Cardiorespiratory capacity of five-a-side football players

Abstract

Introduction: Five-a-side football is adapted for visually impaired individuals and requires high aerobic and anaerobic demand. Objective: To evaluate the cardiorespiratory capacity of five-a-side football players and validate an indirect method for estimating this capacity. Methods: Sectional study with 8 visually impaired players and 7 sighted players. Tests included cardiopulmonary exercise testing (TCE) and 20m Shuttle Run. Results: Five-a-side players had lower VO2 peak, effort time and final speed in TCE, and worse performance in the Shuttle Run. The Shuttle Run showed moderate validity but overestimated VO2 compared to TCE. Conclusion: Five-a-side players have lower cardiorespiratory capacity than sighted players. The 20m Shuttle Run is not a valid method to estimate VO2 in this population.