Soccer > Running

Crunchy 'Nanas blogger and occasional Half-Fast commenter Nora recently had an article published on Complete Running about how soccer burns more fat and increases muscle mass more than running. This is of particular interest to me as I play soccer on a regular basis, and what better picture to use with this post than that of the most recognizable soccer player on the face of the planet.

For those of you who don't know who that is (hard to imagine) it's soccer star David Beckham and his wife Victoria (Posh Spice). Marcy has mentioned in the past that I need more pictures of cute guys on this blog and while I may disagree with her I suspect that my female readers would probably share her opinion. Hopefully this is something for everyone, and if Becks doesn't do it for you ladies, then I don't know who to post pictures of because come on... he almost does it for me.

Apparently a team of researchers at the University of Copenhagen conducted an experiment that featured 3 groups of men; a group that played soccer for 3 months, a group that ran, and a passive control group. As stated above, the group that played soccer burned more fat, and increased muscle mass more than either of the other groups. More details here. Incidentally if you ever have the opportunity to get paid to be in a scientific exercise experiment try to be part of the passive control group, because that's as close as you'll ever get to free money. Well, that and when the blind man next door asks me if I've got change for a $20, but there's less guilt involved in being part of the passive control group. Sorry, I'd love to walk with you and take the stairs but I'm under strict orders not to exercise, so I guess I'll wait for the elevator.

Speaking of less guilt, I've been counting my weekly soccer matches as "cross training" on my half marathon training schedule, but until this point I've felt like that was kind of cheating. I don't feel so guilty about that now. I guess sometimes it's just helpful to have someone else reaffirm things for you. Whenever I feel guilty about something I've learned that the first step to recovery is being able to forgive myself, and after that I tell myself "go ahead and do whatever you want, it's OK with me."

Oh, and by the way, DO NOT Google David Beckham without the safe search feature on. Or do, but don't say I didn't warn you.

Above picture found at With Leather, originally from the 'W' magazine photo shoot. Additional racier pictures from the shoot can be found here (although unfortunately there’s still no nudity).