Rest before a game? A light and targeted workout is better, according to a study by Mapei Sport
There are those who like to start the day by training early in the morning and those who need more time to wake up their body and mind when the alarm goes off. Regardless of your rhythms or your time preferences there is scientific evidence that training early in the morning can have positive effects on physical performance in the following hours.
The Morning Priming Exercise Strategy to Enhance Afternoon Performance in Young Elite Soccer Players study published in 2020 by the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance showed that carrying out moderate training (neither too long nor excessively intense) on the morning of the game is a well-established habit in the professional sport, not only does not affect the ability to express strength in the afternoon, but in some cases it can even facilitate it.
train in the morning: study
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Federico Donghi, Ermanno Rampinini, Andrea Bosio and Domenico Carlomagno of the Mapei Sport Research Center together with Maurizio Fanchiniat the time of the research in force at Sassuolo Calcio but currently athletic trainer at Rome with Josè Mourinhoit’s at Nicola Maffiuletti of the Schulthess Clinic in Zurich compared the effects of different morning “activation” exercise modalities on afternoon physical performance in young footballers. In the same research, to try to explain the mechanisms of the possible effects found, the hormonal and psycho-physiological responses associated with physical exercise were studied. In the course of the study, three types of morning exercise were compared: very intense exercise based on a series of repeated sprints (6×40 m), moderate exercise that maintained a certain level of intensity but lower than the previous one (4 × 12 fast half squats, 6 ladder speed exercises and 20m sprints) and absolute rest without doing any physical exercise.
A question of hormones
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In each condition, the researchers analyzed the concentration of testosterone and cortisol (two hormones that are very important for sports performance) in the players’ blood. In addition to hormone levels, many variables and physical qualities were measured in each condition, including body temperature, various types of subjective perceptions ranging from levels of fatigue to levels of motivation, strength and power of the legs, sprint speed and ability. to perform intermittent runs at high speed. The results showed that very intense morning exercise (repeated sprints) positively influenced the hormone levels of the players (higher testosterone), but it did not lead to a better physical performance in the afternoon (indeed in some cases higher levels of fatigue were observed). On the contrary, moderate exercise has positively influenced the afternoon physical performances also thanks to a more favorable psychophysiological state of the young players showing a lower perception of fatigue, an improvement in the ability to develop strength and endurance compared to the control situation. So to be quick on the pitch, we just have to set the alarm and move from the early hours of the morning, without exaggerating.
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