increased when preceded by maximal or submaximal efforts (Wilson et al, 2013), a phenomenon known as post-activation potentiation (PAP). Post-activation performance enhancement (PAPE) occurs when a high-intensity voluntary conditioning contraction leads to enhancement of subsequent involuntary muscular performance without confirmatory evidence of classical PAP (Cuenca-Fernandez et al, 2017)

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Methods

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Discussion

Conclusion