Discussion

The primary aim of the current investigation was to examine markers of health before and after a 12-week FitC health programme. The main finding was that 12 weeks of a recreational community based football training programme elicited little or no changes in physiological markers of health as reflected by HR, blood pressure, body composition and blood lipid profile. However, it could be suggested that the programme was successful in maintaining health, as the participants’ baseline data suggests that they were not especially unhealthy. The failure to find positive changes in health may be consequence of the myriad of problems associated with the delivery of such programmes within the community based setting (e.g. participant attendance). They may also be a result of the relatively low exercise intensity associated with the sessions included in the intervention. This intensity is probably a direct result of the organization of the activities within the session. This may highlight the need for better coach education training for the delivery of community programmes.

Figure 1. Mean ± SD HR values (%HRmax) for activity breakdown during football sessions.

Figure 2. Individual HR data for a single session within the programme, highlighting the variability between participants and HR increase during the SSG.