Nature’s Plan on How you Need to Run (and not Jog!)
Ok….this is how I run. I get out on a trail with no Ipod and just go. No Heart rate monitors, no cell phones, no knee braces, no water bottles, no fancy clothing, no fancy shoes….just me and nature one on one. There is no pacing….as you can’t when you are running up and down hills. There are no rules….as you can stop and enjoy the scenery. Sometimes you just have to open it up….and then run till you have to stop. It’s almost like the best planned out interval cardio program, ankle mobility training, plyometric exercises, agility drills…..all in just one simple package, a trail. Funny….how the more we try to come up with the perfect training and programming in artificial training environments….the more we might just realize that nature had the perfect plan and gym all along, and we just need to get back to it.
Get off the Pavement and Go Hit a Trail
Look at many of the reasons why you should be running a trail:
- It’s away from anything that could possibly stress you out (unless you are being chased by a bear)
- It’s not boring….as you have to run up and down, left and right, jump rocks and roots, dodge trees….or would you rather be looking at straight pavement and a long road?
- You work everything…from your ankles, to your calves, to your hamstrings, to your quads….with everything you need to do it’s a full lower body workout (heck stop and do some pushups every now and then and you get a full body workout)
- Grass and dirt are natural cushioning….absorbs force….pavement does not. Which do you think you body would prefer?
- When’s the last time you just stopped and stared at a road or treadmill was inspired by all it had to offer? Now try looking at a running stream, open grass field, deer running along side of you or anything nature has to offer.
Jogging is not Running
Seriously I saw the other day 2 women out getting their exercise. One was walking briskly, the other was “jogging”….and they were both going the same pace to talk to each other. Why are you bouncing up and down when you can walk the same speed? Don’t tell me it raises your HR or burns more calories because it doesn’t when compared to quick walking. What it does do is dramatically increase the pressure you put on your foot, ankle, knees and hips and whole body. Want to guess which person will probably have knee problems in a month or so? Give you a hint…it won’t be the walker.
Jogging is not my idea of health. Most joggers I know have to wear special inserts because their feet hurt….or knee braces because their knees hurt…..or have surgery soon after starting jogging. What does that tell you?
Running is NOT the same as jogging. Here’s the difference. Running is putting your foot out in front of you while you pull your body forward and then exploding horizontally. Jogging is bouncing up and down with more movement vertically than horizontally. Running uses your quads to help absorb vertical forces while the hamstrings are activated for horizontal power. Jogging overdevelops your quads as it is mostly vertical forces and does not activate your hamstrings from the lack of real horizontal acceleration. (muscle imbalances of the quad and hamstring are the best road to go for knee injuries). Hence why joggers have no real speed….they bounce and their body doesn’t know how to go any faster (by bouncing more? Wrong).
Want to know how you should run? Then go walk fast up a hill. Let your body get “pulled” up the hill. Now….go try and run. With the CNS warmup you just did from the hill walking you will explode out of the gates….that’s because you hamstrings are now firing.
Moral of the story: Don’t bounce your way around (aka jogging), go Run! Your knees will thank you.
Get Away from all Stress, Distractions and Back to Nature
This is the most appealing part of why I want to get out there. I don’t want to be looking at cars, seeing traffic, breathing carbon monoxide…I want the exact opposite. I want to see trees, animals, running water and to just be left alone to experience it one on one. This is my meditation time….letting my mind just wander. Nature doesn’t care about what stress I have, it doesn’t care about the state of the economy, it doesn’t care about my bills, it doesn’t care about my work deadlines or pressures….it’s just there doing what is always does everyday stress free (a lesson we can all learn). I don’t bring the Ipod, not carrying my cell phone, there are no distractions, just getting back to the natural instincts we have inside of us suffocating from lack of exposure to the natural environments and stimulus.
It’s in these moments that I have my best insights (like what to write about next on the blog), ideas and inspirations, whatever may be weighing in my subconscious as the mind can now do a little housecleaning and get rid of stuff I didn’t even know I was thinking/worrying about…..when does that happen while on the treadmill at the gym with all the noise from radios, TVs and people walking around talking. Maybe I always have those inspirations and ideas floating around me….but I just needed to quiet down all the outside noise and distractions to realize what was there inside all along, as we have all our answers we will even need inside and around us all the time…..we just can’t hear them until things quiet down.
