Relationships among Physical Fitness, External Loads, and Heart Rate Recovery: A Study on Futsal Players during an Overseas Congested-Weeks Training Camp Chiu, Yi-Wen Miguel Silva, Rui Ibrahim Ceylan, Halil Clemente, Filipe Manuel González Fernández, Francisco Tomás Chen, Yung-Sheng Match substitution Heart rate responses Match activities This study examined relationships among players’ physical characteristics, match external loads, and heart rate recovery (HRR) during match substitutions in a congested fixture of an overseas futsal training camp. Eleven under-20 national futsal players’ anthropometric characteristics (age, body height, body mass, % fat, and % muscle) and physical fitness [HRmax, VO2max, maximal aerobic speed (MAS) during the 30–15 intermittent fitness test (IFT)] were determined. Additionally, locomotion profiles during field play and HRR sitting on the bench were recorded during five matches. A repeated-measures analysis of variance and Pearson's correlation coefficient were used for statistical analysis. The results revealed that the overall observed correlations among anthropometry, body composition, physical fitness, and HRR were inconsistent across all the matches and substitutions. However, the numbers of moderate (1.00–1.99 m/s²), moderate-to-high (2.00–2.99 m/s²), and high (3.00–50.00 m/s²) intensities of acceleration presented negative correlations in the last match (r < −0.76; p < 0.05). HRR during match substitutions may have been influenced by uncontrolled factors across all the match play and recovery. HRR measures may be affected mainly by fatigue caused by the accumulation of accelerations throughout a congested fixture during a congested-schedule of a futsal training camp. 2024-07-23T09:37:46Z 2024-07-23T09:37:46Z 2024-02-17 journal article Chiu, Yi-Wen. et. al. Journal of Human Kinetics 92/2024, 73–85. [https://doi.org/10.5114/jhk/176299] https://hdl.handle.net/10481/93385 10.5114/jhk/176299 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ open access Atribución 4.0 Internacional Termedia