In a study published by the American College of Sports Medicine, researchers recruited a large group of prepubertal Spanish boys and followed them for more than three years. Those who regularly played soccer for at least three hours a week were compared to those who only engaged in regular in-school physical education of two, 45-minute sessions per week. Several health and athletic ability measurements were collected at the outset of the study period and at the conclusion. These included anaerobic capacity, running speed, forces exerted during a vertical jump, aerobic maximal power, and bone and lean mass.
Among the boys whose activity levels remained constant after three years, the soccer players showed more positive increases in anaerobic capacity (7 percent more), total lean body mass (6 percent more), and total bone mineral density (more than 33 percent more) than the control group. Conversely, those in the less active group had significantly increased their percentage of body fat by the end of the study period.
The study pointed that bone tissue is more responsive to exercise during the prepubertal growth spurt. The results of the study showed that the soccer group not only increased whole body bone mineral density, but also had higher regional measures in areas such as the lumbar spine (13 percent) and the femoral neck in the hip (10 percent). These increases correlated statistically to increases in other fitness factors such as anaerobic capacity and force generated during jumping.
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