Objective Measures of Strain and Subjective Muscle Soreness Differ Between Positional Groups and Season Phases in American College Football

To assess objective strain and subjective muscle soreness in "Bigs" (offensive and defensive line), "Combos" (tight ends, quarterbacks, line backers, and running backs), and "Skills" (wide receivers and defensive backs) in American college football players during off-season, fall camp, and in-season phases. Twenty-three male players were assessed once weekly (3-wk off-season, 4-wk fall camp, and 3-wk in-season) for hydroperoxides (free oxygen radical test [FORT]), antioxidant capacity (free oxygen radical defense test [FORD]), oxidative stress index (OSI), countermovement-jump flight time, Reactive Strength Index (RSI) modified, and subjective soreness. Linear mixed models analyzed the effect of a 2-within-subject-SD change between predictor and dependent variables. Compared to fall camp and in-season phases, off-season FORT (P ≤ .001 and