Is Running The Best Form Of Exercise To Lose Weight

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Many experts think human bodies are shaped the way they are because we evolved to be extremely effective endurance runners. The shapes of our hips and feet, the length of our legs, our shock-absorbing spinal discs, and our ability to sweat make it possible for us to run mile after mile.

Many experts consider exercise to be the closest thing to a miracle drug. As a form of cardio exercise that's easily accessible, running is one of the most straightforward ways to get the important benefits of exercise.

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Since it improves aerobic fitness, running is a great way to help improve cardiovascular health. Plus, it burns calories and can build strength, among other things. There's also a long list of psychological benefits runners gain from their sport.

Spending 30 minutes on a treadmill is enough to lift the mood of someone suffering from major depressive disorder, according to a study published in the journal of the American College of Sports Medicine. Even participants who moved at a walking pace to received the same mood-lifting benefit.

This shows that no matter what pace you're going, moving has positive effects and adds to the already significant body of research showing that running and other forms of exercise can improve mood and help fight depression.

Why Is Running The Best Form Of Exercise?

Knee pain can quickly sideline a runner. It's often a sign of overtraining or a need to improve one's form or flexibility. But running probably isn't the cause of knee osteoarthritis.

In one eight-year study of 2, 637 participants, researchers found that the more people ran, the less likely they were to suffer from knee pain or osteoarthritis. While it's hard to say that running directly caused people to experience less knee pain, researchers think that could be the case since running helps people keep their BMI in check and their leg muscles strong. Running also strengthens bones.

In a study of 51 young people with an average age of 18, half were assigned to add running into their routines, while the other half did not (they did get some exercise, but didn't add a regular running regimen).To get the benefits associated with running, the group of runners ran at a moderate pace for 30 minutes a day, five days a week, for three weeks.

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Those in that running group were found to sleep better, show signs of improved psychological functioning, and focus better during the day.The same benefits are likely to apply to runners of any age.

We know that aerobic activity is good for the heart, so it's no surprise that running can improve cardiovascular fitness. In general, the more people run, the healthier their hearts tend to be. But you can get big benefits without having to do a lot: running just five minutes per day could add years to your life, according to a study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

There has been some concern that extreme amounts of running — we're talking ultramarathon distances — could stress or scar the heart. But a growing body of research seems to indicate that's not something to worry about. Researchers have found that people who run at least 40 miles per week have healthier hearts than those who run 13 miles a week, for example.

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If you want to keep your mind healthy as you age, research indicates exercising is one of the best things you can do.

A review of research on the cognitive-boosting effect of aerobic exercise (which in many studies was either running, jogging, or brisk walking) found that for children, running improved working memory and focus. For young adults, working memory saw a similar boost — as did task-switching ability.

A number of studies have shown that aerobic exercise can improve people's ability to cope with stress — and many of those studies focus on runners. In a review of research about exercise and stresspublished in Clinical Psychology Review, author Peter Salmon concludes that this training recruits a process which confers enduring resilience to stress.

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Researchers think this may be because aerobic exercise increases levels of neurotransmitters like serotonin and norepinephrine, and causes the brain to generate new neurons.

At a pace of 5 mph (about a 12-minute mile), a 160-pound person will burn 606 calories an hour — and a 200-pound person will burn 755 calories in that hour.

Getting 30 minutes or more of aerobic exercise on a regular basis makes people significantly less likely to die from any cause. Getting an hour or more of movement is even better, according to some research.

What's The Best Form Of Cardio For You

People who meet these exercise guidelines are significantly less likely to develop a number of forms of cancer, according to a major review of research.Running is one of the best forms of exercise there is. It pushes your cardiovascular system to work harder (making your heart muscle stronger and more efficient), it works your body's ability to use oxygen with every breath you take (your VO2 max), it even helps improve a little on your aerobic capacity (which is determined by genes) by pushing the lungs to expand a little more. It strengthens your legs, helps your arms, neck, back, hips and spine synchronize and, when you're having a blast, it also makes you feel free. In total control of your body and your life. 

Running is also a weird exercise. When done right, at cruising speed, it hardly burns any more calories than walking. This is because when you break into a run your body does so because the speed of your motion is too uncomfortable for walking and running helps your body optimize its use of resources. Experienced runners use the musculoskeletal framework of the body to transfer most of the load generated by running to the bones, with the muscles barely doing any work at all. In order for them to burn up fuel and improve their fitness they have to level up, pushing their body past its comfort zone. 

Our intercostal muscles get tired of lifting the diaphragm so we can take a deeper breath (for a look at the mechanics of breathing check this article out);

Proper Running Form Is A Lie

Each of these six reasons is underpinned by a massive number of biochemical and neurological steps that involve the creation of ATP in the body, the release and absorption of calcium ions and the hemoglobin levels in your bloodstream. The good news is that regardless of the complexity of it all, good running form minimizes the stress that's felt by the muscles which means that even if nothing else changes in your body (your heart does not get stronger with time, your VO2 Max levels remain the same, your muscles do not become resistant to fatigue) you will still see a gain in your ability to run faster, longer. 

At its very core, a great running form is designed to negate, as much as possible, the stress load of running on the body and make the task of transporting your body, at speed, under its own power, look effortless.Running is cheap, easy and reduces the risk of heart disease and early deaths. But do the health benefits outweigh those from other activities, such as walking, cycling or swimming?

A ccording to a review of evidence in the journal Progress in Cardiovascular Disease, runners live three years longer than non-runners. You don’t even have to run fast, or for long, to see a benefit. You can drink, smoke, be overweight and still reduce your risk of dying early by running – by between 25% and 40%. The authors of the review say that no other exercise has such an impact – an hour of running will, statistically speaking, increase your life expectancy by seven hours. While running regularly can’t make you immortal, the review says it is more effective at prolonging life than walking, cycling or swimming. Two of the authors of the review were also involved in a study published in 2014 that found a mere five to 10 minutes a day of running, at less than six miles an hour, reduced the risk of heart disease and early deaths from all causes. This is considerably less effort than government recommendations of 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week – which most people ignore.

Advantages Of Running By Power

The best exercise is one that you enjoy and will do. But otherwise … it’s probably running. Running is cheap, easy (as in you go out of your house and just do it) and you can’t fake it – it’s always energetic. Even a jog counts as moderately vigorous exercise. If you are time poor, you need run for only half the time to get the same benefits as other sports. Angelique Brellenthin, of the department of kinesiology at Iowa State University, one of the review’s authors, says it takes 105 minutes of walking to