‘Should I start running?’ I get this question quite frequently from friends, family and clients.
And my usual response is typically: ‘I don’t know… Depends on what your goal for running is.’
Now for starters…and I believe this is a commonality amongst those
who feel running is essential or maybe somewhat optimal for say…weightloss…this is my
‘Should I start running’ follow up:
If you believe that strapping on a brand new pair of running sneakers and
busting’ out a few miles through the neighborhood in quest of dropping a few unwanted pounds is
a good idea you may want to reconsider your strategy here. Running for most people may be
a very poor idea for weight loss in fact. For one thing poor running mechanics (most everyone sucks at running BTW)
most often leads to banged up joints and painful jogs. Think I’m kidding? Here is a fact
of most former runners: Swimming typical becomes their go to (default) when their body
can no longer take the pounding of running.
A much better return on investment for someone looking for weight loss: Vanquish all junk food in the house
that you know will test your will power. Then head to the grocery store and fill your shopping cart with
good old fashioned ‘adult food’ and not the stuff that you would likely see at a 12 year old’s birthday party.
Then learn how to do a few things well with a kettlebell or barbell and you will be well on your way to all
the awesome stuff you thought you would get from running.
But then again if you enjoy running (and you are able to do it pretty well) and you are let’s say
preparing for a 10k, a half marathon, triathlon or a mud run then hey…
you need to run.
All that being said…It would be remiss of me to leave this post without giving you some insight into the
potential dangers of running (specifically unnecessary long endurance running)
Check out this presentation from Dr. James O’Keefe (a former long distance runner)
Run if you must ; )
Enjoy
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