Improvement of Health Indicators in Young Obese Women through a 12-Week Recreational Football Program

Alizadeh, Leily; Mohammadzadeh, Sahar

doi:10.22089/rws.2024.16703.1017

Improvement of Health Indicators in Young Obese Women through a 12-Week Recreational Football Program

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ 2. Assistant Professor of Motor Behavior, Sports Science Department, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, Tabriz, Iran

² Assistant Professor, Department of Sport Science, School of Humanities, Damghan University, Damghan, Iran

10.22089/rws.2024.16703.1017

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of a 12-week recreational football program on the improvement of health indicators (cardiovascular fitness, heart rate, blood pressure, maximal oxygen uptake) in young obese women. The research method was a semi-experimental pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The participants were 40 young obese women with a mean age of 29.11±2.3 years and a body mass index above 30 kg/m2, randomly assigned to an experimental (n=20) and a control (n=20) group. The experimental group participated in the 12-week recreational football program, attending two 60-minute sessions per week. The control group did not engage in any exercise training. Health indicators including cardiovascular fitness (with 540m test), heart rate (with polar heart rate monitor), blood pressure (with sphygmomanometer) and maximum oxygen consumption (with McQueen staircase test) were measured before and after the intervention. Multivariate analysis of covariance was used to analyze the data. The results showed significant improvements in the experimental group's cardiovascular fitness, maximal oxygen uptake, heart rate, and systolic/diastolic blood pressure, while the control group did not change. These findings suggest that a recreational football program with small-sided games can be an effective strategy to increase participation and improve health indicators in young obese women. The results of this research can be used as evidence to design and implement physical activity programs based on team and recreational games to improve the health of obese young individuals.

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