The Effect of High Intensity Interval Training and Fartlek Training on Some Physical and Physiological Characteristics Amongst Soccer Beginners

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of High-Intensity Interval Training(HIIT) and Fartlek Training (FT) on some physical and physiological characteristics amongst soccer beginners. In addition, to conduct a comparison between the two methods, to achieve this, the study was conducted on a sample of (30) beginners, aged (14-16) years, and distributed randomly equally to two experimental groups, High-Intensity Interval Training(HIIT) and Fartlek Training (FT). The training programs applied for 8 weeks, three times per week, 90-120 munites (HIIT) and 65-90 minutes (FT) for each training unite, pre and post both training programs the following physical and physiological measures were conducted: (speed, speed- endurance, agility ,resting heart rate(RHR), stroke volume(SV), systolic blood pressure(SBP), diastolic blood pressure(DBP), resting cardiac output(RCO), anaerobic power(AP), anaerobic capacity(AC), percentage of body fat(PBF), fat free mass(FFM), resting metabolic rate(RMR), maximum heart rate(MHR), maximum cardiac output(MCO), distance covered in Cooper test(DCT), and the maximum consumption oxygen(VO2MAX)), after equivalence between the two groups in pre test in all variables, and the implementation of the tow programs, the study revealed the following results: - There were a significant effect of high intensity interval training program on all variables in this study except resting cardiac output and maximum cardiac output, the percentage of change of measures were as follows: speed (-10.28%), and speed-endurance (-7.44%), agility (-13.13%), anaerobic power (14.27%), anaerobic capacity (14.27%), percentage of body fat (-12.54%), fat free mass (2.61%), resting metabolic rate (0.76%), systolic blood pressure (-11.12%), diastolic blood pressure (-15.40%), resting heart rate (-12.24%), stroke volume (15.04%), distance of Cooper test (6.61%), maximum heart rate (10.70%), and maximum oxygen consumption (8.32%). - There were a significant effect of Fartlek Training program on all variables in this study, where the percentage of change were as follows: speed (-3.44%), speed-endurance (-7.20%), agility (-8.17 %), anaerobic power (7.76%), anaerobic capacity (11.31%), percentage of body fat (-20.34%), fat free mass (1.01%), resting metabolic rate (1.20%), systolic blood pressure (-11.81 %), diastolic blood pressure (-11.39%), resting heart rate (-13.97%), stroke volume (20.66%), resting cardiac output (6.77%), distance covered in Cooper test (12.74%), maximum heart rate (8.78 %), maximum cardiac output (19.13%), and maximum oxygen consumption (16.03%). - There were no significant differences in the most of the study variables in the post-test between both experimental groups, while there were a significant differences in speed in favor of (HIIT), percentage of body fat and the stroke volume in favor of (FT). Based on the findings of the study the researcher recommended the coaches to benefit from both training programs in the development of physical and physiological characteristics of the soccer beginners. Key words: High-Intensity Interval Training, Fartlek Training, Physical Characteristics, Physiological Characteristics, Soccer Beginners, Palestine.