Best Running Tips

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arindam

Registered Member
It really doesn’t matter what exercise you’re doing. For each individual there are different needs and abilities. Jogging might not be possible for you. If you find yourself having difficulties running, slow it down to a stroll. The key to getting fit is moving no matter how fast.

It is not about how much you do , but is rather about doing it often. When a person starts a fitness program, they might have to do it everyday. Once you found your proper weight then you can usually take a day or two out. To have a good work out a person must work hard enough to get their heart pumping a little faster. Do not over do your workouts. Overdoing can harm a person. People who are injured can find it difficult to do their fitness routine until they heal.

The whole idea behind weight loss is not about a plan that shows you how to lose weight fast without exercise and pills but rather it is to burn more calories than the amount of calories you’re eating in a day so once you have the amount of exercise on a schedule every week and you don’t seem to be losing any weight, then it’s time to look at what is in your diet. Pay close attention to your total food intake everyday. When you find that you are struggling to make any progress, you might find that you have to consume less than you have been. If that doesn’t work, then it’s time to increase the intensity of your workouts. Keep a diary of your exercise and eating habits. This will help you figure out what you need to do.

It is important not to give up. Just keep at it week in week out, then month to month and eventually at some point of each week you’ll start seeing a consistent drop of pounds which will end up being better in the long run than some plan that tells you how to how to lose weight fast at home in a week but does not tell you how to keep the weight off.

Once you hit your mark of the weight you want to be, then you’ve found the amount of calories and the amount of exercise it takes each week for you to stay that weight and shape. It is time to fine tune your plan when you reach your goals. You now understand the diet that you should follow. Your journal can be your guide. You have a record of the intensity of your work outs. Maybe you’re a five day exerciser. To maintain your shape it could be possible to work out a little less. A person has to keep working out but it does not have to dominate their life to stay healthy. To stay healthy a person must also enjoy their life and not be consumed by any one thing. It is just one part of your lifestyle.

Once you found you level, it’s not as hard to stay at your normal weight. Once in shape, the body has a way of knowing what weight you should be for your height, age and body frame and although some people claim that you can find out how to lose weight fast without exercise the truth is that you are better off exercising so in essence, running is not the important question in weight loss. The question is can you stay on a consistent daily plan to control your weight? If you want to accomplish it you can.
If you’d like more information on how to lose weight fast and learn the weird tip to get a flat stomach now, go to best-running-tips.com
 
Its kinda funny, in a sad sort of way, but most folks just figure they already know how to run without any preparation or thought. Same with walking, which you should get down first before you even try running.

Since the OP didn't bother with any advice to follow the thread title I will throw a bit out here.

Walk first. Point both sets of your toes straight out in front of you as you walk. Keep them straight. I know that you already figure they are, but they are not.

How do I know? Because I watch how people walk. I can tell whether you are right or left handed by the way your walk is wrong. Right handed people walk right duck footed, left handed people walk left duck footed. Usually, right handed folks persistently walk with their left toes pointed out straight in front of them in good form and their right foot cantered out to the right like a duck. The opposite is true for lefties. Don't believe me? Just sit and watch a bunch of people walk by, see which direction their toes point as they walk. You will learn. :) If your walk is not in line, you will stress all of your leg and hip joins, they will hurt a bunch and you will stop. Pay attention to this.

OK, now you are watching that your toes always point forward as you walk. Now, make sure that when you put your foot down it goes heel to toe every time. Not flat, not hard on the heel, not on the ball - heel to toe every step, with a rolling motion. Keep it smooth and regular. Start as slow as you must, pick up speed as you can.

After you have mastered walking and bumped up your speed to your personal maximum, then you can start to run. Just run for 50 - 100 feet at a time first, then go back to walking. After you are comfortable with this, extend the time running and cut the time walking. Same drill: toes pointed straight out in front of you, roll each step heel to toe. As you go further, make a point to focus your eyes at the horizon or where it should be if there is stuff in the way when you run. That will keep you from crouching over as you run putting stress on your lower back.

OK, there are some pointers to get you going, in case you don't want to go out looking for them. These are the pivotal ones too, the rest is less important. If you stick to it you will reap the benefits, if you quit than you won't.

