Evaluation of the peak velocity using carminatti's test (t-car) at the beginning and at the end of a pre-season in second division football players

Introduction and aim: The pre-season is essential for developing the athlete's physical capabilities, especially aerobic power. However, its results are not always measured. We aimed to evaluate the effect of the pre-season on the aerobic power, analyzed by the peak velocity (PV) obtained through an incremental field test. Materials and methods: Twelve male athletes (age: 21.8 +/- 3.3 years old; height: 178.5 +/- 7.1 cm; weight: 70.1 +/- 5.9 kg; body mass index: 22.0 +/- 1.8 kg/m(2)) from the professional category (2nd division of Brasilia) performed a progressive intermittent test (Carminatti's test) in the beginning and at the end of the pre-season to measure the PV. Data are presented as mean +/- standard deviation. The initial and final PV were compared using the paired t Test and the effect size (ES) - Cohen's d. The smallest worthwhile change was used to analyze the athlete's improvement individually. Results: A significant moderate increase of the PV was observed at the end of pre-season, compared to the start of the pre-season (15,3 +/- 1,0 km/h vs 14,7 +/- 0,8 km/h; p= 0,002; TE: 0,7). Individually, 25.0% of the athletes had an improvement considered large (>0.91 km/h), 16.7% had a moderate improvement (>0.45 km/h), 33.3% had a small improvement (>0.15 km/h), and 25.0% had changes that were too small to be considered meaningful (<= 0.15 km/h). Conclusion: The PV significantly increased at the end of the pre-season; however, responses were very heterogeneous. A part of the athletes had meaningful improvement, while others had non-significant changes.