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Weight Loss Forum / Low Carb / August 2007Soccer A Better Exercise Than Jogging -- Intervals of intense effort and greater muscle mass ?
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-08/uoc-sbm082207.php Snips of the article below: Surprising results - 2-3 weekly rounds of soccer practise, of the duration of app. 1 hour, released massive health and training benefits. Their percentage of fat went down, the total mass of muscle went up, their blood pressure fell and their fitness ratings improved significantly. Everything we tested improved, says Peter Krustrup. - It is healthy to run long distances in a moderate speed, but the results show that soccer practise is better in a number of ways. The improvement in fitness rating and the increase in total muscle mass were greater in the soccer players, and during the last 8 weeks of the experiment, only the soccer-players showed any improvement, Peter Krustrup says. After 12 weeks, the soccer players had lost 3.5 kilos of fat and gained more than 2 kilos of extra muscle mass, whereas the joggers had lost 2 kilos of fat and showed no change in total muscle mass. Both groups showed significant improvements in blood pressure, insulin sensitivity and balance. The sports scientist believes that it is the shifts between walking, running and sprinting that causes the soccer players to experience better health improvements. It's a form of HIIT. The sprints require greater use of muscle mass and result in increased heart rate, neither of which you find in "flat jogging". It seems that "flat" anything isn't optimal, though still very benefical. It's good to see these facts demonstrated in different modalities. :: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-08/uoc-sbm082207.php :: [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] :: running and sprinting that causes the soccer players to experience :: better health improvements. > - It is healthy to run long distances in a moderate speed, but the > results show that soccer practise is better in a number of ways. The > improvement in fitness rating and the increase in total muscle mass were > greater in the soccer players, and during the last 8 weeks of the > experiment, only the soccer-players showed any improvement, Peter > Krustrup says. That's wonderful, but it overlooks the fact that serious runners also do interval training and tempo runs, not only jogging. Most of the year, I go to the track once a week, put on my spikes and do what makes soccer practice like a picnic. And the soccer players no longer seem to show up when it's December. :) I could /only/ go to the track and not log any volume slower miles. However, that goes against the principle of the training pyramid. Only a small percentage of total miles should be speedwork. So if you want more speedwork, you build a wider base first. Serious soccer players have to follow the pyramid too. They don't just show up to the field two or three times a week for an intense session and then do nothing the rest of the time. > After 12 weeks, the soccer players had lost 3.5 kilos of fat and gained > more than 2 kilos of extra muscle mass, whereas the joggers had lost 2 Big gains in muscle mass coupled with large simultaneous losses of fat are atypical. They can happen in newbie exercisers, the genetically gifted, or the pharmaceutically assisted. Fat is lost when there is a net caloric deficit, a situation in which it is difficult to put on muscle. If these same players could gain another 2 kg of muscle and lose another 3.5 more kg of fat in another twelve weeks, that would be impressive. Oh, and pro soccer players don't look particularly muscular, but in fact rather skinny, particularly in the upper body: about a buck sixty, soaking wet. They don't look that different from, say, middle- distance runners. While we can't deny that selection plays a role in this (bulky muscle mass being a contraindicator for becoming a very good soccer player) it also indicates that the training they are doing tends not to build large muscle mass. :: On Aug 22, 6:38 am, Jim <jb...@revealed.net> wrote: ::: - It is healthy to run long distances in a moderate speed, but the [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] :: That's wonderful, but it overlooks the fact that serious runners also :: do interval training and tempo runs, not only jogging. Not really overlooking anything, since the comparison is with jogging. :: Most of the year, I go to the track once a week, put on my spikes and :: do what makes soccer practice like a picnic. And the soccer players [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] :: just show up to the field two or three times a week for an intense :: session and then do nothing the rest of the time. The same would apply in any form of HIIT one chooses to do. Build intervals on top of a volume of flat work. ::: After 12 weeks, the soccer players had lost 3.5 kilos of fat and ::: gained more than 2 kilos of extra muscle mass, whereas the joggers [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] :: fat are atypical. They can happen in newbie exercisers, the :: genetically gifted, or the pharmaceutically assisted. Yep. They weren't looking at well trained individuals in either activity. But the point is well taken for someone considering jogging vs soccer (or similar) when starting an exercise activity, or looking to ramp one up. :: Fat is lost when there is a net caloric deficit, a situation in which :: it is difficult to put on muscle. [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] :: a