PHYSICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL DEMANDS OF EXPERIENCED MALE BASKETBALL PLAYERS DURING A COMPETITIVE GAME CARLOS PUENTE, 1 JAVIER ABIA ´ N-VICE ´ N, 1,2 FRANCISCO ARECES, 1 ROBERTO LO ´ PEZ, 1 AND JUAN DEL COSO 1 1 Exercise Physiology Laboratory, Camilo Jose´ Cela University, Madrid, Spain; and 2 Performance and Sport Rehabilitation Laboratory, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Castilla La Mancha, Toledo, Spain ABSTRACT Puente, C, Abia ´ n-Vice ´ n, J, Areces, F, Lo ´ pez, R, and Del Coso, J. Physical and physiological demands of experienced male basketball players during a competitive game. J Strength Cond Res 31(4): 956–962, 2017—The aim of this investigation was to analyze the physical and physiological demands of experi- enced basketball players during a real and competitive game. Twenty-five well-trained basketball players (8 guards, 8 for- wards, and 9 centers) played a competitive game on an out- door court. Instantaneous running speeds, the number of body impacts above 5 g, and the number of accelerations and de- celerations were assessed by means of a 15-Hz global Posi- tioning System accelerometer unit. Individual heart rate was also recorded using heart rate monitors. As a group mean, the basketball players covered 82.6 6 7.8 m$min 21 during the game with a mean heart rate of 89.8 6 4.4% of maximal heart rate. Players covered 3 6 3% of the total distance run- ning at above 18 km$h 21 and performed 0.17 6 0.13 sprints per minute. The number of body impacts was 8.2 6 1.8 per minute of play. The running pace of forwards was higher than that of centers (86.8 6 6.2 vs. 76.6 6 6.0 m$min 21 ; p # 0.05). The maximal speed obtained during the game was sig- nificantly higher for guards than that for centers (24.0 6 1.6 km$h 21 vs. 21.3 6 1.6 km$h 21 ; p # 0.05). Centers performed a lower number of accelerations/decelerations than guards and forwards (p # 0.05). In conclusion, the extraordinary rates of specific movements performed by these experienced basket- ball players indicate the high physiological demands necessary to be able to compete in this sport. The centers were the basketball players who showed lower physiological demands during a game, whereas there were no differences between guards and forwards. These results can be used by coaches to adapt basketball training programs to the specific demands of each playing position. KEY WORDS GPS technology, team sports, athletic performance, heart rate, accelerometry INTRODUCTION B asketball is an intermittent team sport which implies the combination of high-intensity ac- tions with periods of lower intensity and/or recovery (1). Despite the high cardiovascular demands and the importance of aerobic metabolism in this sport (24), success in elite basketball is mostly determined by fast and power-based sport-specific actions which rely on anaerobic pathways. In fact, basketball-specific actions that involve sprinting or jumping have a key importance for scoring in this sport (20,22). Professional basketball players perform a mean of 44 6 7 jumps during a basketball game (6). Besides, other specific movements of basketball (e.g., rebounding, dribbling, shooting, and blocking) are executed at high intensities and are closely related to the development of muscle strength and power, speed, and agility (9). Previous investigations have re- ported mean heart rates of 80–95% of maximal heart rate during competitive games (6,29) and mean blood lactate concentrations of 3.2–6.8 mmol/L (6,24,25). Previous studies have examined the physical load and activity demands of basketball players using video-based time- motion analysis (7,21,28). These investigations have reported that a high proportion of the basketball play time is spent at low intensities, with a minor proportion of the time devoted to sprint- and power-based exercise actions. However, there is a consensus in which low-intensity activities in a basketball game are needed to allow the recovery necessary to perform the repeated bouts of 10–30 seconds of high-intensity activity required for modern basketball (18). A running pace of 156 m$min 21 has been reported for Australian subelite and elite basketball players, while 15.3 6 14.8 m$min 21 was covered at sprint intensity (27). Other investigations have reported sprinting paces of 19.1 6 4.2 m$min 21 during competitive Address correspondence to Dr. Javier Abia ´n-Vice ´n, javier.abian@uclm.es. 31(4)/956–962 Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research Ó 2016 National Strength and Conditioning Association 956 Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research the TM Copyright © National Strength and Conditioning Association Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.