Abstract

The aim of this study is to assess the effect of four and eight weeks small-sided handball game on body composition and VO2 max of male handball players. Sixteen (16) male university handball players volunteered to act as subjects and were randomly assigned to small sided handball game group (SSHG) and control group (CG). Small-sided handball game was administered three days in a week for eight weeks. Subjects were measured on percent body fat, lean body mass and VO2 max on three occasions first before administration of training as pretest, after four weeks of training as mid test and after eight weeks of training as post-test. A two-way repeated measure ANOVA with last factor repeated revealed that percent body fat and lean body mass remained unaltered after four and eight weeks of training. However, VO2 max improved (p<0.05). VO2 max showed an improvement of 4.75% after four weeks and 8.83% % after eight weeks of small-sided handball game training in male handball players. This study shows that small-sided handball game (4 vs. 4) is effective in improving aerobic capacity in four and eight weeks of training but body composition elicited no changes.

Keywords

Percent body fat, Lean body mass, Handball, Small-sided game, VO2max,

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