Tag Archives: jogging

Health and Fitness News

Jogging Good for Longevity?

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Exercise can greatly enhance not only the quality of your life here on earth, but it can also greatly increase the actual time you have here in this physical body here on earth as well. More evidence is pouring in of that nature, so it’s pretty hard to deny the obvious health and longevity benefits that exercise has in general.

A new study is pointing to some pretty compelling statistics that jogging is a huge factor in longevity (life span).  Those that jogged as little as one hour a week at a moderate pace (not even running, just jogging) lived several years longer than those in the study who did not jog at all.

I love jogging, and don’t get to do nearly enough of it in my opinion. I’m not a fan of jogging on a treadmill, I’d rather work out on an elliptical maching any day over that. But I love jogging outside in the cooler crisp fall weather and in the earlier or later hours in the summer when the sunny heat has cooled a bit.

The exposure to the colors and scents of the outdoors, coupled with the fresh air is really an invigorating feeling, and I love how it makes me feel energized and ready to conquer anything. There really is something to the idea that runners and joggers experience a sort of high from jogging.

You definitely get some sort of endorphin rush when you are doing it, and afterwards you feel pretty amazing, with all your anxiety spent out of your body and relaxation setting in.  I think jogging outdoors is one of the best exercises for me personally because of the multitude of not only physical benefits, but also of mental health benefits.

Gosh, typing this right now, looking out the window at an early morning sunny day with the birds chirping wildly, my cat in the window lazily enjoying the sights, makes me want to go outside and get on the move right away!

Instructional Exercises

Training for a Marathon

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Whether you are a seasoned and experienced runner, or you are just beginning to enjoy the fruits of this incredibly addictive sport and pastime, you need to train if you are going to run a marathon.  There are several marathons happening during the year. They occur in major cities and smaller cities. They can be hundreds of runners, or literally thousands of runners.

The Chicago marathon usually has about 40,000 participants believe it or not. These are not all seasoned runners either. Often times they are people who have signed up for the challenge and camradery of it all. They like to see what their body can do.

But if you are serious about running a marathon without crippling yourself for a couple days with soreness, or being too winded to keep going, then you should really start on some sort of training program. Often times training to run a marathon starts off with slow joffing and lighter distances, so that the body can slowly adjust itself to running.

Experts usually recommend you start off slowly so you don’t injure yourself or go too far and get so sore that you can’t even get out of bed the next morning, making training almost impossible.

A lot of marathon runners say that it’s more the mind than the body that gets you through the toughest parts of a marathon. If you’re strong of mind and heart, then you can push yourself mentally and physically into the next stratosphere of distance, or speed even.

Training for a marathon helps you train both your mind and body. It’s also all about building confidence in yourself that you can indeed do this thing that may have seemed totally daunting or nearly impossible for you at first.  Once you see what your body is capable of doing, it’s easier to talk your mind in to sticking with it.

I’ve used this theory on myself a lot when I’m doing a simple jog down the road in my outdoor jogs. I put a challenge out there for myself. I make landmarks for myself. I’ll say, ok if I can make it all the way down to such and such road, then I’m even better than I was yesterday. Or if I can run as fast as I can for five full minutes, then I’m really building my speed and stamina.

Things like that really help push you to the next level .But you should never write checks that your body can’t cash. Make sure you are doing things that aren’t going to jeopardize your body for the next week or two. You want discomfort, but you don’t want to be doubled over in pain or simply unable to continue on a physical level. That is just too much.

Take it slow, but make little goals for yourself every day.  As long as you keep doing that, then you will be built up to a full on marathoner in no time.

Fitness Accessories

Boy, Are Running Shoes Important

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I was reminded about how important it is to use a really good pair of running shoes recently.  My husband and I wanted to take a jog around the neighborhood the other night. It was a beautiful day. Not too hot, one of those perfect spring days where the humidity here hasn’t quite picked up yet, so even when it gets warm, it’s still very breezy and very comfortable.

The air is still light, in other words, there is none of that heavy, humid air yet.  So I went to get my running shoes on, and alas, I had left my entire gym bag at the office, because I had planned on working out that day and never did make it to the gym, and then left the bag when my day was over.

So I had to use my backups, which are a tattered, really old, broken down pair of running shoes that have had the entire sole broken down over time so there is no springiness. Also, I use them to cut the lawn in when I’m helping my husband out, so they are pretty beat up from that too.

I instantly felt the difference from my beloved running shoes when I put them on. There was almost no support. They were very flattened, and the arch was basically nonexistent. I need a good, supportive arch in my shoe since my feet are practically flat, and the arch is what supports you.

Not only was the support not there in the bottom of the shoe, but the materials on the top of the shoe were very flimsy, so it almost felt like it wasn’t containing my entire foot as securely as it should have. I felt like I had to tie the laces very tight just so that my foot wouldn’t come out of the shoe.

Of course, the green tinge they had to them didn’t help lol.  I ran and walked, alternately, in the shoes, because they had barely any support and I almost felt as though I might as well have been walking in my socks.

I feel passionately about the right shoes for running and walking.  That’s why I put together the running shoes reviews page, and that’s why I always make sure I put a good pair on my feet. They prevent injury and discomfort. Anything that keeps me running and keeps me wanting to be fit is important in my book.

Fitness Advice

Dynamic Stretching and Preventing Injury

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I am constantly on my husband about stretching before and after he works out. He never does it, and always wonders why he easily gets injured. While I can get him to do it occasionally, he stubbornly believes that he doesn’t need to stretch before he exercises, especially if he’s just weight lifting.

But that couldn’t be further from the truth. You should always warm your body up before you work out, no matter what kind of workout you’re doing. Think of your muscles as a rubber band. If you warm a rubber band up, it would be less likely to snap and break or tear because you’ve warmed it by stretching it out, making it more pliable and less brittle.

Your muscles are really no different. They need to be warmed up, stretched out, and made more pliable by physically warming them up. Why do you think so many people get injured when they’re moving heavy furniture, or doing things where they would not normally warm their bodies beforehand?

It’s because they haven’t warmed that muscle yet, and go right into using it when it’s still in a sort of dormant, brittle state.  This is how you get muscle tears, pulls and over extensions.  I’ve done it myself, and guess what? It was always when I knew I had not adequately stretched my muscles and gotten them warmed up!

It’s especially easy to do it when you haven’t been as active in a while. Doctors see an influx in patients with injuries in the spring time. People tend to over do it in the spring because they’ve been couped up all winter long, and tend to get outdoors and go overboard, or go overboard with their other exercises in the spring time .

That spring fever hits, and you forget that your body isn’t adequately prepared to be vigorously worked any more.  It’s especially important when your body isn’t used to physical activity, to make sure that you feel those muscles are “warm” before attempting anything like running or jogging, or doing any type of vigorous, high impact working out.

Dynamic stretching, which is light jogging in place, or moving one part of the body like the arms, to warm up the muscles and get the blood pumping to the muscles so they can become warmer, is very good for any type of workout. In fact, dynamic stretching should be done before working out, not static stretching, which should only be reserved for after the workout.