There are No Rules – You Make Your Own Path Each Time
Maybe today I run the trail to the left….maybe today I start to the right….lots of options for mini trails all over the place…or maybe today I just make my own. Sometimes I start slower….sometimes I start faster. Look the hill, time to sprint it. An open field….time to run like the wind. A stream….time to stop and take in the moment. I don’t care about steady pacing….times….heart rates. I am just getting in synch with nature, my own body and what they both are going to tell me to do…..nothing like seeing a part of the trail and just hearing “go for it” from the back of your mind. Sometimes I’m doing more sprint intervals with lots of stops/walking to recovery….some other days I’d rather pace a little better and finish off strong….it’s up to me and what my body is telling me. My workouts are usually 30-45min long and I finish feeling great and leave it all on the trail. Running on treadmills, a track, or down a road never made me feel that good or left me inspired…..trails do all the time.
All the Best Modern Training Programs in One “Free” Package
Well you can pay endless trainers and professionals $100s per hour for specialized instructions or buy $1000s worth or specialized training equipment….or go get it for free.
- Speed Work – Go sprint up the hill a few times, tell me if that doesn’t improve your overall speed and power
- Agility Work – Running up (or down) a trail that zig-zags and is full of rocks and roots is a great way to learn how to move your feet pretty fast in all directions (or you will fall on your butt hard…that’s always good motivation to stay up)
- Plyometric Work – Push Hard and explode when hitting the steepest parts of the trail or bound when coming down the hill exploding and quickly transitioning side to side (mostly to avoid that tree that is coming….not running into something is another great motivational training tool)
- Works all Muscles – There is no way you will have weak ankles, quads or hamstrings if you are out seriously running a trail a couple times a week.
The only specialized equipment I have with me is an old backpack and some weights/plates (or make your own weight….load it up with books…a rock…water jug…whatever you like)….for the days I would rather add in some weighted hill hiking. (Heck maybe I’ll even do some weighted lunging up a hill….now that is brutal)
You Can find a Trail most Anywhere
I live in Metro Atlanta area….it’s flat, there are no mountains, but the best trail is right around the corner from my house and down by the river. Heck I never even knew it was there until like 3 months ago! If you look around I am sure there are some great places that you can go locally without having to take a trip to the Rockies.
Burn Fat, Build Muscle
I could go into all the technical aspects such as improved GH response and post workout fatty acid oxidation with interval training protocols and how explosive movements builds up fast twitch muscle fibers which will elevate your long term fat burning ability….but that’s so boring right? In the end, I keep my workouts with varied intensity, mostly in a fasted state and under 45min max….most are only 30min but I am going hard and may even have to take a few times to walk to catch my breath. Have fun with it and see what happens.
Great for Any Level
I know I talk about running here, but if you are not that advanced or just starting out with exercise you can go walking/hiking. The key is just making it a fun and relaxing (for the mind) yet strenuous/invigorating (for the body) experience. Walk as fast as you can up those hills. Stop or slow down if you need to….remember it’s what you can do that counts. Some days I don’t feel like running so I change it up and put on the backpack with a couple 25lb plates in it and go hike some hills. Now that’s a completely different and great workout altogether. Walking fast up the hill with another 50lbs really works the muscles in a new way. Change and variety is good. Just remember there is no one right way, just go out and experience the workout your body is telling you to do today. Go at what pace you can safely do….as if you twist your ankle or run into a tree, don’t come back and blame me cause I told you to go do it.
Enjoy what you do….and whatever you do….get out in nature…leave the Ipod at home…..run….walk…..hike…..but don’t “jog” please.
photo by melomane
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26 Reader Comments
Great post…..
This is a really great article and has inspired me with my running. I usually do the exact same thing as this (except I grab my iPod) and just hit the road for 20-35 mins and run about, throw in sprints/jumping squats, pushups and pullups anywhere I can. After hearing everyone slag off cardio this article was well needed!! many Thanks!!
Hey, great post! I absolutely love trail running, and completely agree with ALMOST this whole post.But I wanted to say that Not every expensive piece of ‘cardio equipment’ is worthless. I have an expensive elliptical machine in my apartment because (1) sometimes I get snowed in and can’t leave home, (2) sometimes I can’t do anything else. I injured a hip a few years ago( dancing) and there are times that it will act up and I can’t risk tripping, and 3) I’m a nightowl and sometimes I just need to burn off some energy in the middle of the night and I just can’t go out. I do NOT think it’s a good thing to have as your only form of exercise, but it’s nice to have just in case.
again, love the post!
Hedda – actually never said cardio equipment is worthless, just can’t compare to being out in nature in my book. But it has a role as you will feel better knocking out 20min on the elliptical vs doing nothing at all. Of course I should say put on the snowshoes, get a head lamp and sprint your way around in the dead of winters night….now that would be fun! Just trying to inspire people to get outside more and leave the distractions at home….as there is so much we can take from it even if it’s just walking/hiking.
