5 Health Benefits of Playing Football

Football is a hugely popular sport and played in over 200 countries across the world. It is appreciated for its ability to provide valuable mental and physical benefits, as well creating fast paced excitement for the spectators to watch.

Here are five of the health benefits of football:

Aerobic activity

Running or walking at any pace for 90 minutes is certain to give a great aerobic workout. This sport has a constant change in pace from walking to fast sprinting, and almost constant movement throughout the game. Any activity of this nature will help to build up the level of stamina and make it easier to recover after each sprint up or down the pitch.

Improves muscle tone and burns fat

On average, a football player can run up to seven miles if on the pitch for the full 90 minutes. This is certain to help improve muscle tone and lower body fat. Plus, it is great for building muscle mass and burning fat because this sport works both the slow and fast twitch muscle fibers. Football makes use of anaerobic and aerobic energy pathways to get a very good workout that burns a lot more calories than an average working at a steadier pace.

Increase muscle strength

Football demands constant running, twisting, tackling, jumping and kicking that helps to increase muscle strength in the lower body. Building strength in the lower body will also help to increase the ability to produce explosive speed that is needed for regular bursts of sprinting. Upper body strength also needs to be built up. This has the benefit of contributing to the overall power and strength for throw-ins, holding off opponents and shielding the ball.

Teaches coordination

Football relies on the ability to quickly change from slow walking to fast sprinting so it helps to have great coordination. It is possible to improve the body coordination by performing passing, turning and dribbling at different speeds and in different directions. Plus, it is possible to improve on hand-eye coordination when receiving a pass or kicking the ball.

Increase bone strength

Sports are a great way to increase bone strength and avoid issues with low bone density, which means the bones are more susceptible to breaking in a fall. Football is easily able to help strengthen the skeletal frame because of the constant weight-bearing load put on the body. Maintaining a healthy and active lifestyle is great to keep the bones strong and to stop osteoporosis being a problem in later life.

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