Is Running Bad For You?
Is running bad for you? Well have you ever seen the pictures comparing a marathon runner to a sprinter?!
A sprinter looks toned and fit, a marathon runner looks like….um…..your Grandparents after not eating for a month?!
Many people think that to lose weight they should go out running or jogging, but actually, whilst this does burn calories (any movement does), it tends to result in more muscle loss than resistance exercise too (hence the scrawny look).
Also, your body doesn’t want to lose a load of weight (it doesn’t want you to die of starvation), so the more you run, the more ‘efficient’ your body gets at preserving energy, and the fewer calories you burn when you’re jogging!
Bummer!
Or it is if your goal is to lose weight and tone up.
For that you need to have lots of muscle (not to look ‘bulky’ but to look ‘toned’), which is what weight lifting is so good at.
But it doesn’t get your heart rate up much or work your lungs (or burn fat directly) like cardio (jogging) does – that happens indirectly later, as muscle burns fat even when you’re resting.
So what do you do if your goal is to lose weight and tone up?
One way is to do both, split at least 6 hours apart, and for long enough (think 45 min run in the morning, 1 hr weights session in the gym later that day).
Riiiigghhhht….’coz us Mums have time for that……
Well what if I told you there’s an exercise type that builds (or preserves) muscle like weight lifting…
AND it gets your body temperature up, your heart pumping and your breathing rate increased…
AND it burns loads of calories not just while you’re doing it but for hours or even days afterwards too…
ESPECIALLY when combined with the right dietary approaches….
BONUS: It’s actually more effective at preventing cardiovascular disease than running!
But don’t take my word for it, this is what world renowned exercise and supplement experts Mark Gilbert and Dan Reardon had to say…
(caveat – running isn’t bad for everyone, but it really long runs, without resistance exercise to build muscle, really won’t be helpful if you want to tone up as your main goal)
“Long cardio sessions are to be avoided like the plague, not just because they seem to burn up muscle tissue but also because they’re not better for fat loss or even for health. In fact repeated ultra-endurance exercise, such as marathons, ultra marathons, and iron man triathlons, has consistently been shown to cause acute heart disfunction and may cause permanent damage in the long term in some participants. Furthermore, it is the intensity of exercise that is most closely correlated with a reduced risk of heart and vascular disease, not the duration of exercise. So HIIT sessions are not only better for fat loss and muscle preservation but also better for heart heath!”
Now as I said before the ‘avoided like the plague’ bit isn’t totally accurate as with enough time on your hands you can do both weight training and cardio separately and strategically with good results…
If you have time of course.
Which I’m guessing you don’t.
But if 30 minutes three times a week sounds more realistic
(did I mention you do it at home and don’t need equipment?)
Then click here to find out more.
Polly ‘working out smarter not harder’ Hale
xxx