Overweight How to Get Back Into Running Again
Running is kind polarizing isn't it? Some people LOVE it while others despise it. I was on "Team Running Sucks" for a very long time considering sometimes running while overweight isn't the most fun thing to do. It was not something I enjoyed. Especially at shut to 300 pounds, it was just plain painful. My joints hurt, my shins hurt, my lungs burned, my cardio fettle level was crap and it was just all around not a fun experience. I used to green-eyed people I would see out on casual jogs like information technology was no big deal. The people that said running helped calm them and clear their minds while I was wondering why people voluntarily participated in this form of torture.
When I first started, I couldn't go past xxx seconds without needing to stop and have a breather. And during that 30 seconds I thought about turning effectually and going domicile more than once. Just 6 years and 5 one-half marathons later, my tune has inverse quite a bit. Running while overweight doesn't have to be miserable. Hither are the 8 things I did to get started!
Now there are people that are capable of running no problem simply they choose not to run because they notice it boring. This postal service is not for those people. My goal is not to strength you into doing something you don't like. This post is for people who may struggle physically with running due to existence a beginner or carrying extra weight just have a genuine interest in wanting to improve. Let me also clarify that while I have made tremendous progress in the surface area of running, I am past no means an adept. I am non a running coach nor I am never gonna win any medals for speed. Aspiring professional runners, permit me exist the first to tell you you're in the incorrect place. Merely if yous're an Average Joe starting out where I was and are looking for small ways to ameliorate, and then I'm your gal!
1. Set A Goal
I used to tell myself I was going to take up running all the time. Tomorrow. I will start tomorrow. But this week I have also much going on. So maybe side by side week? Yeah, side by side week is perfect! Merely really, I take that hair appointment and that other thing I demand to do then side by side week might exist tough. Merely for certain I'm gonna do it eventually!
You can see where I'm going here correct? Nowhere.
I finally decided to end messing around and I set a long-term goal of being able to run a 5K (3.1 miles) without stopping. This was a far cry from where I was at the fourth dimension and information technology felt so daunting to think virtually initially. But one time I had that tangible goal in mind, it became much easier to form a plan on how to get there.
2. Be Realistic
I wanted to lace upwards my sneakers and head right outside and go for an easy 3 mile jog. Merely there was a sobering reality staring me in the face. If 30 seconds of a light jog had me doubled over gasping for air and clutching my knees, then I probably needed to first small. Then I set mini goals forth the manner. Things like running five minutes nonstop, then running i mile. I still remember that feeling of accomplishment when I ran that first mile non stop. Having those mini goals to aspire to really kept me focused and motivated.
Nosotros are all at dissimilar fitness levels so it'due south up to y'all to decide what you can reasonably achieve. Y'all desire to push yourself sure, simply you likewise take to be realistic about where your abilities are. If y'all head out on a jog and get through the showtime 5 minutes with no problem, and so smashing! Set your sights college. But if your skill level is somewhere effectually where I started, then you lot gotta walk before you can run. Both literally and figuratively.
3. Practice Practice Exercise
You volition not go amend at something if y'all do not practice information technology consistently. My answer to non beingness able to run well was to not do it at all. Needless to say, that did non get me very far. In my post about my favorite fettle apps, I talked about an app called "Become Running: Couch 2 5K". This app was so instrumental to my progress with running. It takes you from sedentary (AKA me circa 2012) to running a 5K (the goal I had set). The app provided me with a training schedule that pushed me each week to run a piddling bit longer. Y'all start only running for one infinitesimal, then a minute and a half, and then 3, then 5 and then ix weeks afterward, I was running iii miles. Crazy correct? I mean 9 weeks is nothin'. The time will pass regardless right? Might as well spend it working towards an attainable goal!
4. Endeavor Rhythmic Animate
I learned about this technique after I had already been running for virtually a year and when I practiced it consistently, holy moly, what a difference information technology made! I wish I had known almost information technology in the beginning stages of my running. Normally I tried to breathe in through my olfactory organ and out through my mouth just the second I got winded (which was pretty quickly into my run), I was a breathing like I was trying to eat the final bits of air on World. With rhythmic breathing, what you exercise is breathe in for 3 steps and and so breathe out for a count of two steps. A step being any fourth dimension a foot hits the floor. So each time you exhale out, you exercise so on alternating feet which changes up the leg you lot are breathing out on. The premise is that when y'all exhale out during a run, that is when the well-nigh touch of your weight is felt on your joints. Without forcing myself to breathe a certain style, I often tended to breathe out on the same leg each fourth dimension. I found that when I started this technique, non merely did my lung capacity improve also and my ability to run for a longer period, my knees felt less sore as well.
This technique also recommends that when you lot start to breathe a piddling harder, yous breathe in for two steps and and so exhale out for a count of 1. I employed that when I was trying to run faster, during sprints or when running uphill when things felt more taxing. This actually helped with side stiches too if y'all're prone to that like I was. It takes some getting used to especially if you lot mind to music while y'all run. And so I tried a couple runs without my music just so I could learn to focus on my breath.
You can read more than about information technology here.