Fantastic post, i totally agree, you know my best shape is always in the summer, and it’s not because i program my training to show my body at the beach, no, nothing of the kind. It’s because, i train at the beach, i train without training, let me explain. I don’t go to the beach with a workout in mind, but i end up having a workout, i swimm, a walk and run in the sand, inside the water, i run up the dunes, the beach where i usually go, has miles of sand and dunes , it has the ocean and a lagoon (i think i’ve spelled right) and i simply spend my days in the beach running, climbing, swimming, and i also don’t eat during the hours at the beach, i basically only have dinner and drink lots and lots of water, after a few days, i have more muscle, i’m more ripped, and i have good physical condition, i just feel fantastic. During winter, i alternate, i go to the gym 2/3 months and i train off the gym another 2/3 months, doing only bodyweight exercises, like handstand presses, chins, sprints, gymnastic exercises etc…
Nothing like nature
Helder – sounds like a great plan….I’d love to be able to train on the beach every day as well! Exercise and Life should blend together naturally….it’s then that all things come together.
Wow, speaking of training on the beach, I was just making a plan yesterday to revamp my diet and training. My cousin developed this time management system which made me think of my ultimate goal: to be chilling in goa beach, writing all day long, with a new physique.
Anyways, i hope I can find a closer trail, as there is a man-made park with a few trails which is 20 minute drive. Thanks for the awesome post!
Great post Mike.
I live blocks away from the San Gabriel Mountains (CA). I grab the dog and we do sprints up there.
She’s a great buddy to train with.
Unlimited energy, pulls/pushes me to run faster, and is always happy and enthusiastic about “training”.
Best,
Coop
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[...] you have a big dinner with drinks (wine/beer) etc and over indulge go for aquick run fasted in the morning, this will help flush the toxins out of your body and burn up last nights [...]
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[...] Start Trail Running [...]
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Mike,
yet another persausive post. The point about forward momentum as opposed to bouncing hits the nail on the head: the purpose is, after all, to move forwards, and cover distance.
In terms of pace how with you differentiate running from jogging. Where would you draw the line – at 6,7,8, 9 or 10mph for example. I apprciate that each person operates within their own boundaries but, once a base level of fitness is acquired, are there certain thresholds to aspire to, which provide optimum benefits. For example x mph for running and y mph for sprinting. Or covering 100 metres in x number of seconds.
Paul.
Paul – I honestly don’t know my speeds (as I never use a treadmill) but I go in terms of how long I can sustain it…like 95% is probably 15 seconds…….30sec is more 85% effort…….3 min is 75%…etc. Just from going to a track in the past I can pretty much know what pace I run at and how long I can sustain it (400meters is about 1:15 effort…..800 meters is about 3 min of effort)….I don’t jog really….and I don’t want to for the most part. I’d rather run for 3min…..slow it down…..and repeat. Once in a while I’ll just go at a slower pace for 20min to just get out in nature….or because I am doing it fasted. All depends on my mood but I’d rather go with intensity more often and relax as needed.
Mike,
Thanks for your response. It gives me feel for the level of intensity you are referring to.
I am actually finding it quite fun doing shorter, faster runs – there’s a sense of freedom to not being tied down to a set distance or time. – and it actually feels quite good running a little quicker. I am planning on doing 1 longer run a week, trying to cover the distance in a shorter period of time – with a view to getting the long run down 45 minutes. By long, I mean about 7 miles. Otherwise I shall mix and match with quicker miles, interval runs and a few 30 minute slower paced runs.
Do you think it important that you include some weight bearing exercise – like running, walking, etc, for strengthening the skeleton? as opposed to an over emphashis on activities like cycling, swimming, etc.
Paul.
Hey Paul, have you ever read Bill Galloway’s book of running?
Back when I used to do some long distant running, I found it awesome. Instead of upping the daily training mileage forever, he would recommend endurance athletes have a long (and increasingly so if training for an event until you were actually running about 10% further distance than the event itself) run/walk session every 2 weeks, with a variety of shorter runs in the interim including, I believe, either a fast or an interval or fartlek run every other week as well.
Plus rest days. Definitely those.
He felt this allowed an athlete to be as well equipped to cover long distances as those building up to the 10 miles a day on average, 70 miles a week, but with less overall mileage. So a marathoner would actually only build up to maybe 40-45 miles tops, but be as well conditioned due to the long run/walks.
