Football and Fitness
Just in case you had some doubts, here are some findings written in professional medical journals that support football's role as a health improvement and fitness tool. People without previous football (or exercise) experience as well as players with a lifetime of football experience were evaluated and the key findings are presented here. The conclusion: football has benefits for all players at all levels of the game.*
* Please see numbered footnotes to get more detailed information about these studies.
Lowers Blood Pressure
Sedentary Males (those who do not exercise regularly) were asked to participate in regular football training for 12 weeks and demonstrated lowered blood pressure that was associated, in part, with a reduction in resting heart rate (the number of heartbeats in a minute for a person at rest). This lowered blood pressure may also have been associated with a reduction in systemic vascular resistance (the resistance of the blood vessels to blood flow throughout the body). [1]
Muscle Capillarization
Muscle capillarization (the number of capillaries per muscle fiber)* increased in this previously untrained group (by 23%) after the 12 weeks of training. The elevated number of capillaries (blood vessels which help to deliver more oxygen to the muscle) together with other possible training-related alterations in the blood vessels - an increase in length, diameter, and/or cross-sectional area of the existing arteries and veins - may have lowered the peripheral resistance (the resistance to blood flow beyond the heart and its major blood vessels) and helps to explain the reduced blood pressure with the body at rest. [1]
* Muscles are composed of many, many fibers.
Heart Rate and Exercise Type
A decrease in heart rate for this previously sedentary group was demonstrated during sub-maximal (or below maximum effort) continuous running. This effect is a common finding after a period of endurance training of untrained persons. Interestingly, this group also demonstrated a lowered heart rate during intermittent exercise, a change not observed in a group performing endurance training (i.e. running) at the same average heart rate and duration. [1]
Oxygen Usage
The VO2max* increased by 13% in the same previously sedentary group, which is similar to observations in other studies of continuous training with similar total training hours . . . and in studies with high-intensity, intermittent training with a lower total amount of training [1] (in other words, small-sided games over a shorter time span are themselves effective). [2]
* VO2 max is the maximum volume (amount) of oxygen that a person's body can use in one minute, based on body weight, while breathing air (it is better at sea level than at higher altitudes). It is defined as milliliters per kilogram of body weight per minute or ml∙kg∙min. It is also defined as the maximum capacity of a person's body to do work (or exercise) aerobically and is often considered the single best measure of cardiovascular fitness.
VO2 max depends on the "supply and demand" of oxygen in the body.
◊ "Supply" - the "supply" side includes things like:
► lung capacity (the ability to take in oxygen and deliver it to the blood vessels)
► cardiac output (the amount of blood and therefore oxygen pumped by the heart per minute)
► the oxygen carrying ability of the blood (i.e. amount of normal hemoglobin present to transport the oxygen and the absence of chemicals like carbon monoxide that compete with oxygen to bind to hemoglobin)
► the ability of cells (i.e. muscle cells) to extract oxygen from the blood.
◊ "Demand" - or "utilization" - has to do with how efficiently the cells use the oxygen (i.e. the availability of oxidative enzymes for energy production and the number of mitochondria, the cell's power plant, present in the cells).
Breaking Down Fat (Used As Energy)
Fat oxidation (the body's way of breaking down larger fat molecules into smaller molecules to be used for energy) improved even during low and moderate intensity exercise in the previously untrained group. This may be related to:
● the greater number of capillaries per muscle fiber,
● the increase in muscle enzyme activity (proteins that start or speed up cell reactions), and
● muscle fiber conversion (to fibers with a greater capacity to resist fatigue). [1]
Lower Fat Levels and A Better Cholesterol Ratio
Fat mass (the amount of fat in the body) and body fat percentage (the amount of body fat as a percentage of total body mass) were reduced and the LDL/HDL-cholesterol ratio became markedly changed in those formerly sedentary males, due to a significant decrease in LDL-cholesterol* and a tendency for an increase in HDL-cholesterolª.[1]
* LDL or low-density lipoprotein is often called "bad cholesterol" and is known to promote health problems and cardiovascular disease. In fact, LDL (and HDL for that matter) is not cholesterol but is, in fact, a transporter of cholesterol.
ª HDL or high-density lipoprotein is often call "good cholesterol" because it has been known to remove cholesterol from artery walls that could otherwise block blood flow (and thereby the transport of oxygen) within the arteries.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnK1Kv3XkZI
"Lean and Mean"
Recreational football training over the 12-week period resulted in a marked increase in lean body mass (the body's composition minus the fat). This change can be, in part, explained by an increase in muscle massanda reduction in fat mass. It helps improve the body's ability to burn calories, even at rest. [1]
Glucose Tolerance
Apart from its positive effect on muscle strength and function, an increase in lean body mass has also been shown to influence glucose tolerance (the ability to break down and utilize glucose) [1] - glucose intolerance is a symptom of diabetes.
