In this recent study previously untrained men who engaged in rigorous soccer for an hour a day, 3X per week lost significantly more fat than joggers over a 12 week period.
No big surprise, right? Soccer is obviously a lot more intense than plodding along like a – jogger.
What was more interesting is that the soccer players gained 4.5 pounds of muscle. Pretty impressive. But what about the joggers? No statistical gains in muscle mass.
What this indicates is not that playing soccer builds muscle – it indicates that intense muscular contractions build muscle – and soccer has plenty of that in the short burst sprints and powerful kicks.
But if you want to build muscle and burn fat beware of trying to do so by playing a sport like soccer that can rupture your Achilles tendon, snap your cruciate ligaments, compress your spine, strain your hamstrings, etc.
Notice that strength training is not mentioned.
There is a better way…