One last tip: use good shoes. Every 6 months I buy 3 new pairs of running shoes and I retire the old sets. I use Aesics running shoes, but there are other good brands. If you are serious about running, go to a running store to get your shoes, make sure they fit and use one of those fancy readers you stand on to find where you put your weight before you buy them. Any good running store will have one.
 
I sense the presence of a spammer in the Force...

But anyway..I'll use the opportunity to talk about my running problems and project:

I first started running in my twenties-and spectacularly hurt my feet. I suspect I have plantar fasciitis.

Someone told me about "barefoot and near-barefoot" style running. This person had a history of compression fractures from running...switched over to barefoot style, and after building to it, now could run without problems.

So...since last fall, I've been running this way, in thin-soled shoes, and VERY slowly building the distance I can handle. I'm up to roughly a mile and a half. Between my asthma, my high arches, and my prior injury, I feel pretty content with my progress.

What I find is the thinner the sole of the shoe, the less soreness I have. Mainly because I seem to shorten my stride and jar my feet less when I wear the thinner soles.

I run every other day, mostly, sometimes taking breaks.I alternate with bicycle laps.
My feet do hurt, yes. I'm not getting stabbing pains though, just a general sore feeling.

Plus...the feeling isn't thud-thud-thud. It's pad-pad-pad. Your feet and calves have to build up to being shock absorbers, but they will if given time.

http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/barefoot_and_passionate/
 
Actually a friend of mine ruined his knees because of all of the running he did daily. He now must bicycle and is in constant pain. I'd suggest a brisk walk for about half an hour or so would be more prudent.
 
The single most effective exercise for maintaining joint functionality and bone density into old age is to walk, not run, 30 minutes every day.
 
Army guys run 3 to 4 miles 3 times a week for PT, and the knee problems in the Army are appalling!
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True that, but that may also be due to the way they run, the fact that, during basic, they force them into it too fast...and the packs.

The reason barefoot-style works is because the foot and calf acts as a spring. You land on the ball of your foot. In fact, it's unusual for my heels to touch the ground at all during my run. Well...as long as I'm running...I do sometimes outrun my wind and have to walk until I'm not dizzy...I also cramp at times.

Right now I'm running in a cheap pair of aqua-socks. The converse all-star style shoes were too long (my feet are super wide) and the soles were too thick.

I need to buy a couple more pairs of aqua socks- I expect I'm going to hole out the current ones soon, and by the time fall rolls around, they won't be in the stores.

Of course I'd love a pair of Vibram five-fingers: http://www.citysports.com/137435/product?ad_id=GoogleBase
 
Some useful considerations for running is first to do some stretching before you begin. This will loosen the tendons and joints. Most people don't do this since stretching is often boring and painful.

Get a good pair of running shoes, rather than just use any sport or casual shoe. Running shoes are engineered to circumvent running related injuries.

Running heal-toe is good for slower running, while on your toes is good for sprinting. Arm action is important especially in sprinting. The arms and legs coordinate in cross pairs. By forcing the arms to move faster, you can persuade the legs to keep up and coordinate. This good for the sprint at the end.

A thinner stomach and a strong core (stomach exercises) is also helpful because it gives you a better center of gravity so the running action of an odd center of gravity is not creating odd pressures on the joints.

Although harder, running on grass, sand and dirt is better on the joints than running on pavement pavement. Add hill work since you can run slower but get an ever better workout.

One workout I used to do that is not always good was sprinting down slight hills. The idea was to get used to speeds faster than you could normally run. It has its use but will cause extra strain on the knees.

Another advanced running technique is speed play. This is where you vary speed while you run. This is harder to do but trains the body to recover faster.

I also used to pulse drills to see how fast I could get my heart to beat. The idea was to get the heart used to beating fast during stressful exercise so when it had to beat fast it had less impact. I used to red line at about 250 beats per min. I had a resting (idle) rate of 50 beats per min.
 
Running heal-toe is good for slower running
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Once again, no matter how slow I go (pretty slow...I am by no means fast yet) I always land on the ball of my foot, and barely touch with my heel, if at all.

If you've got someplace where you can run on some grass and not get stuff stuck in your foot, I strongly suggest deliberately going out and trying this running style... landing on the balls of your feet, with a gently relaxed leg...and no shoes on...paying attention to the feel of your feet and shortening your stride to lower jarring.

It's the stride-shortening that's why the thin soles are important...when I switched back to aqua socks in became obvious I was striding too wide and jarring my feet.

