Physical activity and sedentary behavior in amateur sports: master athletes are not free from prolonged sedentary time

Sedentary behavior (SED) and physical activity (PA) are distinct behavioral domains that must be considered before interpreting individual profiles, particularly for amateur athletes which are considered active. The aim was to describe the PA and SED of master amateur runners and footballers, the main individual and team sports. Sixteen male runners and 13 footballers (42 ± 6.9 and 43.9 ± 3.9 years) were monitored for 7 days using triaxial accelerometers (30 Hz). The median (interquartile range) of up to 10 min of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA bouts) was similar among runners and footballers [33.3 (56.0) and 32.5 (47.8) min/day, respectively] and achieved the recommended activity level. Vigorous PA levels were achieved, but were higher for runners than footballers [9.8 (59.5) and 1.6 (3.9) min/day, respectively]. Week-day differences for runners and footballers were found for light [202.0 (139.1) and 261.3 (115.3) min/day, P = 0.001], moderate [47.7 (59.8) and 103.3 (82.7) min/day, P