The Seasonal Variations in Anthropometric and Performance Characteristics of Elite Intercounty Gaelic Football Players

Kelly, RA, and Collins, K. The seasonal variations in anthropometric and performance characteristics of elite inter county gaelic football players. J Strength Cond Res 32(12): 3475–3482, 2018—There is limited research assessing the anthropometric and performance variations in elite Gaelic football. The aim of this study was to assess the anthropometric and performance characteristics of an elite intercounty squad within a season. After ethical approval and informed consent, 26 participants were assessed at the start of preseason (November), after early in-season (January), and midseason (March). Measurements included stature, body mass, sum of 8 skinfold sites (ΣSkf8), estimated body fat percentage (bf%), squat jump (SJ) and countermovement jump (CMJ), 5-, 10-, and 20-m sprint times, upper body and lower-body strength (1 repetition maximum), and Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test 2 (Yo-Yo IR2). A multivariate analysis of variance was used to determine seasonal and positional variations. Anthropometric variations were observed with an overall increase in participants' body mass and a concomitant decrease in ΣSkf8 and bf% (−21.5%, p = 0.002, η2 = 0.15; −1.43%, p = 0.004, η2 = 0.13). Performance variations showed improvements in sprint time over 5-m (p = 0.001, η2 = 0.19) and 10-m (p = 0.008, η2 = 0.11), SJ (p = 0.013, η2 = 0.1), CMJ (p = 0.013, η2 = 0.1) height and Yo-Yo IR2 (p

Source: Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research - November 27, 2018 Category: Sports Medicine Tags: Original Research Source Type: research