Physiological basis of strength training and its relationship with football – a review study

Football, like every product of human culture, undergoes evolution, from its concept to the form of its practice. Football is a dynamic sport with unpredictable movements and many variations throughout the game. Nowadays, it is perceived that the game of football has a very high demand for physical strength from the defensive moments and extends to the offensive moments. Belozo and Lopes (2017) calls attention to the fact that during a game and even a training session the athletes will perform several actions of acceleration and deceleration. From what was listed above, we defined, as the objective of this study, to identify and analyze the physiological bases of strength training and relate them to physical preparation in football. As results, we found that strength training generates neural adaptations (recruitment of fibers, intra and intermuscular coordination and better synchronization of motor units) and musculoskeletal adaptations (hypertrophy, alteration of fiber types and hyperplasia) among others, which translates into changes in athlete performance. We concluded that strength training produces very important adaptations to football practice and thus should be included in the programs and/or periods of athletes' training. However, it is important to stress that this modality requires training that takes into account its specificities andpeculiarities.