Twelve Weeks of In-Season Strength Training at Moderate Intensities Improve Strength and Body Composition Without Increasing Muscle Damage or Inflammation in Elite Young Female Soccer Players

Public Deposited
Analytics

Downloadable Content

Download PDF
Request Version for Screen Reader
Creator
  • Bousselmi, Mariem
    • Other Affiliation: High Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Sfax, University of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
  • Zouita, Amira Ben Moussa
  • Darragi, Manel
  • Karamti, Houssem M.
    • Other Affiliation: High Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Sfax, University of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
  • Zouita, Sghaeir
    • Other Affiliation: Higher Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Ksar Said, University of Manouba, Manouba, Tunisia
  • Del Coso, Juan
  • Hmid, Ahlem Ben
    • Other Affiliation: Laboratory of Transmission, Control and Immunobiology of Infections (LR11IPT02), Pasteur Institute of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia
  • Hackney, Anthony C.
  • Granacher, Urs
  • Zouhal, Hassane
Abstract

  • Strength training (ST) is commonly implemented to enhance soccer-related fitness qualities such as sprinting, jumping, and changes-of-direction while also contributing to injury risk reduction. It is traditionally emphasized in the pre-season period. In-season ST may confer these benefits, but it can also induce muscle damage and inflammation. To examine the effects of a 12-week in-season ST program on maximal dynamic strength, muscle damage biomarkers, and inflammatory biomarkers, 24 elite young female soccer players (Tier 4 according to the McKay et al. classification) aged 14.9 ± 0.8 years and a maturity offset of +2.6 ± 1.1 years were randomly allocated to an ST group (STG, n = 12) or an active control group (CG, n = 12). Both groups followed the same soccer training program. However, in the STG, two weekly soccer sessions were replaced with ST. Overall training volume was comparable between groups. Maximal dynamic strength (1-RM tests for bench press, lat pull-down, and leg press), blood biomarkers of muscle damage (creatine phosphokinase [CPK], lactate dehydrogenase [LDH]), and inflammation (interleukin-6 [IL-6], tumor necrosis factor-α [TNF-α]) were assessed before (T1) and after (T2) the interventions. Analyses showed significant increases for STG for the 1-RM bench press, the 1-RM lat pull-down, and the 1-RM leg press (p < 0.001). No significant interactions were detected for any blood marker of muscle damage (LDH and CPK) or inflammation (IL-6 and TNF-α) (all p > 0.05). Results support a 12-week in-season ST program improved maximal dynamic strength in elite young female soccer players without altering resting levels of muscle damage or inflammatory markers measured 48 h after training compared to regular soccer training. These findings suggest that ST can be safely implemented during the competitive season in young female soccer players without overreaching or overtraining.

Date of publication
Keyword
DOI
Identifier
Resource type
  • Article
Rights statement
  • In Copyright
License
  • Attribution 4.0 International
Journal title
  • Sports
Journal volume
  • 14
Journal issue
  • 4
Version
  • Publisher
Funder
  • NH receives funding via a NHMRC Investigator (Leader) grant
  • China Scholarship Council
  • University of California San Francisco National Clinician Scholars Program
  • Alzheimer's Research UK
  • University of Maine: USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture
  • Foundational Questions Institute
  • Secretaría de Ciencia, Humanidades, Tecnología e Innovación (SECIHTI)
  • Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences
  • University of Montpellier
  • ANID Fondecyt Regular
  • United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
  • BrightFocus Foundation
  • National Key Research and Development Program of China
  • This work was supported by the Australian Government National Lung Cancer Screening Program.
  • Estonian Research Council
  • National Natural Scientific Foundation of China
  • Brno University of Technology
  • UNTHSC
  • UT San Antonio
  • National Taiwan University Hospital Research Program
  • Gilead Sciences
  • Marie Cederschiöld University
  • Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries
  • Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
  • Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization
  • NIHR University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), NIHR Maudsley BRC
  • National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  • Russian Science Foundation
  • Alzheimer Nederland
  • Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications
  • Peking University Health Science Center
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China
  • Foundation of Agricultural Resources and Environmental Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Guangxi Key Laboratory of Arable Land Conservation
  • Department of Science and Innovation
  • John Templeton Foundation
  • ARCS Foundation
  • Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office
  • Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences
  • Ministry of Ecology and Environment
  • China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
  • National Institute of Health
  • NIH
  • Brazilian funding agency CNPq
  • funded by the Sigrid Rausing Trust
  • the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation
  • Suzhou Municipal Health Commission
  • European Space Agency
  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
  • Peking University Medical-Qingyan Boshi Joint Laboratory for skin nutrition and anti-aging
  • National Science and Technology Council, Taiwan
  • University of Messina
  • Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality
  • Development of Technology for Biomaterialization of Marine Fishery Byproducts of the Korea Institute of Marine Science & Technology Promotion (KIMST)
  • American Heart Association
  • Northern Border University
  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • PUMCH Talent Cultivation Program
  • Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
  • National Institute for Health and Care Research
  • National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research
  • Charles University
  • Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
  • Science and Technology Development Foundation of the Maize Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences
  • Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital
  • UCL Neurogenetic Therapies Programme
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
  • National Key Research and Development Program
  • Alzheimer's Society
  • NH receives funding via a NBCF Chair in Breast Cancer Prevention grant
  • South African Medical Research Council
  • Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades
  • National Science Foundation of China
  • National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
  • University of Girona
  • Rosetrees Trust
  • Programa Operacional Regional do Centro
  • Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
  • Cyprus Research and Innovation Foundation
  • Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia
  • National Program of Research and Projects of Significant National Interest
  • Open Access Publishing Fund of the University of Freiburg, Germany
  • Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
  • UK Dementia Research Institute through UK DRI Ltd, principally funded by the UK Medical Research Council
  • Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province
  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
  • the Fundamental Research Funds for Central China Normal University
  • Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI)
  • Zhejiang Province Natural Science Foundation
  • Sinai Health and University Health Network Healthy Ageing and Geriatrics Program
  • European Union’s Horizon 2020
  • Korea University, the KU-KIST Research Fund, and the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea
  • China State Railway Group Company, Ltd.
  • BN is supported by a NHMRC Investigator Emerging Leader Research Fellowship
  • National Institute on Aging
  • Medical Research Council
  • General Project-Young Project of Shaanxi Provincial Department of Science and Technology
  • National Institutes of Health
  • Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangxi, China
  • Gansu Agricultural University
  • Universidad de La Frontera
  • General Administration of Sport of China
  • Gavi
ISSN
  • 2075-4663
Publisher
  • Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)

Relations

Parents:

This work has no parents.

In Collection:

Items

Thumbnail Title Date Uploaded Visibility Actions
file details PMC13120612_001.pdf 2026-05-08 Public Download