subject: Benefits Of Running - Past And Present [print this page] Running is an activity that is as old as mankind itself. Of course during cavemen days, people ran for completely different reasons. It was usually to run after food or run from becoming food. Thousands of years later, humankind still runs, for completely different reasons, in most cases. Today running is perceived mostly as a health related or sporting activity. There are people of all ages that run on a fairly regular basis to help stay in good shape. In fact studies show that older people who run at least a few times a week are in much healthier shape than people who do not.
These studies showed that regular runners have a slower onset of various diseases compared to those who do not run. Problems such as high blood pressure, heart attack, osteoporosis, and even depression showed to be lower amongst runners. All this should be good enough motivation to get you to buy a good pair of running shoes to get started. Talking of shoes, some the most recent studies have shown that running bare feet is the best for the body. The study was done on some tribes living in the Amazon rain-forest and Africa. Many of the tribesmen ran a lot during the course of the day. It showed that the amount of joint pain that usually comes from running was not there. Ultimately the decision to run barefoot should be left up to the person.
If you are a beginner at running, the following tips will help with minimizing pain that will happen at the beginning of this kind of workout. As with any other workout, it is always best to start out slowly. Sure, you may have all the willpower in the world. But if you start off trying to run the marathon, then you are sure to injure or hurt yourself.
When you first start jogging, try and run in a straight line as much as possible. Avoid running around turns, instead walk through turns. Take frequent brakes and walk briskly instead of running. Slowly build up your stamina.
Try to do a mix of walking and running as much as possible. Alternate between the two and pretty soon you will be doing more jogging than walking. Before starting to jog, start with a brisk walk to warm up. This way you will get the heart beat going. Ideally in the beginning it should be several minutes of walking and perhaps one minute of running. Do this for approximately twenty to thirty minutes or whatever is most comfortable. With each passing week slowly decrease walking time and increase running time. The idea here is to slowly get your body used to running. If it is done every day, you will be running greater distances within a few weeks.
Running with a partner or a group of friends is a great way to stay consistent and motivated.
