Article | Skinfold thickness in elite male professional football players: changes across 3 seasons including a COVID-19 lockdown period

Article

Skinfold thickness in elite male professional football players: changes across 3 seasons including a COVID-19 lockdown period

Details

Citation

Flannigan C, Robinson M, Rodriguez-Sanchez N, Drust B, McGregor R & Galloway S (2023) Skinfold thickness in elite male professional football players: changes across 3 seasons including a COVID-19 lockdown period. Science and Medicine in Football. https://doi.org/10.1080/24733938.2023.2248062

Abstract
This study investigates variations in skinfold thickness in a European professional football team within and across multiple seasons, including before and after COVID-19 restrictions. Skinfold thickness was measured in 49 male players on 32 occasions across three seasons (2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21). Intra- and inter-seasonal trends were examined by comparing values for the sum of eight skinfolds (sum8) at key time points using linear mixed models. In each season, the largest differences in sum8 occurred after the preseason period. These differences ranged from a mean difference (Mdiff) of ?11.0?mm (p?

Keywords
Body composition; seasonal trends; soccer

Journal
Science and Medicine in Football