5. Don't Skip Leg Day
When someone asks for weight loss tips, ane of the things I always say is do some resistance preparation! Lots of women tend to think all cardio all the time is the answer but weight preparation has so many benefits for your overall quality of life! When I offset started running, it was all I did. I didn't run into the value in lifting weights. If simply I knew and then what I know now! Hindsight is always 20/20 right?
Strengthening the muscles you use to run tin have a huge bear on on your running abilities. I have tears in my ACL and meniscus of my left knee. I credit keeping up with lower body resistance grooming as a major reason why I am able to run fifty-fifty with a damaged knee joint. I recently went to a physical therapist and he agreed. Having stronger leg muscles helps propel me to run faster and keeps my legs from tiring out 5 minutes into my run. I recommend both strength exercises and muscle endurance exercises. Y'all tin can cheque out my workout routine for some of my faves!
6. Work In "Sprints"
I put the word sprints in quotes considering everyone'southward version of a dart is different. In the beginning, my dart was anything above 5 MPH. Actual all out intense sprints were not something I was able to comfortably achieve when I started merely one time I completed my 5K grooming, I felt more comfy bumping upwards my speed. Now when I sprint, I run equally fast every bit I can (most a ix.0 on a treadmill) for 1 minute followed past a two minute walk. I repeat this for most twenty minutes. I get-go with a 5 minute warm upwards and end with a five minute cool down walk for a nice 30 minute conditioning. When I really want to test myself, I volition exercise a warm up jog for 5 minutes and so set the treadmill at either a ten.0. I sprint for 30 seconds and then go out the treadmill at the sprint speed and but grab the side rails and hop my feet to the sides straddling the belt. Rest for 30 seconds and hop right back on. Going all out for xxx seconds and resting for only 30 seconds is killer and I can make it an amazing cardio workout in xv-20 minutes. You lot can always alter how long you rest to adjust this to your level. I establish that adding sprints to my routine helped increase my step when I went for a steady jogs.
If the thought of sprinting is a trivial scary, start similar I did by alternating bouts of light jogging with walking. At the time, jogging was hard enough to experience like a dart anyway! I did this through the Burrow 2 5K app and like I mentioned above, I plant information technology to be so effective and helpful in becoming a better runner.
vii. Give Your Body A Intermission
My training schedule consisted of an interval run about iii-iv times per week. The days I didn't run I started to feel guilty. Like I was being lazy or would lose all the progress I fabricated. But running while significantly overweight took a toll on my trunk. My body NEEDED the interruption. I had to learn to tell the deviation between existent pain and basic soreness. If I was a little sore, pushing through a run usually helped piece of work out my tired muscles. I got shin splints often the first few weeks. Then much then, that I considered stopping all together. But instead of stopping, I walked. If I had to repeat a training calendar week considering I couldn't run, I did. I made sure to listen to my body and take the breaks I needed.
I had not nonetheless signed up for a 5K so the merely borderline I was working against was my ain. Accept the fourth dimension to stretch and have the accept the time to warm upwards. It's 1 of the best means to ensure a not bad workout and it always started and ended my workouts well. Not to mention stretching and warming upward play a huge role in decreasing the risk of injury.
viii. Enjoy your accomplishments
Being able to run a 5K that lead to a 10K and eventually a one-half marathon is 1 of my greatest non scale victories to appointment. In that location were times in my grooming when I got down on myself for not running at a certain stride or for stopping to walk. Then I remembered how far I had come. Your body is capable of such incredible things and remembering where I had started really put things in perspective. I went from complaining about not being able to run longer so 30 seconds to complaining that information technology took me over ii and half hours to run 13.1 miles. Don't permit your perceived notion of where you think you should exist diminish all the difficult work you did to become to where y'all are!
I'll never forget that one twenty-four hours during my initial stages of the 5K training my friend Lauren posted something on social media about "taking information technology easy and doing a quick iii mile run" equally her conditioning for the day. I think telling her that I WISHED a 3 mile run was my version of a quick and like shooting fish in a barrel workout. She told me it would exist presently. Certain plenty, about a year later I posted on my Instagram account how I had gone on a "simple 3 mile run" for my workout that mean solar day and she quickly commented on my post and reminded me nigh my comment to her just the year prior. I call up feeling so much pride at that realization. Whenever you're feeling like you accept so much further to become, finish and remember where y'all've been.
And there you take it my friends! Running while overweight is non impossible! I hope this was helpful and you lot tin can find ways to incorporate some of these strategies in your own running journey! If you lot have other tips that worked for you, let me know! I'd love to hear it! And just in instance you're curious, here are some things I used during my runs to assistance make things a little more enjoyable!
A few of my favorite running accessories are:
- Plantronics Backbeat Fit Wireless Headphones (the best wireless headphones I've ever used!)
- BLOM Headbands (the only ones that hold up for me!)
- FitLetic Running Belt (holds a key, an ID and your phone)
- Click here to cheque out more of my favorite workout essentials!
Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if yous decide to make a purchase after clicking through the link. The products linked are ones I use personally and wholeheartedly recommend. Thank you for your continued support!
Overweight How to Get Back Into Running Again
Source: https://beautyandthebenchpress.com/running-while-overweight/