14 DAY TRIAL // Women who enjoy doing stuff together, including working out, have now one more reason to do so, as a recent study cited by the Daily Mail says playing football is a much better alternative to staying fit than running. Not only is football more engaging, fun and efficient, but it also offers something that regular jogging does not, as it comes with a social component as well.
Women who play football together are very likely to bond on the field as well, which can’t really be said about running. Generally, runners do so either by themselves or in the company of a friend (two, tops), but also with music on, which virtually limits the chances of interacting with other people. Add to that the fact that playing football also increases strength and boosts cardiac health, and all fitness adepts have a new reason to jump in the game.
Researchers led by Associate Professor Peter Krustrup of the University of Copenhagen studied 100 untrained, pre-menopausal women for two years, the duration of the entire study, the Mail informs. They were divided in three groups: one played football, one ran on a regular basis, while a third was the control group. At the end of the two-year research, it was noted that women who were in the football group registered the most benefits in terms of fitness and health, which led to the conclusion that football was better than running in this sense.
“While playing soccer, the women have high heart rates and perform many sprints, turns, kicks and tackles, making soccer an effective integration of both cardio and strength training.” Professor Krustrup says of the study that will be published next week in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports. Moreover, researchers noted in the women playing football an “improvement in endurance and sprinting ability. It also increased the women’s oxygen consumption – an indicator of physical fitness – and muscle mass.” the Mail further explains.
The benefits do not stop here, though, as the same study also revealed that women playing football for its two-year duration continued to do so once the research was over, while those in the running group stopped almost immediately.