Don’t Run to Get Fit, Get Fit to Run!

Can you guess the sport that will injure over
60% of its participants?

Nope, not football.  Nor is it extreme dodgeball.  In fact, it’s running.

Shocked? 
Well, I’m not.  Look at the litany
of injuries that occur whenever people prepare for marathons, half marathons,
etc.  I’ve known several people that have
injured themselves during running, only to say that they can “tough it
out.”  You only have one body, and I’m
always surprised how people try to brush off injuries when a proper program
shouldn’t injure you in the first place.

To make it clear, this post isn’t for those that
are already dedicated runners.  If this
means you, just make sure you lift weights at least twice a week, and don’t
abuse your body with repeated long runs.

For those that don’t enjoy running (like me) or
are out of shape, running is one of riskiest ways to try and achieve your
fitness goals.  But before going further,
I want to explore why people take up running, and why they’re most likely to
get hurt.

Many look at running as the path of least
resistance to “getting fit.”  If you look
at the elite runners out there, they all tend to be slender, and in a culture
that’s obsessed with body image, it’s very tempting to say “I want to look like
that.”

Then, as people take up running, they want to
run faster.  You start to think “I
currently run 3 miles in 25 minutes, if I start running 6 miles, I can run
those 3 miles in 21 minutes!”  Well,
that’s not quite how it works, and I have the heel spurs in both feet to prove
it.

According to the SAID principle (specific
adaptions to imposed demands), your body just learns to run longer, not
faster.  Sure, if you haven’t been active
in some time, you will see gains if you pack on the mileage.  But,
at the end of the day, you’re not teaching your body to run faster…you’re cranking
up the volume and risks of injury.

Now, you have that same person who was
overweight and deconditioned running several miles almost everyday, with no
focus on actually getting stronger.  If that same
individual had came to me and said “I want to lose weight,” I’m pretty sure I
would have been fired immediately if I told them to jump on each foot 1,000 times in
a row.  Yet, that’s exactly what people
are doing when they run.

Is all running terrible?  Of course not, and for many people that like
to run, they should definitely lace up the sneaks and get after it.  However, only run after you have prepared your
body for the pounding that will ensue. 
This means achieving appropriate ankle mobility (people lose the ability
to dorsiflex, or point their foot to their knee, as they get older), knee
stability, hip mobility, and a few others. 
Also, if you have sufficient one leg strength, and core strength, you’re
well on your way to increasing your odds of being injury free.

Not everyone is made to run, and that’s totally OK.  If you want to run faster, the answer is
intervals and nothing more.  Intervals
suck and you may think lifting weights is boring, but often times what you want to do is far
different from what you should do.