Journal of Exercise Physiology in Special Populations

The effect of fartlek exercises on some parameters of fatigue, muscle damage and performance of soccer players

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Mohaghegh Ardabili University

2 shahid madani university

3 Department of Sports Physiology, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology,University of Mohaghegh Ardabili , Ardabil. Iran

4 Ph.D student of exercise physiology, Department of Exercise Physiology, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran

Abstract

Purpose:The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the effect of fartlek training on some parameters of fatigue, muscle damage and performance of soccer players.
Methods: 30 young men aged 20-30 years with a body mass index of 22 (kg/m2) and a maximum oxygen consumption of 53(ml/kg/min) football players of League One of Tabriz, Iran, were selected to participate in this research and randomly divided into two experimental groups. and control were divided.The first group consists of 15women of basketball players which have been active for about 4 years in the basketball team and the second group consisted of 15 people of inactive women of this city which had not regular exercises. In equal conditions, examinees performed Broth exhaustive exercise protocol and saliva samples were collected before and immediately after Broth test. Within-group data and between-group data were analyzed with the paired t-test and ANCOVA‌test, respectively.
Results: The mean of lactate and lactate dehydrogenase in the post-test in the experimental group was lower than the control group (p ≤ 0.05). Lactate levels in the post-test decreased by 15.4% compared to the pre-test and lactate dehydrogenase levels decreased by 9.45% to 11.4% in the experimental group.A significant decrease in the fatigue index and a significant increase in the maximum oxygen consumption and anaerobic capacity of the experimental group were observed (p≤0.05). The fatigue index also decreased by16.45% in the experimental group.
Conclusion: Fartlek exercises reduce fatigue and muscle damage and improve some physical fitness capabilities in football players.

Keywords

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Journal of Exercise Physiology in Special Populations
Volume 2, Issue 3
September 2026
Pages 1-14