Size of Muscle Fibers
Interestingly, the gain (15%) in the average muscle fiber area observed after 12 weeks of football training was comparable to that observed after 14 weeks of heavy-resistance strength training in young men (18%). [4] This suggests that the quick accelerations and decelerations - as well as the jumping, landing and kicking in football - can stimulate muscle fiber proliferation (growth and/or multiplication).
Improved Bone Mass
After participation in recreational football training for only 12 weeks, untrained males achieved significant increases in leg bone mass.
Easier to Motivate
Another interesting aspect is that football players, despite the frequent intense actions and periods of high aerobic levels, report lower levels of perceived exertion (the amount of effort they feel they are putting forth to play the sport) than joggers and interval runners. [1]
Better For Your Bones
Because football has been shown to improve bone mineral density, football training might be recommended for healthy individuals as a way to prevent osteoporosis, with the potential to reduce bone fragility later in life. Moreover, the discovered improvements in lower leg muscle mass and strength, as well as in postural balance, may reduce the risk of falling in everyday life. [7]
Confounding Cancer
Football appears to have a protective effect against the risk of cancer mortality. [8] For lung cancer, for example, exercises like football may improve the overall immune system by increasing the activity of natural killer cells [9] that play a major role in rejecting cancerous tumors. Exercise is associated with decreased systemic inflammation, which otherwise might promote cancer cell growth. [10] Exercise may also enhance endogenous antioxidant defenses (defenses produced or created inside the body to fight against harmful free radical levels) and reduce oxidative stress*. [11]
*Antioxidants are specific enzymes, vitamins, minerals and other molecules - some need to come from your diet - that can combine with free radicals (molecules with an unstable electron shell that want to "steal" an electron from neighboring molecules, eventually causing cells to become damaged, disrupted, mutated, or destroyed).
Antioxidants can neutralize or"detoxify" dangerous levels of free radicals, which otherwise, it is thought, would encourage the development of degenerative disorders and hasten the aging process. Free radicals are created in the body through a process called oxidation, a chemical process which results in the loss of electrons (often by adding oxygen); oxidation is very important for the production of the body's energy.
Shrinking Down To Size
The brisk, multi-dimensional movements and intermittent exercise patterns that epitomize football training may promote abdominal fat loss. For example, after 12 weeks of training men with mild hypertension, findings revealed both a decrease in waist circumference and improved waist-to-hip circumference ratios. These individuals also demonstrated decreased fat in the trunk and upper body, which may help to reduce risk factors for cardiovascular disease. [12]
Keep It Up!
Another study showed that favorable adaptations in cardiovascular fitness - obtained over 12 weeks of regular recreational football training - can be maintained over a 1-year period with a reduced training frequency (from 2.4x/week reduced to 1.3x/week). [13]
Great For The Heart And Body
At the same time, these players continued to develop improvements in musculoskeletal fitness such as:
1. an elevated lean body mass (the fat percentage was reduced from 23.6% to 19.8% and overall fat mass was lowered by 3.2 kg)
2. improved VO2 max levels and athletic performance—thus VO2 max and performance can be maintained with a reduced amount of training if the intensity of the training is high enough
3. increased leg bone mass and density
4. diminished blood pressure
5. decreased resting heart rate
6. an improved ability to sprint
7. and muscles that demonstrated an improved rate of energy production within the muscle—the activity of oxidative enzymes (or the proteins that, in this case, promote chemical reactions to produce energy) was increased.
Life-Long Effects
One study showed that elderly individuals (averaging about 70 years of age) who played football throughout their lives, compared to untrained age-matched individuals, demonstrated:
■ a faster time to reach optimal muscle force development (indicating faster reaction times) and
■ signs of possessing fewer fast-fatiguing muscle fibers (thereby a longer expected time before one develops muscle fatigue).
Both factors are thought to lower the risk for falls* (the trained elderly were actually found to have better balance responses) and to improve the performance of everyday tasks (i.e. climbing stairs, rising from chair, walking on uneven surfaces). [14]
* When a person starts to lose balance, the speed of muscle responses as well as the quick feedback of nerve endings in and around joints, tendons, and muscles are elements that help to maintain balance, either to stay on one's feet or to prevent falling in a way that might lead to severe injury.
