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Choosing to run: 5 wonderful benefits
Choosing to start running has enormous benefits for the whole body and for the psyche. In fact there are no age limits to start running, only of the precautions that are connected to the previous motor history, to any injuries and postural defects. We know that running “shortens”, creates small microtraumas to the spine, but if we do it well and with the right attention we can enjoy all the benefits of running. Let’s see some of them:
Lose weight
Running is an effective and fast way to lose weight, even in an important way. You burn a lot of calories, especially if you do it under the sun (not really in the hot hours, otherwise it becomes absolutely counterproductive). The metabolism accelerates and both blood sugar and cholesterol levels are lowered (all this combats diabetes and hypercholesterolemia).
Improve the mood
The sense of well-being increases as well as satisfaction and euphoria. You can gradually challenge yourself over kilometers, routes, times, without becoming obsessed with them, but going to enjoy the variations and gradual developments of your strength and endurance.
Contact the body
The best would be to combine the running of the total body strengthening exercises that increase general toning in order to contact the management of your static mass even better. Before starting with the running training it would be good not to be too overweight, to avoid weighing down the spine too much and then being affected at the lumbar level. It is therefore better to lose weight, removing sweets and / or excess alcohol consumption.
Tone and strengthen
Strengthening with running are not only the muscles that protect the bones but also the heart, which improves the effectiveness of the rhythm and elastic tone. Running improves the trophism of the bones and therefore osteoporosis is prevented. The muscles are continually called upon to cushion and cushion and the abdomen stabilization work.
Sense of freedom
As one of our good writers, Giorgio Faletti, well described, “the important thing is not what you find at the end of the race, but what you feel while you are running”. And what you feel often looks like a great sense of fluidity, freedom. Running also vent many emotions that risk turning against us such as anger or rage. Even when we have emotions of joy, run the crown. It then becomes like a modulator of our moods and it helps to awaken an animal sense of free state.
A program to start running
This easy program allows you to increase cardio-vascular and respiratory efficiency and allows you to develop strength and endurance gradually. Great for beginners total or for those who resume running after a long period of rest. The program covers 4 weeks and allows you to grow in your own time.
First week
Always do one day of recovery between one race and another.
- Day 1: Start by walking for 2 minutes and then running for 1 minute. You should walk with your legs loose and soft and feeling the strength in your back. Repeat the sequence 5 times.
- Day Two: Start by running 3 and walking 1. Repeat 6 times.
- Day Three: Begin by running 3 and walking 1. Repeat 8 times, for a final total of 32 minutes.
Be specific, determined and you will feel differences already in the first week.
Second week
Always keep a recovery day between workouts.
- First day: start with running for 4 minutes and continue walking for 2 minutes. Repeat 4 times.
- Second day: run 6 minutes and walk 2, repeating 3 times.
- Third day: run 8 minutes and walk 2 repeating 4 times.
Third week
Continue to alternate running days with a rest day.
- First day: start with running for 10 minutes and continue walking for 2 minutes. Repeat this twice.
- Second day: run 12 minutes and walk 2. Repeat 2 times.
- Third day: run 15 minutes and walk 2. Repeat 2 times.
Fourth week
By the fourth week we tend to reach a total run of 30 minutes and the first two days represent a tension towards this result. Again, a recovery day remains between one training session and the next.
- First day: start with running for 15 minutes and continue walking for 2 minutes. Repeat this twice.
- Second day: same as the first.
- Third day: 30 minute ride.
This scheme gradually trains all muscles, accustoms the body and gives a lot of satisfaction in the short term.
Advice on shoes and terrain
You should make sure you have appropriate running shoes and above all that they have not been used for too long. The asphalt is not the best terrain to run on, the foot recognizes it as a single and always the same stretch, at least suitable for the foot, which would continually need to adapt. So it would be good to find land not too rough but which slightly challenge proprioception. You should alternate running with cross training or strengthening exercise sessions in order to reduce the risk of injury, involve various muscle groups, increase flexibility and add a routine that varies and adds to the work of running. Also great to alternate with cycling and swimming.
Don’t forget to warm up before you run and of stretch out at the end of the run, doing adequate stretching that involves all muscle groups. Prefer a static stretching that favors the muscle fibers and stretches them with harmony and slowness.
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