Whether you want to lose weight, tone your muscles, or maintain a healthy lifestyle, running is one of the best activities to incorporate into your daily schedule.
It is not only one of the most effective calorie burners, but it strengthens ligaments, bones, and joints, improves heart health, relieves stress, boosts your immune system, and... it is cheap. You can run anywhere; all you need is a good pair of shoes.
So how do you get started? Have a plan and start slow.
Depending on your fitness level, you may want to begin your running plan with five minutes of straight running a day, or you may feel ready to do twenty. Whichever it is, the key is to identify your current fitness level and build from there. Do not let yourself become discouraged if you are not running as far or as fast as others, the beauty of running is that we all can develop endurance..it just takes discipline and consistency.
For beginners, start by running half a mile (approximately 5 minutes) every other day for a week. You may feel sore, but that just means that your body is getting stronger. Stick to your plan, soreness is not injury. Week 2, increase the time you run to 1 mile (about ten minutes) every other day. You may want to do that for Week 3 also, but if you feel good, then start running 1 mile (ten minutes) every day. (I normally leave Sunday as my recovery day, but that is up to you.)
NEXT WEEK: Post-workout stretching
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