Exercise and the Cardiovascular System
There is overwhelming evidence that physical training is inversely related to:
■ blood pressure,
■ hypertension, and
■ cardiovascular death
If you train more, these values go down—a change for the better.
Populations We Know About
Football training has been found to be very effective in reducing cardiovascular risk factors and blood pressure*:
► in healthy males and females
► in regularly active subjects with mild untreated hypertension
► in previously untrained middle-aged men, for example, with mild-to-moderate arterial hypertension [15]
* Other groups will likely benefit here from playing football too (these were just the groups that were studied).
See these FIFA World Magazine articles*:
The Health Benefits of Football: Alive and Kicking -- CLICK HERE >>
Football For Women: A Health Kick for Women -- CLICK HERE >>
* FIFA World magazine can be read online at http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/organisation/fifaworldmagazine.html
1. Krustrup P, Aagaard P, Nybo L, Petersen J, Mohr M, Bangsbo J.Recreational football as a health promoting activity: a topical review. Scand J Med Sci Sports, 2010; 20; Suppl 1: 1-13.
2. Impellizzeri FM, Marcora SM, Castagna C, Reilly T, Sassi A, Iaia FM, Rampinini E. Physiological and performance effects of generic versus specific aerobic training in soccer players. Int J Sport Med, 2006: 27: 483-492.
3. Saltin B, Lindgärde F, Houston M, Hörlin R, Nygaard E, Gad P. Physical training and glucose tolerance in middle-aged men with chemical diabetes. Diabetes, 1979: 28(Suppl 1): 30-32.
4. Aagaard P, Andersen JL, Leffers AM, Wagner Å, Magnusson SP, Halkjær-Kristensen J, Dyhre Poulsen P, Simonsen EB. A mechanism for increased contractile strength of human pennate muscle in response to strength training - Changes in muscle architecture. J Physiol, 2001: 534(2): 613-623.
5. Fredericson M, Chew K, Ngo J, Cleek T,Kiratli J, Cobb K. Regional bone mineral density in male athletes: a comparison of soccer players, runners and controls. Br J Sports Med 2007: 41(10): 664-668.
6. Mudd LM, Fornetti W, Pivarnik JM.Bone mineral density in collegiate female athletes: comparisons among sports. J Athl Train 2007: 42(3): 403-438.
7. Helge EW, Aagaard P, Jakobsen MD, Sundstrup E, Randers MB, Karlsson MK, et al.
Recreational football training decreases risk factors for bone fractures in untrained premenopausal women. Scand J Med Sci Sports, 2010; 20 Suppl 1:31-39.
8. Sui X, Lee DC, Matthews CE, Adams SA, Hébert JR, Church TS, Lee CD, Blair SN. Influence of Cardiorespiratory Fitness on Lung Cancer Mortality. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 2010; 42(5):872-78.
9. Shephard RJ, Shek PN. Associations between physical activity and susceptibility to cancer: possible mechanisms. Sports Med, 1998; 26: 293-315.
10. Kasapis C, Thompson PD. The effects of physical activity on serum C-reactive protein and inflammatory markers: a systematic review. J Am Coll Cardiol, 2005; 45: 1563-9.
11. Knoepfli-Lenzin C, Sennhauser C, Toigo M, Boutellier U, Bangsbo J, Krustrup P, et al.
Effects of a 12-week intervention period with football and running for habitually active men with mild hypertension. Scand J Med Sci Sports, 2010; 20 Suppl 1:72-79.
12. Rundle A. Molecular epidemiology of physical activity and cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev, 2005; 14: 227-36.
13. Randers MB, Nielsen JJ, Krustrup BR, Sundstrup E, Jakobsen MD, Nybo L, et al.
Positive performance and health effects of a football training program over 12 weeks can be maintained over a 1-year period with reduced training frequency. Scand J Med Sci Sports, 2010; 20 Suppl 1:80-89.
14. Sundstrup E, Jakobsen MD, Andersen JL, Randers MB, Petersen J, Suetta C, et al.
Muscle function and postural balance in lifelong trained male footballers compared with sedentary elderly men and youngsters. Scand J Med Sci Sports, 2010; 20 Suppl 1:90-97.
15. Andersen LJ, Randers MB, Westh K, Martone D, Hansen PR, Junge A, et al. Football as a treatment for hypertension in untrained 30-55-year-old men: a prospective randomized study. Scand J Med Sci Sports, 2010; 20 Suppl 1:98-102.
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