Seasonal variation of aerobic capacity in elite soccer, basketball and volleyball players

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the seasonal changes of aerobic performance in elite male soccer, basketball and volleyball players during their annual training cycle. Therefore, three groups of Greek soccer (Group A), basketball (Group 13) and volleyball (Group Q male elite players, consisting of 12 subjects each were formed. The mean age and total training duration were 25.1 +/- 5.3yrs and 9.9 +/- 4.4yrs, 25.6 +/- 4.9yrs and 8.7 +/- 4.8yrs, 24.0 +/- 4.9yrs and 1 1.6 +/- 5.1 yrs for groups A, B and C, respectively. All groups were submitted to spiroergometric study at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the season. Groups A and B presented significant increase in maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) values in the middle (59.8 +/- 4.1 and 55.2 +/- 5.2ml.kg(-1).min(-1)) and at the end of the season (57.6 +/- 4.7 and 56.1 +/- 4.8 ml.kg(-1).min(-1)) in comparison to the beginning (52.4 +/- 5.3 and 49.8 +/- 4.0 ml.kg(-1).min(-1)), respectively (p<0.05). Group C showed significantly increased VO2max values only in the middle (51.5 +/- 2.6 ml.kg(-1).min(-1)) compared to the beginning (47.0 +/- 3.5 ml.kg(-1).min(-1)) and the end of season (47.5 +/- 4.7ml.kg(-1).min(-1)) (p<0.05). VO2max values differed significantly between groups A, B and C in the beginning and in the middle of the season (p<0.05). In conclusion, soccer, basketball and volleyball elite players present significant variation in aerobic capacity during their annual training season. It seems that the physiological demands of each court game in combination to the training plan for increased performance according to the targeted goals, specify the level of aerobic capacity.