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5 a side football – The Ultimate all-in-one exercise!

In this article we will go through the many benefits of 5 a side football - As well as being great fun, 5 a side also provides therapy for both body and mind.

What are the benefits of 5 a side?

The perfect sport to work on all physical areas. 5aside is a simple and universal sport. Beyond being a ball sport, it is an activity that works your endurance and your cardio through running sequences. The gestures and techniques of football will help you to improve your physical condition and your coordination. And as a good team sport, football has many benefits to offer you to improve mentally!
It is also a physical activity that can be easily adapted to your schedule and that you can easily practice as a leisure activity, within a dynamic and committed community.

Improve your endurance with 5 a side

It is mainly through running that you improve your endurance.
Football is a team sport based on running. and in 5 a side, you have much more high intensity running than in a normal football match or in any other sport. you have to alternate between 100% effort and rest running
In the senior category, you run almost 10 kilometres during a match. In addition to kicking free kicks into the top corner or tackling anything that crosses the midfield, you get a lot of endurance work.
As part of regular football practice, matches and training sessions allow you to improve your heart and breathing capacities.
During a match, players cover between 9 and 12 km, in the form of slow running (45% of the time, 5.1 km), walking (25%, 2.8 km), fast running (13%, 1.5 km) and sprinting (11%, 1.26 km). A player burns about 5 to 20 kilocalories per kilo of weight.
Playing football develops:
· The cardiovascular system
· The entire muscular system
· Endurance and stamina; balance and coordination
· Balance and coordination
· Speed and relaxation

5 a side : Build up your stamina

The tempo of a match is anything but monotonous. In football, keep the pace!
If you run during a football match, it is not a jog!
Unless you spend the game on the bench, which we don’t want you to do, you will experience your match through the many changes of pace in the game. Depending on the position, you can even accelerate and go back and forth in your lane. No time to breathe, you’ll be waiting for the next stoppage in play!
This repetition of acceleration and sprinting will improve your stamina as well as your endurance.
Football works your whole body. So relax, improve your speed and balance.
In football, you don’t just play with your feet!
Like many team sports, you are working your body as a whole. Whether you are saving goals or playing in the air for the rest of the team, you need to relax and balance. Through running and acceleration, you work on your speed, which is one of the keys to this sport. Finally, playing a ball sport without hands greatly improves your skill!
Football, an intense sport that requires endurance and stamina.
Football is an intense team sport that requires major changes of pace both during matches and training sessions. The players accelerate sometimes without time to recover.
In addition to the qualities of skill, speed and relaxation, football also calls for good endurance and stamina, requiring a good physical condition and regular training. Also, beware that players can be caught up in the game and be forced to take risks. In addition, this contact sport can lead to numerous injuries.

 

The collective benefits of a 5 a side league ?

Football calls for your team spirit and solidarity. Respect for tactics, rules and your partners, as well as communication on the pitch, strengthen your team.
It is a sport that teaches you that the quality and potential of a team is more than the sum of its individual talents. In a tight and collectively dedicated team, you can win against a team stronger than you. And that’s pretty great for your development.
Football, a team sport with many health benefits
Although football mainly involves the lower limbs, all muscles are involved, making this team sport a complete sport.
By alternating between running at moderate speed and sprinting, football requires both aerobic and anaerobic efforts.

Technical and physical benefits

Technical, tonic and physical: your whole body benefits from football.
Through football, you work on a whole range of movements and techniques that improve your physique.
First of all, running and controlling a ball with your feet at the same time greatly improves your coordination!  Running, jumping and kicking will build up your thighs, buttocks and abdominal muscles. In addition, the many technical movements help your proprioception and flexibility. And if you keep your goals, reflexes, anticipation and agility are even the qualities you stimulate the most. In muscle tone, flexibility and coordination, your whole body benefits from football.

If you are wanting to train at home we recommend a ‘Solo Close Control and Skills Football Training Aid’, which, wth some time, will improve your touch and control.

To conclude

For endurance or agility, for the body or for the head, playing in a 5 a side league is as beneficial as it is enjoyable to start. What benefits do you get from playing football? Share with us the benefits of 5 a side!

 

Appendix

Mason, O., & Holt, R. (2012). A role for football in mental health: The Coping Through Football project. The Psychiatrist, 36(8), 290-293. doi:10.1192/pb.bp.111.036269, https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-psychiatrist/article/role-for-football-in-mental-health-the-coping-through-football-project/855F2FAD0512C486FAB0F07FFD9FA998
Executive summary: The health and fitness benefits of regular participation in small-sided football games P. Krustrup, J. Dvorak, A. Junge, J. Bangsbo, First published: 06 April 2010, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1755296616300886

Qualitative investigation of the role of collaborative football and walking football groups in mental health recovery, Mental Health and Physical Activity, Volume 12, 2017, Pages 116-123, ISSN 1755-2966, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1755296616300886