A study on the effects of 6 weeks of training on body composition, physical fitness and physiological variables of female football players

Background: Female football becomes popular in last decades. The body fat, strength, power, endurance etc are playing an important role in female football. The present study has been designed to investigate the effects of 6 weeks of training on body composition, physical fitness and physiological variables of female football players. Materials and Methods: A total of eighty two female football players (age 16-18 yrs.) participated were included and twenty two were excluded from the study, the remaining were divided into control group (CG, n = 30) and experimental group (EG, n = 30). The volunteers of the experimental group followed a training programme (2 hrs/day, 5day/week, for 6 weeks), whereas no training was given volunteers of the control group. Selected body composition, physical fitness and physiological variables were performed at the beginning (0 week) and at the end of the study (6 weeks). Results: A significant reduction (p < .05) in body mass, body fat, resting heart rate, recovery heart rate, and systolic blood pressure; and an increase (p < .05) in strength, anaerobic power, VO2max, FEV1, FVC and PEFR was noted after 6 weeks of training. Body fat showed negative correlation with back strength (r = - 0.26, p < .05), grip strength (r = -0.46, p < .01), anaerobic capacity (r = -0.30, p < .05) and flexibility (r = -0.32, p < .05) of the volunteers. LBM showed positive correlation with grip strength right (r = 0.59, p < .05), grip strength left (r = 0.53, p < .05), back strength (r = 0.73, p < .05), flexibility (r = 0.41, p < .05). The anaerobic power showed a significant positive correlation with VO2max (r = 0.51, p < .01). Conclusions: Regular monitoring of the indicators is essential to obtain optimal performance of the players.