David Beckham claims in this month's Health magazine he runs 12 miles at game, B.S!

Obviously running a 10k is more strenuous than most sports. I hope that makes you guys happy to know that, because that obviously gives most of you a b0ner to know you have more endurance. You guys are complete idiots if you think it doesn't take supreme conditioning and athleticism to play tennis, soccer, or hockey. IMO, soccer players are the best athletes on the planet. That's it. Have a nice day.

A stupid HS soccer coach told me that his players run more then my state CC team. He said that they run 10 miles a game and around 8 in practice.

People are so stupid. I tried not to laugh at him.

Wait, What? wrote:

wowsa wrote:

12km or so a game sounds about right, but it's a very tough 12km. if you've played soccer, you know there is a lot of sprinting, and that you are getting knocked to the ground while running at full pace. try getting pushed to the ground a few times in your next 10k.

also, soccer entails a lot of cutting and quick stops. it's hard on the body. i quit playing soccer and took up long distance running because my body couldn't take soccer any longer.

12 km is about 120 times all the way from one end of the field to the other. That would mean going from one end of the field to the other every 45 seconds.

go to uefa.com. Look at today's champions league games. Look at midfielders. All over 12k. It's not hard to look up.

Played soccer for many years and have now run for even longer. Soccer is REALLY hard on the body. I'm tired after a hard race, but I'm wrecked after a tough game. All the starting, stopping, cutting, etc. takes a lot out of you.

Is it equivalent to running 12 miles, probably not, but I can say without question that I'd say running a continuous 12 miles at low 5 pace takes a lot less out of me than a competitive soccer match. Be picky if you want, but I'm fine to let this one slide. Those guys are in amazing shape and a little exaggeration is probably warranted to have a layperson understand the exhertion involved.

Retarded. There was a girl back in high school, who was both a star soccer player and a low 5min miler. Her coach, a real c*nt, claimed that the girl would run 6 or 7 miles in a game.

I went with the guy coaching me (and the girl) at the time to go watch one of her soccer games. I recall her getting in much less than two miles of running. Was that professional men's soccer? No. But shows how much exaggeration can go on.

Also, whoever said that hockey players can skate at 30mph is an idiot.

sure becks can do it. run 12 km in a game.

if you are an ambitious player, you will find yourself running at pace 15-20 mph and at 2-10 mph between plays for positioning/recovery. free kicks

a study of Brazilian pro footballers reveals that players typically run 8-12 km per game. with "external defenders" = mid field running the most.

so beckham's claim is not outrageous at all. infact he might be spot on, though ambitious players probably go "only" 11 km at that level.

see

http://www.jssm.org/vol6/n2/11/v6n2-11pdf.pdf

Pretty sure this is a kilometers vs miles misunderstanding, i.e European vs USA misunderstanding. I know for one Swedish first division top middle fielders run on average 10-12 kilometers in a game, these are official statistics, numbers above 15 are almost unheard of, and it's a very run/speed driven league because the off season winter climate doesn't really promote technicallity over force.

By responding to thisyou give it some credit at all. Just like some idiot in a classroom saying he can bench 300lbs. You respond, and he has accomplished his initial goal.

Most people have no concept how far 1 mile really is. I coached high school for 12 years. Kids would always tell me they ran 10 miles here, 5 miles there. And yet, were gasping for breath at a casual xc practice of 4 or 5 mile easy day. It is what it is.

My wife's friends still ask me "how far is the Boston Marathon? Is it as far as the one in NYC?

We live in a small world of running folks. People outside it, don't care about ir. Get over it.

Dougfunny is spot on. Most of you guys are so darn insecure, you need to affirm your worth by criticizing other sports as being inferior and not as tough as running. "our sport is punishment for other sports" bumper stickers abound here in this environment of emotional cripples. You need to be extremely fit to play soccer or tennis well although excpetions do exist, though at very high levels are rare.

I think you've figured it out. Or, more likely, caught him out. Good for you! This is, most likely, exactly what he's doing. By taking advantage of the average North American's unfamiliarity with the metric system, he's simply switching "miles" for kilos. And the payoff: he convinces random, poorly educated readers of a pretty crappy magazine that he runs much more than he REALLY does. This is quite important to him, which is why he has tried to sneak this little falsehood past you. But you were too clever! Good for you, sonny boy!

no advice but wrote:

yeah, Beckham is conveniently doubling (probably more) the distance he actually runs

Thats hilarious! Which players smoked cigerettes?[/quote]

Mario Balotelli- the gangsta striker for Man City...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-city/8985199/Manchester-City-striker-Mario-Balotelli-urged-to-quit-smoking-by-manager-Roberto-Mancini.html

Dirk Diggler. wrote:

Dougfunny is spot on. Most of you guys are so darn insecure, you need to affirm your worth by criticizing other sports as being inferior and not as tough as running. "our sport is punishment for other sports" bumper stickers abound here in this environment of emotional cripples. You need to be extremely fit to play soccer or tennis well although excpetions do exist, though at very high levels are rare.

Maybe we just get a laugh out of people making goofy, uninformed statements about running. Suggesting someone didn't run a certain distance during a soccer game is not exactly putting down soccer either.

As someone who ran Div 1 10K (29:00) and dabbled in Hockey. Most people have no idea what it takes to compete in Hockey, both from a conditioning level or skill level. For those on here that have, I think their vote would also be for Hockey. In my opinion they are the best athletes!

Accurate figures for total distance covered are sometimes given on the TV here on Europe - I think they use the Prozone system:

http://www.pro.sony.eu/biz/lang/en/eu/content/id/1175002552921

to get the stats. It's normal for people to run somewhere around 10km in a game. I'd be very surprised if Beckham is significantly higher than that.

Top football (soccer to you leftpondians) players are very fit, but their fitness is specific to the demands of the sport - short bursts of acceleration mixed in with lots of jogging and a bit of standing around.

The standard of soccer in the US is quite a way off the best elsewhere in the world, but that doesn't necessarily mean that people run any less or are less fit. It's not raw fitness that makes Messi the player he is.

fuug those l.a. homos like beckham. eugene is the only track town usa.