Seasonal variation in the physiological profile of high-level male field hockey players

Objectives: To measure the physiological profiles of elite players and observe changes throughout a season in order to provide guidelines for training. Secondly, investigate whether recent rule changes have had an impact on the physiological demands of match play. Material and Methods: Nine English premier division male field hockey players participated in this study (mean ±s: age 24±4 years, body mass 80.8±5.2 kg and height 181.8±3.9 cm). Three treadmill exercise tests were performed at pre-season (T1), at the start of the competitive season (T2) and at mid-competitive season (T3), to determine the running velocity at a blood lactate concentration of 4 mmol·l^-1 (V_OBLA), individual HR: V̇O ₂ regressions, V̇O_2peak, peak running speed (PRS) and time to exhaustion. Results: There were increases (p<0.05) between T1 and T2 in V̇O_2peak (54.0±6.3 to 60.1±7.6 ml·kg ^-1·min^-1) and PRS (18.2±1.7 to 19.1±1.7 km·h^-1). V_OBLA increased from T2 to T3 (15.1±1.7 to 15.8±1.4 km·h^-1, p<0.05) and time to exhaustion increased from T1 to T3 (30.3±8.0 s to 33.0±5.9 s). The subjects' mean responses to competition match play were; heart rate 167±8 beats·min^-1, V̇O₂ 42.8±6.3 ml·min^-1·kg^-1 and a fractional utilisation of 80±7 %. Conclusions: The high levels of aerobic fitness observed are consistent with the demands of the games. However, there were significant changes in fitness over the course of a training year. Recent rule changes do not seem to alter the physiological demands of match play.