"Bend It Like Beckham" And Burn More Calories Playing Soccer,

Yeah Baby!!!!! I love it when I find studies that advocate my passion of futbol or for my fellow americans....soccer!!!! The study found that soccer had a greater impact on decreasing body fat percent and increasing lean body mass than jogging. Even though the study may be limited in its conclusions, any positive spin that gets people moving their butts playing soccer...or jogging.... or chasing the Fat Guy thru the streets of Atlanta is good news to me!!!!! Read on for more info!!!
Danish scientists, who conducted their research on 37 men, also found the soccer players felt less tired after exercising than the joggers because they were having more fun.

"This is good news for men who prefer to play football with their mates," said Dr. Gary O'Donovan, a sports medicine expert at the University of Exeter who was not connected to the study.

To measure how hard the men were working out, the researchers strapped heart monitors to their chests and compared blood samples and muscle tissue from before and after matches and jogging sessions.

The researchers selected men with similar health profiles aged 31 to 33 and split them into groups of soccer players, joggers, and couch potatoes — who not surprisingly ended the three month-long study in the worst shape.

Each period of exercise lasted about one hour and took place three times a week. After 12 weeks, researchers found that the body fat percentage in the soccer players dropped by 3.7 percent, compared to about 2 percent for the joggers.