Agility and change-of-direction speed are two different abilities also during the execution of repeated trials and in fatigued conditions.

ABSTRACT

Agility and change of direction speed are two different abilities, but no study has investigated if this difference exists also in fatigued conditions, and whether fatigue develops in a different way in a repeated-trial scenario. Fourteen soccer players (age 17.0 ± 0.4 yrs; height 176.9 ± 6.5 cm; body mass 69.2 ± 6.4 kg) competing in a national-level youth league completed in a randomized counter-balanced crossover design a repeated agility protocol (RA) and a repeated change-of-direction one (RCOD), both consisting in performing 20 consecutive repetitions (workrest ratio 15). The 20 repetitions were divided into 4 blocks (each block containing 5 repetitions) for the analysis. Results show that agility and COD are two different abilities both in rest and fatigue conditions block 1 RA vs 1 RCOD (p < 0.001; ES = 2.02 huge; r = 0.17 poor; r2 = 0.03), 2 RA vs 2 RCOD (p < 0.001; ES = 2.3 huge; r = 0.51 fair; r2 = 0.26), 3 RA vs 3 RCOD (p < 0.001; ES = 2.38 huge; r = 0.54 fair; r2 = 0.29), and 4 RA vs 4 RCOD (p < 0.001; ES = 2.7 huge; r = 0.41 fair; r2 = 0.17). However, the fatigue development in both conditions was similar, with a percentage decrement score (Sdec) of 7.5% for RA, and 7.3% for RCOD. Ratings of perceived exertions (RPE) were similar too (7.3 ± 1.7, and 6.6 ± 1.9, for RA and RCOD, respectively). However, a significant fatigue-related performance impairment arose earlier in RA (block 2) than in RCOD (block 3). Total RA and total RCOD times were significantly different (p < 0.001; ES = 2.65 huge; r = 0.41 fair; r2 = 0.17), suggesting that they are two different and independent abilities.