Franco M. Impellizzeri, Piero Mognoni, Aldo Sassi, and Ermanno
Rampinini Introduction: Several studies have been highlighted
the importance of training aerobic capacity in order to optimise
or improve soccer performance (1). Indeed, VO2MAX has been shown
to be related to team level, ranking and distance covered during
a match (2, 3). Consequently, several field and laboratory tests
have been proposed to evaluate players’ aerobic fitness.
Usually, physiological assessments like VO2MAX, or field tests
like shuttle-run, require maximal effort and they are commonly
used to monitor longitudinal changes. However, maximal tests can
be strongly influenced by athletes’ motivation and they are
usually not well accepted by the subjects.In 1993 a submaximal
test for soccer players was proposed in Italy (4). The test
consist in a single run of 6 min duration at 13.5 km·h-1. In
this study, the final [La-] was linearly related to OBLA
velocity (r2= 0.91) measured in the same subjects during an
incremental test. Consequently