The Great RUNNING Debate... Can Running Be Bad For You?

A friend saw this picture and thought of my blog (thank you!) ... what do you think? 

I know what I ORIGINALLY thought -- that this was an exaggeration of the truth.  To be fair, any form of exercise has some benefit, whether cleaning the house on a Saturday or running on a treadmill.  With that said, I think this illustration holds some validity.  I mean... running DOES put alot of stress on your knees and ankles.  But... I had to perform further research around the other claims.

What I found is an article published by NBC Today back in December 2012 about the dangers of long distance running (read article here).  According to Dr. James O'Keefe, head of preventive cardiology at the Mid America Heart Institute and lead author of the British Heart Journal, evidence shows that endurance sports like running may actually hurt the heart in the long-term.  His claim is based on research studies showing subtle signs of heart damage in marathon runners tested right after the end of their races.  See, running increases the blood-pumping function of the heart and places extra stress on the muscle.  While the heart can heal from the damage if given breaks in between runs, continuous running year after year could cause irreparable damage and scarring.

The most frightening evidence in his study?  Marathon runners were found to have the same life expectancy as couch potatoes!  

So what's the answer?  Apparently, the best way to prolong your life is by vigorously exercising – but for no more than an hour a day.  While running may not be bad, running long distances may not be the best idea.  All the more reason to throw in ALOT of weight training.  Feel free to refer to the illustration above if you have forgotten my argument that quickly, it's my "juice" and I plan to use it when convincing others to lift weights from now on [insert evil laugh sound here].

Interesting Article -- Some Foods Are Healthier Than You (AND I) Think...

I spend alot of time tracking what I eat and looking for new ways to keep my protein up and carbs down without sacrificing taste.  Sure, boiled chicken breasts are lean and mean, but tasteless as well (in my opinion of course).  But if I broil a chicken breast with lemon, black pepper and sage on top, it tastes much better and is still good for me.  Eating healthy doesn't have to be a horrible experience.  Food can be healthy AND tasty at the same time (read my article about that here).  But anyhoo, I digress...

Today, I came across an interesting article on one of my favorite nutrition and wellness websites:  http://www.ivillage.com.  iVillage has a whole slew of topics on their site, but I read their "Health" section on a pretty regular basis.  The article I read was titled, "50 Foods That Are Healthier Than You Think".  Nutrition experts were asked to share the unhealthy foods that may be better for our bodies than we actually realize, and turns out there are 50.  Here are some highlights that caught my attention:

Pasta

Moderate glycemic index, high in folic acid, and naturally low in fat

Chocolate Milk

Yummy, and a good post-workout recovery drink

Iceberg Lettuce

Higher in alpha-carotene (antioxidant) than spinach

Dandelions

Apparently good for your liver and your digestion (interesting)

Beer

Moderate intake (1 per day for women, 2 for men) is good for your brain, heart and bones

There were 45 others included as well, so make sure you go read the entire post.  In the meantime, who's ready to go pull and cook up some dandelions!?

Don't Skip the Cardio! (You NEED that too)

I promote weight lifting because I believe in it.  It's what I do.  It's my "thing".  At the same time, though, I also feel compelled to ensure my friends and family also know that weight lifting cannot be your only method of exercise.  Cardio is important!  And for many a reason, not just one.  But to name a few...

1. Weight lifting is not a high calorie burner.  And you need to burn calories to lose weight.
2. Cardio is good for your heart.  Your heart is a muscle too.  
3. Adding muscle has longer term weight maintenance results, but cardio is more immediate.  

Think of cardio like oil changes.  Oil changes are pretty affordable and simple, but critical to your car's maintenance.  You need oil changes fairly frequently, but if you get them regularly, your car stays in good shape longer and you likely won't have to spend tons of money on preventable repairs.  But, if you don't change your oil when you should, you could ruin your engine and have to replace it, which is REALLY expensive.  Cardio is like that.  Three times per week keeps your heart and body healthy and running smoothly.  It also scares off weight gain (in combination with a healthy diet of course).  But if you don't do cardio, you will slowly put on weight and 20 lbs later, you are wondering what happened.

In order to maintain a healthy weight, I propose you incorporate a mix of strength training and cardio into your routine.  Cardio allows you to strengthen your heart and burn those calories you need to burn to lose weight and body fat.  But a wise person knows that adding strength training into your routine will allow you to build lean muscle, which burns more calories 24/7, not just on a treadmill.

My rule of thumb?  I try to do ~45 minutes of cardio two to three times a week.  I spin at the gym, walk/run (in intervals), play football... SOMETHING that gets my heart pumping in that 65% to 85% max heart rate range.  It helps me burn calories and control my weight now, and then I lift weights to build lean muscle to burn calories later.

A Trick to Building Lean Muscle

I've been a self-proclaimed strength training "enthusiast" since college.  It was my trick to fighting off that "Freshman 15", and maintaining my physique.  With extra lean muscle, I quickly learned I could eat what I wanted (sort of) and not gain a bunch of weight (read Why Women Should Lift Weights).

I started researching weightlifting 101 back in college and slowly formulated my training plan, adjusting as I went and paying close attention to how my body would respond.  In summer 2008, after completing my junior year, that's when I probably noticed my physique started to change.  I started to see more definition in my abs and arms, and my leg muscles started to increase in size.  It's a slow process, but today, I can certainly see a difference in my overall physique and I would attribute that to one of my tricks to building lean muscle...

...begin each workout with compound exercises, and leave the isolation exercises for the latter half of your workout.

So, what exactly does this mean?  Well, remember how I split my workouts into "push", "pull", and "legs"? (read about my workout split here)  Each of my workouts is targeting a specific muscle group, and my trick is to incorporate compound exercises into the beginning of the workout, and slowly shift to isolation exercises.

For instance, take "legs" day.  If you've done any amount of research, you've probably noticed most leg workouts start with squats.  Why are squats such an effective exercise?   Because it works multiple leg muscles at the same time.  This is what "compound" essentially means -- you are working multiple muscles during the same exercise.  Other examples are push ups (chest, triceps) and pull ups (back, biceps).

Compound exercises like squats are great because they work the entire leg while also burning more calories in the process.  A squat works your quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves, hip flexors, etc.  To build muscle, you need to stimulate your muscles and then exhaust them. But isolating a particular muscle can result in weak areas that you may neglect.  For example, leg extensions solely work your quad, but forgetting about your hamstrings, calves, etc. limits muscle gains and increases likelihood of injury.  A squat ensures you are working EVERYTHING.  And working EVERYTHING MEANS MORE CALORIES BURNED.

The way I've slowly gained muscle is through compound exercises, that's my trick.  I would encourage you to take a look at your training plan and ensure you are starting with compound exercises.  Isolation exercises aren't as effective as compound exercises, proven fact.  Google it.