Hitting the Brakes in Soccer: Individualised Thresholds for Assessing High-Intensity Decelerations during Matches

Authors

  • Liam Moore Athletic Performance, Gloucester-Hartpury, United Kingdom https://orcid.org/0009-0000-7047-4496
  • Ben Drury Department of Sport, Hartpury University, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom
  • Andrew Hearn Department of Sport, Hartpury University, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47206/ijsc.v6i1.565

Keywords:

Change of direction, Most demanding passages of play, Global positioning systems, Load monitoring

Abstract

There is currently a lack of understanding surrounding how to quantify high-intensity deceleration actions in soccer. Therefore, this study sought to compare the use of arbitrary (ARB) and individualised (IND) high-intensity deceleration thresholds when examining the most demanding passages of play (MDP) and full matches. Fourteen male soccer players (age = 19.44 ± 1.13 yrs.; mass = 79.14 ± 7.88 kg; height = 184.16 ± 5.00 cm) were monitored during competitive matches using global positioning systems (WIMU Pro, RealTrack System SL, Almeria, Spain). IND thresholds were determined as 75% of a subject's peak deceleration ability from match data. ARB values were set as > 4m/s2 with the differences between these high-intensity deceleration thresholds analysed. ARB thresholds resulted in significantly (p < 0.01) larger distance and count metrics compared to IND during both MDP and full matches. These findings highlight the notable differences between ARB and IND high-intensity deceleration thresholds in matches. Thus, it is recommended a modified IND threshold approach is used when analysing the high-intensity deceleration demands of matches and MDP. Practitioners may be inclined to monitor high-intensity decelerations using IND thresholds, as is suggested when measuring other locomotor tasks during soccer training and matches.

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Published

2026-02-27

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 1 (2026): International Journal of Strength and Conditioning

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Liam Moore, Ben Drury, Andrew Hearn

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors retain copyright of their work, granting IJSC a license to publish and distribute. All articles are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. We clearly state any fees associated with submissions or access for readers. For copyright or licensing queries, stakeholders can reach out to journal@iusca.org.

How to Cite

Moore, Liam, Ben Drury, and Andrew Hearn. 2026. “Hitting the Brakes in Soccer: Individualised Thresholds for Assessing High-Intensity Decelerations During Matches”. International Journal of Strength and Conditioning 6 (1). https://doi.org/10.47206/ijsc.v6i1.565.