Playing football requires stamina and strength, and football players must maintain healthy weights and eat well to fuel their exercise. BMI guidelines suggest that most football players and professional athletes are overweight, because the measurements do not compensate for muscle mass. Though they may not be perfectly accurate, BMI measurements are useful in indicating overall body composition and health for athletes.
BMI
The BMI indicates your fat mass compared to your muscle mass. It is calculated by dividing your height into your weight, which indirectly indicates your body's fat percentage. The BMI number is used to indicate your risk factor for certain chronic conditions. A high BMI, above 30, can suggest that you have a higher risk of developing heart disease, hypertension, high blood cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis and sleep apnea.
Calculating BMI
You can calculate your BMI by multiplying your weight, in pounds, by 705, then dividing by your height, in inches. Divide the number by your height again, and you should get a number between 15 and 40. If your BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9, then you are within the healthy BMI level for your height. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that athletes may get BMI numbers above 25 because of their muscle mass, but a high BMI usually indicates increased fat mass as well as muscle mass.
Football Players and BMI
Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that 97 percent of the professional football players they investigated had BMIs over 25. The researchers believed that football players were encouraged to increase their mass because of the type of athleticism required to play the sport, but they cautioned that not all of the weight gained was healthy. High BMI levels increase the players' risks of developing obesity, sleep disorders and blood pressure conditions.
BMI, Fat and Exercise
Although exercise helps offset health challenges exacerbated by higher body fat composition, researchers at the East Carolina School of Medicine found that exercise did not seem to counteract the effects of high BMI body fat, even for athletes. The researchers learned that cholesterol levels were higher in athletes with high BMIs. Conversely, athletes who had lower BMIs had decreased LDLs and increased HDLs, which was the expected benefit of exercise.
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