Abstract

The present study aimed to verify the quarantine's effects during a serious viral outbreak on the cardiovascular and performance associated with the Yo-Yo test in a sample of professional soccer players. 20 high-level soccer players (n = 20; age: 26 +/- 4 years-old; weight: 76.85 +/- 6.7 kg; height: 179 +/- 6 cm) participated in this study. The intermittent Yo-Yo test was performed pre- and post- COVID-19 quarantine in a random order. During each test, the soccer players' running performance outcomes were monitored using a portable 5-Hz GPS with a 100 Hz accelerometer and a paired t-test was conducted at a p-value of = 0.05. The main results demonstrated significant differences between pre- versus post-COVID-19 quarantine in the following variables: relative distance (161.7 +/- 5.9 > 141.1 +/- 33.8 m/min), maximal speed (18.7 +/- 0.9 > 18.2 +/- 0.6 km/h), acceleration (60 +/- 20 frequency > 52 +/- 16 frequency), deceleration (34 +/- 13 frequency > 27 +/- 6 frequency), sprints > 19 km/h [0.8 (0.2;3)% >0.5 (0;0.5)%], and in high intensity running distance [16.48 (2.68;41.64)m > 0.827 (0.164;3.0)m]. We concluded that COVID-19-related restrictions and quarantine COVID-19 demonstrated adverse effects on professional soccer players' Yo-Yo tests performance.