Personal Development
Essentials
Why Jogging may not be good for losing weight
For a very long time running has been seen as the best type of exercise. It helps your fitness and your heart, boosts your metabolism and helps you lose weight. It is not only very cheap, all you need is a pair of running shoes, and you can do it almost anywhere.
Since jogging has become very popular, starting in the 1970s, it is seen to help with a wide range of health issues.
But is running really that good for you, and does it help with long term weight loss?
Here
we list a number of things to consider before you put on your
running shoes and prepare to start your marathon jogging session:
Extensive exercise strengthens your heart, making it smaller and more efficient. A more efficient heart doesn't have to work so hard and therefore burns less calories, hence reducing your ability to burn off fat.
Running causes repetitive strain injuries, especially to the knees and ankles. When you run, over double you body weight is transmitted through your joints, and if this action is repeated over and over the weakest joint will eventually give way.
Popular belief tells us that any exercise increases your metabolism, and running does, however long distance running can reduce your stores of energy, and then cause your body to start breaking down your muscle fibre to use as energy. If you aim is to reduce your muscle and metabolism, then keep running and running.
Another reason you will struggle to lose weight is because your body gets used to running and the more you run the more efficient it gets and the less fat it needs to burn, much like your heart.
All these issues added to the possible increased risk of cardiac arrest or heart disease, and the fact that running is boring and takes a lot of time, is running really the answer to losing weight and keeping fit?
Some experts recommend high intensity training as a better alternative to running. Working at a high intensity creates more metabolic disturbances, that although doesn't burn the amount of calories a long steady run does, but it will burn more in a 24 hour period. It also increases your aerobic capacity.
There are several ways to do high intensity training. You can run hard for 30 seconds and then jog lightly for another 30 seconds, and do this for a few times. It might not take very long, but on the downside it will be really tough to do.