What body composition do footballers need?

What body composition do footballers need?

A defender might have a different bodyfat percentage to a mid-fielder, and a mid-fielder might be different to a striker, but what research suggests is that bodyfat compositions within the 8-12 % range are optimal in terms of the performance of elite players.

How does body composition relate to soccer?

Body composition is a key consideration in the physical make-up of professional soccer players. The non-Caucasian players demonstrated significantly lower percent body fat (9.2 +/- 2.0%) than the Caucasian players (10.7 +/- 1.8%).

Why is body composition important to an athlete?

Body Composition. Body weight can influence an athlete’s speed, endurance, and power, whereas body composition can affect an athlete’s strength, agility, and appearance. A lean body, i.e., one with greater muscle/fat ratio, is often advantageous in sports where speed is involved.

Why is body composition so important?

A healthy balance between fat and muscle is vital for health and wellness throughout life. Scientific evidence shows that a healthy body composition will increase your lifespan by reducing the risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, insulin resistance, etc., increase energy levels, and improve self-esteem.

Why do footballers need low fat?

In some competitive sports, players with lower body fat percentage invariably have better performance. This occurs because low body fat is a direct reflection of the intensity of training (Reilly, 1996).

Why is balance important in football?

Balance helps you prepare for sharp twists and lunges that can help you push past defending players, and the muscles it works are incredibly important for helping you maneuver gracefully on the field.

Why is body composition important in sprinting?

The use of body composition analysis to determine the amount of muscle and fat mass is as important as the physique of an athlete and is becoming a standard procedure that helps to improve and optimize the athlete’s training process.

Why is lean body mass important for athletes?

All fitness components depend on body composition to some extent. An increase in lean body mass contributes to strength and power development. Strength and power are related to muscle size. Thus, an increase in lean body mass enables the athlete to generate more force in a specific period of time.

Why is body composition important for a 100m sprinter?

How does body composition affect the body?

A healthy body composition means having an appropriate amount of body fat, lean muscle mass, and bone health. Body composition affects all other aspects of physical fitness. Excessive body fat (above about 25% for men and 30% for women) has been strongly linked to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and stroke.

What body fat are footballers?

The percentage of body weight fat varied from 6.1 to 19.5% in the football players and from 9.1 to 29.9% in the control subjects. The respective averages were 12.0 ± 3.1 and 19.2 ± 5.6% (p < 0.001).

How does body composition affect fitness for soccer players?

Body composition is an important aspect of fitness for soccer as excess adipose tissue acts as dead weight in activities where body mass must be lifted repeatedly against gravity. Ostojic and Zivanic (2001) reported that in elite Serbian soccer players the main improvements in the sprint times were associated with reduction in body fat percentage.

Should we monitor the body composition of football athletes?

Therefore, there is a need for monitoring body composition in football athletes from both a performance and health perspective. Interest in the body composition of football athletes spans more than eight decades.

How has the body mass of football players changed over time?

The body mass of football players has increased significantly over the past 40 years with linemen increasing body mass by 30 kg. The assessment and interpretation of body composition is central to the development of a football player. Increases in fat-free mass have a direct correlation to strength, speed and explosiveness.

What are the physical requirements of an athlete?

The demands of the sport require that athletes maintain standard levels of body composition. Some sports require athletes to be large in stature, mass, or both, whereas some athletes prosper when they are small in stature. For example, linemen in American football and heavyweight wrestlers need high levels of body mass.