Liverpool FC – Premier League Winners 2019/20
Liverpool Football Club is celebrating its 19th English Top Flight Division title. They have waited for 30–years since their last title win and finally they are Premier League Champions.
There are many different theories about what makes a championship winning team possible. Commonly agreed key elements – raw footballers’ talent, team chemistry and strong leadership from within the team and management/coaching staff. Other important factors include: constantly improving strategies, coupled with engaging and focussed training regimes.
Additionally, pre-season training & testing programs play a pivotal role in a teams preparation. Data driven test results can truly show how healthy and prepared players are ahead of the new season.
During pre-season each player will complete various fitness tests and health screening protocols. It assists fitness coaches and physiotherapists in designing individual training schedules and pre-season targets.
Liverpool FC use EKF Diagnostic’s Biosen S Line for pre-season and in-season lactate threshold profiling
One of the strategies utilised by many professional sports teams is a lactate testing programme. A couple of years ago, 2019-20 Premier League Winners Liverpool Football Club started using the EKF Diagnostics Biosen S Line blood lactate/glucose analyser to identify lactate thresholds in each of their players to determine individualised training loads and intensities, to optimise each of the players performance goals.
In this video, you can see LFC players taking part in a lactic acid test. They had to jog around the pitch and after completing a lap, sport scientists/physiotherapists were taking their blood samples. Players were eliminated from the test once the level of lactic acid in their blood exceeded a certain amount.
The importance of lactate testing
Lactate testing is one of the most common and effectively used performance indicators. Many teams and coaches in intermittent based sports, such as Football, utilise this method to inform training sessions throughout the season. The goal is to identify the highest intensity at which a footballer can train or compete before reaching high levels of blood lactate. Football teams, such as Liverpool FC, realise that one of the keys to success is to optimise performance while playing at, or above lactate threshold due to their high-intensity, high-pressing tactical game-plan.
Championship worthy product – Biosen
The Biosen range of blood glucose/lactate bench-top laboratory analysers are available as single-channel systems measuring glucose OR lactate, or as dual-channel systems which can measure BOTH glucose and lactate at the same time. They test blood, plasma or serum samples to provide glucose and lactate values with excellent precision (less than 2% CV) over a wide measurement range. Biosen analysers provide efficient data handling, with PC, network and printer connectivity via RS232C interfaces; storage of up to 1,000 results; and integrated Barcode reader as an option. Furthermore, the C-Line is easy-to-use and has a low operating cost. It shows results in just 20-45 seconds (with up to 120 results an hour).