very good soccer player) it also indicates that the training they :: are doing tends not to build large muscle mass. Obviously.....that's what weight lifting is for. >> - It is healthy to run long distances in a moderate speed, but the >> results show that soccer practise is better in a number of ways. The [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > That's wonderful, but it overlooks the fact that serious runners also > do interval training and tempo runs, not only jogging. Oh, please! Even a so-called serious runner doesn't match the demands on the body that soccer does. > Most of the year, I go to the track once a week, put on my spikes and > do what makes soccer practice like a picnic. And the soccer players no > longer seem to show up when it's December. :) Speaking as a person who played soccer for 25 years, do you think we just turned into couch potatoes all winter? I spent my off time swimming miles in the pool and riding my bike for hours at a time. As far as your "put on my spikes and do what makes soccer practice like a picnic" that is just laughable. Do you do shuttle runs over and over? Fifty yard sprints over and over? Do you run backwards at differing speeds? Do you jump up and down? Do you head balls, kick balls, run into other people and fall on the ground? Do you slide on the ground? Do you practice doing kicking while off-balance? I guess that running on the track must include people running into you, eh? And funny, but I've never seen a track runner going backwards for hundreds of yards--or at all. > Oh, and pro soccer players don't look particularly muscular, but in > fact rather skinny, particularly in the upper body: about a buck [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > good soccer player) it also indicates that the training they are doing > tends not to build large muscle mass. Whereas training you do on the track with your spikes puts on large muscle mass? Have you ever played soccer? Or are you just watching others and thinking you're better? Pat in TX > Oh, please! Even a so-called serious runner doesn't match the > demands on the body that soccer does. Yeah, you rarely get a soccer ball kicked point-blank into the family jewels while doing serious running. Writhing in pain in the fetal position while your friends laugh at you is pretty demanding, true. > Whereas training you do on the track with your spikes puts on large > muscle mass? Have you ever played soccer? Or are you just watching > others and thinking you're better? Unfortunately, everyone in my school was required to play soccer, either on the team or in intramurals. I will admit that it's less boring to play than it is to watch. Our basketball practice actually included a lot of sprinting at different lengths and running backwards, while soccer practice involved a lot more jogging laps around the field. Maybe that's why we *always* got beat at soccer. As far as the original article goes, though, I'd agree with whoever said it's an odd comparison. The point is well-taken -- intervals of intense work are better than plodding non-intense work like jogging -- but that doesn't say anything special about soccer. (And any writer who could call that "surprising" simply hasn't been paying attention.) They could just as easily have compared tennis to walking, or basketball to ping-pong. There are a lot of sports that require intervals of sprinting. Maybe the authors were hoping to piggy-back on the huge Beckham-induced soccer craze that's swept the nation. Oh wait, that's over already; never mind.  SignatureAaron -- 285/254/200 -- aaron.baugher.biz > Oh, and pro soccer players don't look particularly muscular, but in > fact rather skinny, particularly in the upper body: about a buck [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > good soccer player) it also indicates that the training they are doing > tends not to build large muscle mass. http://www.celebopedia.com/landon-donovan/images/landon-donovan.jpg 5'8" @ 158 lbs = BMI 24 (not skinny) http://www.alarmingnews.com/archives/David%20Beckham.bmp 6'0 @ 165 = BMI 22.5 (not really skinny) http://www.ntvmsnbc.com/news/251814.jpg 6'1" @ 180 = BMI 23.4 (not skinny) So, I dunno jack about soccer other than it's more popular in blue states, has fan interest generally correlated with education (the more education you have, the more likely you are to be a Born in the USA soccer fan), and it can explain a lot about the world (I read the book, I dunno if it explained EVERYTHING, but a lot). I went to the page of the only team in American soccer I know, that fields the only two players in American soccer I could think of off the top of my head (Bex and Landon Donovan) and picked one player at each moving position (we don't care about goalies). Actually, I picked the players that came up on the banner at the top of the page, with some marketing slogan like "See the Stars come out". It's not science. It's back of the e-mail envelope work. I dunno what you, Kaz, define as "particularly muscular, but in fact rather skinny, particularly in the upper body." I look at LD and I see a goal worthy body. Not a "huge mass of muscle" but a functional mass of muscle capable of doing things. And really, unless you are gonna be a football player, pro-weightlifter, competitive sprinter, or bodybuilder, who needs to be "largely muscular" over functionally athletic. And, as Zoul said, that's what lifting weights is for anyway. No one is expecting to look like Lou Ferrigno without the iron. |
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