Alterations of cardiorespiratory and motor profile of paralympic 5-a-side football athletes during 14-week in-season training

The aim of this study was to characterize the cardiorespiratory and motor performance characteristics of blind 5-a-side footballers from the Brazilian Paralympic Team. Seven male athletes were evaluated at before and after 14-week in-season training (weekly volume between 6.5 hours to 10.8 hours), through cardiorespiratory fitness test, Agility test (5x10), Running-based Anaerobic Sprint Test (RAST) and Standing Long Jump Test (SLJT). The VO2max ranged from 51.9 (±3.8) to 54.3 (±5.0) mL.kg-1.min-1.VO2 at ventilatory threshold ranged from 48.4 (±4.4) to 41.1 (±6.8) mL.kg-1.min-1. Heart rate at ventilatory threshold ranged from 94.7 (±2.3) to 89.9 (±3.7) bpm. Regarding motor performance the values of medium Power Output ranged from 442 (± 63) to 421.9 (±66) Watts and Fatigue Index ranged from 63.1 (±9.4) to 53.9 (±14.8) W/s. Overall, our results show that while the performance of these athletes is inferior to that of professional players, their cardiorespiratory and motor performance is superior to that typical of semi-professional futsal athletes and, this study which can potentially suggest and contribute to the prescription of future training programs.