Effect of Energy Intake on Performance in Soccer Players during Game-style Exercise

Yasuaki Saho, Yuki Endo, Masaki Ohira, Tomohiro Ogai, Yasufumi Furuhata and Toru Fukubayashi

[Received July 14, 2017; Accepted May 22, 2018] 

It is well known that energy intake can delay fatigue and maintain performance in soccer players.Many studies showed the effect of energy intake on performance using soccer-match simulationprotocols. However, the simulation protocols include no physical contacts among players which cause certainly fatigue in players. Therefore, we consider that the effect of energy intake on performance is overestimated. In this study, we evaluated the practical effect of energy intake on performance in soccer players using a designed game-style exercise. Sixteen male collegiate soccer players (age: 20.7 ± 0.7 years; height: 171.5 ± 5.4 cm; body mass: 66.8 ± 7.0 kg; percent body fat:11.4 ± 2.5%) performed soccer game. Test foods, the mixture of carbohydrate and amino acids (180 kcal), or control foods (19 kcal) were ingested before 1st and 2nd half of soccer game. Subsequently, Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test (Level 2) was conducted as performance test. As a result, the subjects ingested test foods showed significantly higher scores in the Yo-Yo test compared to those ingested control foods (870 ± 55 m vs. 760 ± 59 m, respectively, p < 0.05). The result demonstrates the practical effect of energy intake on the performance in soccer game.

Keywords: soccer performance, energy intake, game-style exercise

[Football Science Vol.15, 10-17, 2018]


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