Selected articles: Research litterature see Pubmed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ Hoff J, Helgerud J.

. (2003) Physiological Considerations and Training for Soccer: New Developments. Invited review. Sports Medicine. In press. Wislff U, Castagna C, Helgerud J, Jones R, Hoff J. (2003) Maximal squat strength is strongly correlated to sprint performance in elite soccer players. British Journal of Sports Medicine. In press. Hoff J. (2003/4) Training and testing physical capacities for elite soccer players. Journal of Sport Sciences. In press Kemi OJ, Hoff J, Engen LC, Helgerud J, Wislff U. (2003) Soccer specific testing of maximal oxygen uptake. Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness. 43:139-144 Haaland E, Hoff J.(2003) Nondominant leg training improves the bilateral motor performance of soccer players. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sport, 13: 179-184 Hoff J, Wislff U, Engen LC, Kemi OJ, Helgerud J (2002) Soccer specific aerobic endurance training. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 36:218-221. Hoff J. Helgerud J (2003) Maximal strength training enhances running economy

and aerobic endurance performance. In: Football (Soccer) New Developments in Physical Training Research, Hoff J, Helgerud J (eds), NTNU, Trondheim, 39-51 Helgerud J, Kemi OJ, Hoff J. (2003) Pre-season concurrent strength and endurance development in elite soccer players. In: Football (Soccer) New Developments in Physical Training Research, Hoff J, Helgerud J (eds), NTNU, Trondheim. Helgerud J, Wislff U, Hoff J. Gender differences in strength and endurance of elite soccer players. In: Football (Soccer) New Developments in Physical Training Research, Hoff J, Helgerud J (eds), NTNU, Trondheim. Helgerud J, Wislff U, Engen L, Hoff, J. (2001) Aerobic endurance training improves soccer performance. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 33:11:1925-1931. Wislff U, Helgerud J, Hoff J. (1998) Strength and endurance of elite soccerplayers. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 30(3):462-467 Book: Hoff J, Helgerud J. (2002) Football (Soccer). New Developments in Physical Training Research. Trondheim: NTNU. ISBN 82-471-5115-4

NTNU, Medicine

International MASTER OF SCIENCE and PhD DEGREE in EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY/SPORT SCIENCES at NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, FACULTY OF MEDICINE The teaching and tutoring are in English. There are no tuition fees in this programme, but international students have to prove their ability to cover living costs before they can obtain a student visa to Norway. Application deadlines: 1 May, to Faculty of Medicine, NTNU, NO-7489 Trondheim, Norway for students from abroad.

For Norwegian students the application deadline is 1 June. The MSc degree in Exercise Physiology is a two-year full-time programme. Admission requirements to the MSc programme are a bachelors degree or an equivalent 3-year university orcollege education, normally with a major in Exercise Physiology, Sport Sciences, Exercise Science, Biology, Physiotherapy, Nursing, Biochemistry, Occupational therapy or similar fields.A firm foundation in human biology is required within the bachelors degree. The PhD programme is a 3-year full-time programme requiring a masters degree in a related field.

Hoff-Helgerud football endurance test

Jan Hoff and Jan Helgerud
Contact address: Jan.Hoff@medisin.ntnu.no / Jan.Helgerud@medisin.ntnu.no

The aerobic energy system contributes to more than 90% of the energy cost during a football match. The aerobic endurance performance consist of the three elements, maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max), running economy, and lactate threshold. Previous studies demonstrate a significant relationship between VO2max and both the distance covered during a game (ca. 10 km) and the number of sprints attempted by a player. The mean VO2max of elite soccer players is normally reported to be between 55-67 mLkg-1 min-1 with individual values greater than 70 mLkg-1min-1.

For training and testing of endurance performance and VO2max we have constructed a track suitable for running with the ball. Testing normally requires costly equipment and highly skilled physiologists. In this track an 8 minutes run with the ball will determine endurance performance (meters covered) which can be converted to VO2max with a standard error of estimate of 2.5 mLkg-1min-1.The correlation between 8 min running performance in meters in the track and VO2max is r = 0.87.

Conversion table from meters covered during 8 minutes run with the ball to maximal oxygen consumption. The standard error of the maximal oxygen uptake estimation is 2.5 mL kg-1 min-1.

HoffHelgerud test
meter

Maximal oxygen uptake

mLkg-1min-1

HoffHelgerud test
meter

Maximal oxygen uptake

mLkg-1min-1

1300 1320 1340 1360 1380 1400 1420 1440 1460 1480 1500 1520 1540 1560 1580

48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62

1600 1620 1640 1660 1680 1700 1720 1740 1760 1780 1800 1820 1840 1860 1880 1900

63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 sufficient if the training is not performed directly after other football training. A 3 minutes active break (activity equivalent to 70% of maximal heart rate) between the 4 minutes runs, burns most of the lactate produced. An average improvement of 0.5% in VO2max should be expected per training session, within the values showed in the table, when training twice a week. Maximal strength training using squats to 90 degrees in the knee joint and 4x4 reps with maximal mobilisation in the concentric movement after a short stop at the bottom and heavy loads improves not only sprint performance over 10-40m and jumping height, but also running economy and thus endurance performance.

Thanks to Kenny McMillan, Gunder Bengtsson, Kalle Bjrklund and the players in Celtic FC and Molde FC for their assistance in the data collection.

Training for endurance performance.

Our research has shown that an improvement of 5-6 mLkg-1min-1 in VO2max is followed by an improvement in distance covered through a match of 1500 to 2000m, a doubled number of sprints and 30% more involvement with the ball. Effective training for VO2max is 4x4 minutes run at 85-95% of maximal heart frequency (Maximal heart frequency is 5 to 10 beats higher than the highest read during the test). Heavy breathing, but little leg pain from accumulation of lactate also indicates the intensity. The intensity level takes 60 to 120sec to reach with a constant speed. A 10 minutes warm-up is

The track: Football specific dribbling track for training and testing endurance
performance and VO2max. Backwards running between A and B. Hurdles are only app. 20 cm high. The running path for the players in the track is for the test based on distances that are close to 300m for one round. The track is constructed for the players to reach VO2max. The correlation between 8 min running performance with the ball in meters in the track and VO2max is r = 0.87.