THE EFFECT OF RELATIVE AGE ON THE IDENTIFICATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF SPORTS TALENT
The effect of relative age refers to the difference in skills between people who have been grouped for a particular purpose or function based on age.
The hamstring muscle is very important in sports such as football. Not only because this muscle is key to sprinting, but also because hamstring muscle injuries are the most frequent kind of injuries. For professional teams, these injuries also result in players being unavailable for competition over the course of many days. Nordic ham curls are a form of eccentric exercise that has become very popular, especially for its ability to reduce injury risk. However, there is little evidence that demonstrates their influence on improvements in speed.
To test this theory, a multidisciplinary group of researchers and coaches – including Marc Guitart, from F.C. Barcelona – carried out a research study which analysed the influence of this type of exercise when it was introduced into the training routine of different teams. The conclusions are somewhat counter-intuitive but clear: improvements in strength do not directly translate into improvements in sprinting ability. The article was published in the open access journal Plos One.
A wide-reaching and surprising study
The study analysed 50 reserve team players from three different teams, who were monitored for 15-17 weeks, almost half a season. One team followed their usual training program. The other two teams incorporated a progressive routine based on Nordic ham curls, which consist of “the player having their knees held in place on the ground by a teammate and letting themselves fall forward while keeping the body straight and controlled. This descent through a controlled knee extension assumes an eccentric activation of the hamstring musculature”, explains Guitart. The difference between the latter two teams was that one team had already incorporated these exercises during their previous season, so it was simply a continuation of an established routine.
After the experimental period, the ability to sprint over various distances was analysed, as well as the strength developed as a result of these eccentric exercises. It was found that the group that had incorporated the exercises for the first time did experience an increase in strength, both at an absolute level as well as relative to their body mass. However, improvements in speed for this group were not greater than those registered among the control group, which followed its usual routine. As for the team that had already started practising this type of exercise the previous season, strength increased relative to body mass, but not absolute strength. Furthermore, although this team progressed somewhat more in their ability to sprint over 20 meters, this improvement was not related to the gain in relative strength.
Conclusions, applications and future studies
“With this study our aim was to examine how the application of a Nordic-type strength exercise would affect football players’ sprinting ability”, summarizes Guitart, “and the conclusion is that there is no direct relationship”. These results contradict two previous studies that did find a link, but both of these studies were smaller in scope and were carried out over a shorter period of time.
Nevertheless “there is a lot of research that shows that this type of exercise is useful for the prevention of muscle injuries”, adds Guitart. This study revealed that players with previous experience implementing this kind of training barely improved their strength, surely because the load depends on their own body mass, which is practically invariable. Hence, the researchers propose using different stimuli over time, such as using rotational inertia devices, for example.
And the research doesn’t end there. “Now we are focusing on more multidisciplinary studies rather than on a specific exercise”, explains Guitart. “Above all, we are analysing how to control load and its complexity in terms of exercise, both in strength work as well as optimizing exercises on the pitch”, he concluded.
The Barça Innovation Hub team
RELATED NOTES
DO FOOTBALL PLAYER’S MENTAL ABILITIES INFLUENCE THE RISK OF INJURY?
Mental abilities, although not yet fully appreciated, are already considered a relevant part of performance. But their importance could go beyond that: Do they also influence the injury risk, including recurrence, once the player returns to play?
INJURY TYPE IN HANDBALL MAY VARY BY POSITION, CATEGORY AND MATURATION OF PLAYERS
Although several studies have tried to evaluate the characteristics of the risk of injury in handball players, they have been unable to reach sufficiently reliable conclusions. A new study of all the FC Barcelona handball categories has attempted to shed more light on the subject.
HOW PHYSICAL DEMANDS ON FOOTBALL PLAYERS VARY BY THEIR POSITION
Although there are several studies on this topic, many of them have analyzed these demands by looking at just a few variables or using very broad timeframes. A new study completed by physical trainers from F.C. Barcelona has analyzed several of these details more closely.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CONNECTIVE TISSUE IN MUSCLE INJURIES
An article published in The Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine —in which members of the club’s medical services participated— now suggests to consider the detailed structure of the area affected, and treating the extracellular matrix as an essential player in the prognosis of the injury.
WHAT IS LOAD MANAGEMENT REALLY ABOUT?
In this article, Tim Gabbett and his team provide a user-friendly guide for practitioners when describing the general purpose of load management to coaches.
TWO WEEKS ARE ENOUGH TO INCREASE MUSCLE VOLUME AND STRENGTH
For the first time, it has been demonstrated that it does not take months of training to significantly improve both muscle volume and strength; instead, two weeks of an appropriate exercise are enough.
ECCENTRIC EXERCISES: STUDYING “VACCINES” FOR MUSCLES
Training using eccentric exercises is important to prevent possible damage. However, intensive training can also cause muscle damage, so it is critical to be vigilant in order to keep injury risk to an absolute minimum.
THE LEVEL OF RESISTANCE AS A MODERATOR OF THE TRAINING LOAD
Cardiovascular endurance manifests as a moderator of the load result to which the athlete is exposed.
Are the players well positioned in relation to the ball?
Through the use of computer vision we can identify some shortcomings in the body orientation of players in different game situations.
DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE?
- SUBSCRIBE
- CONTACT
- APPLY
KEEP UP TO DATE WITH OUR NEWS
Do you have any questions about Barça Universitas?
- Startup
- Research Center
- Corporate