I’m not saying you should follow Galloway’s approach, but just throwing it out there so you know there’s more than one way to skin a cat as it were. Galloway believes in “specificity” in training, whatever you’re training for, and I can’t argue with that.
I know your question about weight bearing exercise was directed at Mike not myself, and that’s as it should be. He’s the expert here and I’m more or less passing info on from experts I haven’t tested myself, at least in my next thought.
But I was reading an article on Military.com about how they recommend Navy SEAL recruits prepare themselves for the rigours of the 6-month BUD/S training. For what it’s worth, people who swim a lot ace that part of the course, but find they get shin splints and so forth when doing lots of running and often can’t finish the course. Likewise, weight lifters don’t do well with the running and often drop out of the course, and runners with the swimming and water work, etc.
I know neither of our goals is to be a SEAL Commando, but it seems to me there’s gotta be some body adaptation going on with the weight bearing exercise and I have to imagine that it’s good to have some in your regimen.
Even calisthenics (bodyweight exercises) are “weight bearing”. The SEAL article recommended lots of that prior to the course, because it’s how they train: light, fast, powerful.
Mix it up, they all have advantages and can also help to not have repetitive movement injuries pop up.
Christoph,
Thanks for your input: I welcome your views.
I haven’t read Bill Galloways book. It sounds plausible.
My objective is to be healthy, first and foremost: to be able to enjoy life and whatever activity I care to indulge in. I won’t deny that I wouldn’t mind looking a little more svelte and toned – but I think that will come when I find the right mix. I do strongly believe that a good diet is a vital foundation.
I enjoy being able to run, but its not the be all and end all for me. I came across an article some while back where someone was training to be able to run a mile in 5 minutes. Their rationale was that this could be achieved by short, but intensive training sessions – based, I think from memory on, on sets of 200m sprints. I suspect if you could attain a fitness level where you were capable of running 1 five minute mile a day that might be all the running you ever needed to do. My objective is more modest, to be a able to run a mile in 6 minutes, 10k in 45 minutes and a half marathon in 1.45. I wouldn’t see myself regularly running distances beyond 10k.
With regard to weight bearing exercises, I was in part thinking aloud. I do think swimming and cycling are fine for aerobic fitness but are perhaps not the most natural forms of exercise. They can though add a little variety to the mix,a nd represent a new challenge.
Mike – I do believe in varying exercise to make things more interesting and in order to avoid repetitive movement injuries. I try to listen to my body: I have had one cold in the past 3 years and, touch wood, haven’t really had in other injuries at all. Hopefully that isn’t tempting fate. what has surprised me is that my legs appear to be relatively weak in comparison to the rest of my body – that may be due to over use.
Paul.
There’s something called the “aquatic ape” theory: That humans spent a time in our evolution at or near the ocean, and so developed certain anatomical structures different than other primates. Fat bonded to skin for insulation in water (like whales, unlike monkeys), hair growth direction streamlined for swimming, and more.
Human babies swim and know how to hold their breath, they can float with their body fat, and other primates at this age can do none of this.
This is a controversial theory, not mainstream, but the prevailing theory indicates we spent time by the ocean eating an Omega-3 fatty acid rich diet high in DHA, which allowed us to develop such powerful brains… whether we were consummate swimmers or not.
So I’d have to disagree with you about swimming (although I don’t like cycling, personally)!
Christoph,
Fair point. I suppose I was being a little lazy or imprecise with my terminlogy. To be more precise I suppose I should have said that walking and running appear to be far the most natural forms of exercise.
Humans can become pretty adept swimmers – but I would suspect that plenty of dangers lurked in the water and that early man may have swam more out of necessity – to cross a barrier, for example. For the most part I guess they kept close to the shore.
Paul.
Paul, I’m digressing a bit here as it’s off the topic of fitness… we’re only talking 50-100,000 years ago. They’d have had the same sea creatures then as now and today people swim around the shore in every warm country.
Plus the ocean shoreline is a huge rich often easily harvested food source. I’d be leery in assuming humans living along the coast didn’t swim. What primate swims as well as man? None. Or can swim as babies? Only us.
I agree with your comment that it is better to run then to jog, but I think you need to look at POSE method of running. There are lots of info on both Crossfit.com, Crossfitendurance.com and posetech.com in regards to this style of running. Placing your foot out in front of you just creates more work and more damage.
Swimming, cycling , etc.. what about the marathons?
[...] can still go for a run (I enjoy trial running…as seen in my post on nature’s plan on how to run), ride your bike (I also enjoy mountain biking), go swimming, play tennis, or whatever you enjoy. [...]