Play football for fun and fitness: The facts

The slogan reads “Play it softly, but play it for your heart” and it is true. Football is a lot like romance and work, BUT ends well leaving a body with vim and a heart that cuddles affectionately. Just unpack the huge rhetoric, then dismiss the overwhelming hype around exercise regimes and what do you have, THE PLAIN TRUTH about RECREATIONAL FOOTBALL. SCIENCE is urging the fans of the beautiful game to spread this pastime not because of our but for the embarrassing wealth of medical evidence in support of it.

Football has a dynamics that exercises the body like no other sport. Its seamless blend of sprinting, acceleration, deceleration and jumping creates a mechanical windmill that drives a steam of changes in the body’s physiological systems. The End result is improved function of the heart, stronger bones and muscles, better posture and balance as well as a reduction in fat levels.

FACTS
ONE | BLOOD PRESSURE - Studies have demonstrated that after “twelve weeks of regular recreational football training of 2 – 3 times a week for 1 hour lead to lowered BLOOD PRESSURE [resting systolic and Diastolic blood pressure of 8 and 5 mmHg]”.

TWO | METABOLIC FITNESS
Fat metabolism is affected in manner that benefits us. “After twelve weeks of football training, the fat mass was lowered by 2.7Kg, reduced LDL and raised HDL”. HDL is the good cholesterol and higher levels are preferred. Incredible, but perhaps understated in the past! Shout is loud.

THREE| MUSCULO-SKELETAL FITNESS
There is an increase in muscle fibre area and these important piece of our frame exchange signals efficiently. The large number of forceful accelerations and rapid decelerations performed during football training is thought to provide a high-force stimulus to the muscle fibres.

FOUR | BONE MASS CONTENT AND BONE MASS DENSITY (MINERALIZATION)
Football training provides a good deal of stimulus for bone to trap Calcium because it is a highly intermittent sport, and the activity pattern in small-sided games is characterized by multiple turns, jump, several short sprints with accelerations and decelerations which is about right for your bones.

Just LACE your boots 4 FUN & FITNESS