In recent years, advances in GPS technology combined with a better understanding of the energetics of accelerated and decelerated running [5] have made it possible to estimate: i) the time course of the instantaneous metabolic power requirement of any given player in soccer, as well as in other team sports [12], and ii) to infer from this information the time course of the actual O2 consumption (V?+O2), on the basis of some specific assumptions concerning the VO2 on- and off-responses during metabolic transients (see below and [4]). However, in a recent paper Buchheit et al. compared metabolic power assessment by mean of GPS to direct O2 uptake measurements via a portable metabolic cart, and on the basis of the data obtained, questioned the validity of metabolic power assessment [1]. The following paragraphs discuss Buchheit et al.`s results [1] in some detail, with the aim of arriving at a clear-cut picture of the overall energy expenditure during any given time period of the match or training session. In essence, this exercise will lend further support to the general validity of metabolic power and O2 consumption estimate via GPS, albeit within the limits of the underlying data collection technology and physiological assumptions.
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