Running Speeds at Ventilatory Threshold and Maximal Oxygen Consumption Discriminate Futsal Competitive Level

Pedro, RE, Milanez, VF, Boullosa, DA, and Nakamura, FY. Running speeds at ventilatory threshold and maximal oxygen consumption discriminate futsal competitive level. J Strength Cond Res 27(2): 514–518, 2013—We tested the hypothesis that maximal oxygen uptake and ventilatory threshold (VT), and their respective speeds (SV[Combining Dot Above]O2max and SVT) could discriminate the competitive level of futsal players. The outfield players of a high-level Brazilian professional futsal team (N = 9; age 22.6 ± 4.2 years; body mass 70.6 ± 6.4 kg; height 174.3 ± 6.0 cm), and a semiprofessional team (N = 11; age 17.2 ± 0.8 years; body mass 70.4 ± 6.5 kg; height 175.0 ± 4.0 cm), volunteered for participation in this study. Subsequently, they were evaluated during an incremental treadmill test for the determination of cardiorespiratory variables, SV[Combining Dot Above]O2max, and SVT. Both teams exhibited a similar body mass and V[Combining Dot Above]O2max (p = 0.542 and p = 0.427), whereas the SV[Combining Dot Above]O2max and the SVT were significantly higher in the professional team (p = 0.001 and p = 0.030, respectively). Additionally, the professional team exhibited both lower HR at VT (p = 0.046) and HRmax (p = 0.002). However, the %HRmax at VT did not differ between groups (p = 0.912). These results remained similar after adjusting for the age differences between groups (p = 0.106). It was concluded that both SV[Combining Dot Above]O2max and SVT were sensitive for detecting differences in the competitive level of futsal players, whereas V[Combining Dot Above]O2max and VT were not.