Force na measure certain

Physiologist investigates interaction between technical, tactical and physical aspects in women's football

Force na measure certain

Physiologist investigates interaction between technical, tactical and physical aspects in women's football

Can muscle strength contribute to the outcome of a football match? What is the right amount of strength training before decisive matches? Physiologist Ronaldo Kobal de Oliveira Alves Cardoso's work with high-performance female football players, both on the Corinthians team and the Brazilian national team, motivated him to develop a training protocol that has debunked the paradigm “no pain, no gain” – spread throughout the world fitness –, according to which a good workout should lead the subject to exhaustion. In opposition to this, the researcher defends the motto “no pain, more gain” (no pain, more gain), because, just like in the case of a medicine, the effect of strength training depends on this training being administered in the right dose.

Based on this principle, Cardoso developed his doctoral thesis at the Faculty of Physical Education (FEF) at Unicamp. In the study, the researcher correlated the technical, tactical and physical domains and confirmed that increased neuromuscular capacity increases the athlete's efficiency on the field. The challenge would be to accurately measure physical activity. Using increased strength to achieve better results on the field has been a trend in soccer teams around the world.

The physiologist began his doctorate shortly before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, without interrupting his professional activities. A wise decision, because in the meantime Cardoso won a silver medal at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, as a member of the coaching staff of the Brazilian women's soccer team.

Elite football

Combining scientific knowledge with professional activity, the researcher adapted the strength training of 32 elite female soccer players – six of whom were from the Brazilian national team. Cardoso focused on the muscular power of the lower limbs and analyzed the effect of strength training on neuromuscular, physical, technical and tactical performance over three seasons. To quantify physical effort, he used a GPS device (acronym in English for global positioning system) installed in the athletes' clothing on the field. The device is used to record data such as the position, speed and movement of the players during a match. In total, more than one hundred official matches were analyzed.

According to the physiologist, his doctorate represents a major step forward in efforts to consolidate the use of strength training as a complementary training routine for athletes. The findings suggest that strength training influences faster movements during matches. According to the GPS device records, there was an increase in the distances covered at high and maximum intensity, in the number of accelerations and decelerations, and in the maximum speed achieved.

Technical performance showed a positive change of 17% and the number of shots on goal increased by 25% (these values ​​were measured using technology from a sports data company that works on developing indexes and platforms to evaluate athlete performance). There was an “overall” increase in the team’s technical efficiency. “The games became clearly more intense.”

“Running more does not mean winning or achieving better results, because scoring goals depends on other variables and there is a whole complexity due to multifactorial aspects. But understanding the interaction between these variables and knowing how to optimize them can contribute to sporting success in football. We still have to understand how we can improve the direct result of the game”, says Cardoso, who has a bachelor’s degree in sports and a master’s degree from the University of São Paulo (USP).

Until recently, strength training was not well-received by players and coaching staff because there were no adjustments to training and its relationship with the demands of football. “This has been demystified over time through scientific and technological advances,” says the physiologist.

According to FEF professor Renato Barroso, who supervised the research, the protocol adapted by Cardoso is breaking paradigms in women's soccer. "We are spreading this to other clubs." The same strength training logic used by the researcher can be used for volleyball, handball, basketball, swimming, running and other sports.

“Strength training is based on the speed of movement. This protocol prevents fatigue, because if I cause fatigue, the athlete will not be able to perform efficiently during training and games. The athlete needs to be rested so that she can always perform at her best and with energy. These are short workouts, lasting 20 to 40 minutes. The closer to the game, the lower the volume and time. It can be three, two or even just one set of exercises. And that makes a big difference,” he explains.

As a child, Cardoso dreamed of becoming a soccer player, just like thousands of other children. However, his dream of working in high-performance sports never faded away. “I saw that another way to enter this market was through scientific knowledge.” Before winning the Olympic silver medal, the researcher had accumulated several achievements, including four Copa Libertadores da América titles, five Brazilian championships, three Super Cup titles, five São Paulo championships, and the titles of runner-up in the Brazilian Championship and São Paulo runner-up, always in women's soccer.

At Professor Valmor Tricoli's strength training laboratory at USP, Cardoso had his first experiences with strength training. Later, at the São Paulo High Performance Sports Center, he worked alongside Professor Irineu Loturco. In 2019, he joined Corinthians. “By acquiring knowledge, we can identify gaps, both in the scientific and practical fields,” believes the researcher.

Science and practice

For the advisor, the dialogue between science and practice in sports needs to be improved. “Often, those who are in practice see scientists as people who do not understand the day-to-day training. And we, scientists, think that some physical trainers do not base their practice on scientific knowledge,” says Barroso. “As a sports scientist, Cardoso makes this bridge very well.” The thesis was supported by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).

Over the last decade, the use of equipment such as GPS to monitor and characterize the demands of physical and tactical efforts during soccer matches and training has been growing. According to the physiologist, there is now software with advanced technology, already used in Europe, that can integrate GPS and video data, improving the analysis of sports performance. However, this equipment is very expensive. In his research, Cardoso collected data on several women's and men's soccer championships around the world, such as the English, Chinese, German, Croatian and Portuguese championships, among others.