I come across a lot of people that tell me “I haven’t exercised in a long time but I picked up running a couple times a week” or (I love this one) “I started training for a half marathon to get back in shape.” More often than not that is also followed by “but I'm having knee problems" or "I got shin splints,” or something of the sort.
I’ll repeat the title of this blog post….running is NOT a beginner’s activity. Each time your foot hits the ground, you are putting 3-4 times your own body weight of stress on your joints (This is 450-600lbs of stress for a 150lb person). Of course everyone is different and everyone has a different grasp upon the knowledge of his or her own body. But in my experience, the mind-body connection for most people has been lost somewhere in the countless hours sitting at a desk, watching TV or just complete lack of movement in general. If you’ve been a runner before, an ex-athlete or just have a great awareness of your body and know when to back off and when things don’t feel quite right, then I am not necessarily talking to you in this article (although I believe my upcoming recommendation still holds true). If it’s been 6 months or more since you’ve regularly exercised and/or you are 20 or more pounds overweight, then I highly suggest holding off on the running routine until you have complete at least a month of body weight, low impact strength training followed by a gradual increase of plyometric activites (like burpees, squat jumps, speed skaters). At Boot Camp U, we start everyone at his or her own level. Since we do most exercises for time, this allows you to do every activity at your own level and pace. We can modify all activities to your own fitness level as long as you communicate your fitness level and/or any injuries to your trainers before the first class. Every single high impact exercise has a low impact modification.
So to sum it up, before you throw on your Asics, head out the door to start your exercise journey, please consider starting with some low impact strength training such as (squats, push-ups, lunges and LOTS of core exercises). This will help you build up leg, hip and core strength so that you have a strong enough base for running. Muscles are your body's "shock absorbers" so make sure you have strong enough ones to keep the stress off your joints.
