The effects of two methods of tapering on some physical characteristics of elite hockey players

Heavy and prolonged training, leads to Physical disturbance and decline athletic performance. Decreasing training load during tapering may prevent decrements in athletic performance and the side effects of overtraining syndrome. The purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of two type of tapering on some physiological characteristics of elite hockey players.The population of this study consisted of eighteen indoor elite hockey players from the Premier League in central province (mean ±SD, age 22.77±2.30 y r, height 176.7±5.50 cm, body mass.71.95±3.23 kg) with a regular exercise program in a six-month period (3 session per week). After the period of preparation training, some physiological parameters including aerobic power, anaerobic power, strength and flexibility were determined and the subjects were divided into two groups based on these physiological measurements. Subjects in two groups either had loads of reduction in the volume of training by 50% or 50% in the intensity of training. After 10 days of reduction training, a pre-test was conducted. Data were analyzed using independent t-test.Results showed that both tapering programs had significant increases in strength, flexibility, agility and that these changes were significantly (P