Exercise: Soccer Tops Jogging Hands Down

Geezer, whose over 50 soccer team swept its division last season, is unclear about why it took so long and a team of Danish researchers to figure out that playing soccer is better exercise than jogging. Jogging? Geezer has to laugh. The L.A. Times reports that a study conducted at the University of Copenhagen evaluated the effects of three hours per week of soccer, jogging or no exercise, among 37 randomly assigned sedentary males. After 12 weeks, the paper reports, subjects in the soccer group had lost 7.3 pounds of fat as measured using specialized X-ray imaging, compared with 4 pounds among joggers (there was no change in the control group). The soccer group also gained 3.7 pounds in muscle, while the joggers did not gain measurably in muscle. The Times reports that both groups logged significant improvements in insulin sensitivity, as measured by an oral glucose tolerance test, and in balance, as measured in several ways, including a one-legged balance test. Both groups also had significantly lowered heart rate during a treadmill test.
The soccer group posted a significant reduction in so-called "bad" LDL cholesterol, while the jogging group's cholesterol was unchanged (HDL was not significantly changed in any of the groups). And finally, the soccer group's sprint time was significantly better, while the jogging group's scores were unchanged. The control group showed no changes in any of the measurements.
Read more in the L.A. Times.