It feels very different, and very much softer, when compared to heelstriking.
 
Yeah, I saw those stories on running barefoot. Also an interview with the fellow who wrote the book on the tribe of South Mexican indigenous people he based his theories on. The ones who run barefoot from town to town through the wilderness. There are some who feel he missed a few scientific points along the way to publishing. :eek:

I also have very wide feet - 10 & 1/2 4E. Had incipient plantar fasciitus a few years back, that is when I switched to the Aesics for the gel sole. The gel sole in the running shoes is there to distribute the impact such that it prevents damage to the plantar fascia. It works.

At 60, I have been losing the subcutaneous fat from under my skin everywhere, including the bottoms of my feet, so the cushion there is less than it used to be. It is not going to grow back or be replaced, so it behooves me to make sure there is something there to take up the impacts.

I run 6 days a week with my 90 pound American Field Yellow Labrador. We do 10 miles a day average, though last Friday she insisted on 13. We would have done more (she asked) but I had on my North Face cross - trainers rather than the Aesics due to the ice, snow, slush and mud out in the back country here right now. The cross - trainers grip better on dicey surfaces but do not cushion as well as the Aesics, so my left foot began to hurt a bit near the end of the run. Fine now though.

I have been running distance for 45 years now, plan to continue until I die. Hopefully of old age. I run trails where a lot of other folks run as well, and I am a keen scientific observer. Some observations:

- The high school running groups go fast and stay up on the balls of their feet. They blow by rapidly during the HS track season, then disappear.

- Rank amateurs have terrible form, flopping their feet, landing flat - footed, running with one duck foot (as I noted above) got their ear buds in real loud. Many have brand new expensive gear and an attitude. I usually only see them a couple of times, then they are gone.

- Some persistent 'doctors orders' runners, 'varicose vein' runners and 'I gotta lose some weight' runners have OK form and persist for a while, but usually fade away due to poor attitude. They carry that on their faces, you can see and predict their leaving.

- Serious older running clubs go past rapidly with a variety of styles, though most are minor variations on the "heel to toe" style.

- Older runners pretty much all have the same style though. They do not go very fast because they are going a significant distance and must pace themselves to go the whole way. They almost always follow my above advice - heel to toe in a forward rolling motion, toes straight ahead, eyes to the horizon (to avoid lower back strain), hands low, arms freely swinging (this conserves momentum). They do not run fast, but follow a measured consistent pace. They do not raise their feet very far off the ground, just enough to get the heel to toe motion, a very conservative style. These are my people, the folks that I see out there year after year, decade after decade.

If you make your style proper, use good gear, run consistently and conservatively, stretch before and after, you will not damage your knees or anything else. It is when folks overdo it, do wacky stuff, use the wrong gear or do not concern themselves with their style or form that they get injured.
 
If I can find a 91/2 MEN'S WIDE, that's what I'd prefer...what I usually end up with is a shoe that's slightly too long.

Considering that I'm female, I'd say that means I have big flappy feet.

run consistently and conservatively
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Yep, gotta build slowly, gotta stretch.
 
My wife also has very wide feet. She calls them "duck feet". :eek: Our son is doomed, she says, as we both have very wide feet. His are also wide at 10 & 1/2 4E. I bet he will end up in an even larger size as he is taller and larger than I already.

My North Face cross trainers are size 11, standard width, so they flop a bit too. Since I only wear them when the trails are in poor condition, I always get covered in mud, slobber and dirt (the Lady Labrador helps with that :D ) and there is no one out there to care what I look like anyways...if I cared.

One of the reasons I went to the Aesics was that they come a bit on the wide side right off, so the 4E fits well.
 
Our son is doomed, she says, as we both have very wide feet. His are also wide at 10 & 1/2 4E. I bet he will end up in an even larger size as he is taller and larger than I already.
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He would be a great swimmer I'd bet.
 
chimpkin said:
The reason barefoot-style works is because the foot and calf acts as a spring.
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I see a guy out running barefoot on Sundays, when I walk my dogs round the local lake. I presumed he was trying to strengthen his feet.

Of course I'd love a pair of Vibram five-fingers: [/url]
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Hah, me too,... but I settled for a pair of Nike Free XTs,... more conventional, and very flexible, might still go for the Vibrams at some point though.
 
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