Effects of football versus aerobic exercise training on muscle architecture in healthy men adults: a study protocol of a two-armed randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Sports and exercise training can attenuate age-related declines in physical function. As people age, they suffer a progressive deterioration of overall muscle structure and function, such as muscle diameter, strength, mass, and power. Therefore, supporting older adults—aged 50 years and above—to continue being physically active is a very important factor. Several forms of exercise (strength, agility, endurance, balance, and flexibility) are recommended. In this regard, football has been repeatedly shown to be an integrative approach to promote measures of strength, endurance, and agility. However, there has been no previous randomized controlled trial that comparatively investigates the effects of football training versus traditional aerobic exercise training on muscle architecture and patella tendon properties in healthy community dwellers. The study protocol is designed to examine whether football differentially affects muscle thickness, muscle length, fascicle length, pennation angle, patella tendon length, and thickness compared to a workload matched traditional aerobic exercise training regimen. METHODS: The study sample consists of 60 untrained but healthy men (50–60 years old), who will be randomly assigned (strata: age, activate) to two groups: football group (n = 30) and aerobic group (n = 30). The intervention will take place within 12 consecutive weeks, two times a week for 60 min each session. The football group will perform recreational football training as a large-sided game, whereas the aerobic group undergoes a running exercise. Both groups have the same external workload ranging between moderate and high exercise intensity. The outcome measure will be collected before and after the intervention period. DISCUSSION: Findings of this study will provide insight into the effects of 24 sessions of both football and aerobic training program on the selected groups of men adults, including detecting their effects on the thigh muscle architecture. TRIAL REGISTRATION: DRKS—German Clinical Trials Register, DRKS00020536. Registered on 30 January 2020.