You hear it in the gym -- a burly weightlifter mutters that he could bench press three of the guys on the treadmills. A guy on a treadmill snickers that the weightlifter could never catch him. A soccer player says that thinking on your feet and testosterone support supplement anticipating where the ball will go takes much more skill than just doing the same thing over and over, and that she's the most agile person in the room. Athletics demands self-discipline, and each sport develops different skills and strengths in the people who play them. In addition, we all hear the public service announcements telling us that exercise is important for our health. But are all sports created equal when it comes to health benefits? And what about the biggest health benefit of all -- staying alive? Scientists have long since reversed that opinion. Now physiologists, biologists and physicians are comparing different types of exercises and sports to see whether one is better than another when it comes to living longer.

After all, what good are bragging rights in the gym if you're cheating yourself out of extra years? While no athlete is the oldest person to ever live we set out to answer: Which athletes live the longest: power athletes, endurance athletes or team sport athletes? Read on to learn about sports and longevity. How do different sports stack up? You already know that exercise is good for you, but are some sports better at keeping the grim reaper at bay? One of the most significant scientific studies focused on the question came out of Scandinavia in 1993. Researchers divided 2,613 elite male Finnish athletes into three groups -- endurance athletes (long-distance runners and cross-country skiers, for example), and power athletes (boxers, wrestlers, weight lifters) and a mixed group of team athletes (like soccer, ice hockey or basketball players) and sprinters. The researchers then compared those male athletes to 1,712 Finnish men who were not competitive athletes.

The American Medical Association published a study in 2001, looking at VO2 max, the maximum amount of oxygen a particular body can take in during exercise. Sports requiring a high VO2 max make you breathe the hardest -- such as running or biking -- as your body tries to get precious oxygen to your muscles. The study showed elite athletes had a lower chance of dying at a given age than nonathletes, but how much lower depended on VO2 max. Endurance athletes had a 43 percent lower chance of dying at a given age than nonathletes. These studies don't cover every angle, though. Scientists gathered information about the cause of death and age of each participant, but they didn't consider what the men had done after they stopped competing in sports. Don't count team sports and resistance training out, either. They may not boost longevity quite as much as endurance sports, but they are an important part of the picture.