ArticleBMJ open sport & exercise medicine
Sedentary behaviour among elite professional footballers: health and performance implications.
Article in BMJ open sport & exercise medicine. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 36 citations in OpenAlex.
- Device-measured physical activity, sedentary behaviour and cardiometabolic health and fitness across occupational groups: a systematic review and meta-analysis.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2019Pooled it
- The paradox of sport: adolescent athletes are highly sedentary across competition, practice, and rest days.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Association Between Physical Activity Level and Training Volume in Adolescent Athletes.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Empowering the Sports Scientist with Artificial Intelligence in Training, Performance, and Health Management.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Changes in Body Composition and Nutritional Periodization during the Training Macrocycle in Football-A Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2024Review
- Activity levels across the intensity spectrum in athletes: a systematic review protocol.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2024Article
- Anthropometric Profiling and Changes in Segmental Body Composition of Professional Football Players in Relation to Age over the Training Macrocycle.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Clustering of Health Behaviors in Canadians: A Multiple Behavior Analysis of Data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2023Article
- Sedentarism in Recreational Marathon Runners.Open access journal of sports medicine · 2023Article
- Long-term function, body composition and cardiometabolic health in midlife former athletes: a scoping review.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2023Article
- Identifying the most proximal multi-level factors associated with meeting each of the 24-h movement behavior recommendations in a sample of autistic adults.Disability and health journal · 2022Article
- The integration of training and off-training activities substantially alters training volume and load analysis in elite rowers.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Off-training physical activity and training responses as determinants of sleep quality in young soccer players.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- In-season training responses and perceived wellbeing and recovery status in professional soccer players.PloS one · 2021Article
- COVID-19 pandemic impacts physical activity levels and sedentary time but not sleep quality in young badminton athletes.Sport sciences for health · 2021Article
- Physical Activity Levels of Adult Virtual Football Players.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior, Anxiety, and Pain Among Musicians in the United Kingdom.Frontiers in psychology · 2020Article
- Can Off-Training Physical Behaviors Influence Recovery in Athletes? A Scoping Review.Frontiers in physiology · 2019Article
- Off-Training Levels of Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior in Young Athletes: Preliminary Results during a Typical Week.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2018Article
- Sedentary Behavior among National Elite Rowers during Off-Training-A Pilot Study.Frontiers in physiology · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundElite athletes should have little concern about meeting recommended guidelines on physical activity. However, sedentary behaviour is considered a health risk independent of physical activity, and is recognised in public health guidelines advising against prolonged sedentary time. There has been very little research on athletes' physical activity behaviour outside elite sport.
methodsGiven health and performance links, we investigated in-season post-training activity levels in 28 elite professional footballers during the English Premiership season. Players volunteered to wear a triaxial wrist accelerometer for 1 week, removing it only for training and matches. In total, 25 players met the inclusion criteria for analysis. Players recorded on average 632.6 min wear time p/day during the post-training period (SD±52.9) for a mean of 3.8 days (SD±1.5).
resultsOn average, players recorded 76.2 min p/day (SD±28.8) of moderate or vigorous activity post-training. The majority (79%) of post-training time was spent in sedentary activities (500.6 min per day±59.0).
conclusionsProfessional footballers are alarmingly sedentary in their leisure time, and comparatively more so than non-athletic groups of a similar age and older. This raises questions over optimum recovery and performance, as well as long-term health and cardiovascular risk. Worryingly, retirement from elite sport is likely to further imbalance activity and sedentary behaviour. Promoting regular periodic light to moderate leisure time activity could be beneficial. Further research and provision of education and support for players is required in this area.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.