Sarahs Weightloss Blog

Want to know the ’secret’ to losing weight, getting better body composition and increasing your fitness quickly? Well the answer is a better diet and exercise – no secrets there – but out of all the exercises I’ve done, I’ve found jogging 1 – 2 times a week alongside other low impact exercises (biking and cross training), is what has changed my body shape and improved my fitness the most in the shortest space of time.  However there are some things to consider when you are quite large and thinking of taking up jogging, but there are a number of benefits which for me outweigh any negatives of doing it.  Here are some things to consider before you take it up, and some ways to get started.

1. Heavy Impact

The main thing to consider before taking up jogging isn’t really your fitness, since if you push yourself hard you will be able to go further next time and will improve rapidly, but jogging is high impact for small light people and for a heavy person this impact is infinitely higher.  Thus many people recomend that heavy people shouldn’t jog.  However the way I see it is, that perhaps the benefit of jogging (losing weight, getting healthy and improving cardiovascular fitness) and the long term health benefits it brings outweighs the potential risk of say shin splints.  In reply to that however the experts say that there are plenty of non-impact alternatives – cross training for instance or biking which provide the same benefit.  However it is up to you – if you find you’re not getting all you want from these exercises, or you want to try something new, then by all means try jogging.  From my experience, I started jogging when I was about 30kgs overweight, and did get some aches and pains, but these subsided with rest.  What I would recommend however is to be VERY CAREFUL when jogging outside on hard surfaces – OUCH is all I can say! Try and jog on grass or gravel if outside – less impact.  But the treadmill at the gym is very soft and takes some impact and I’ve found no joint or shin pain when jogging this way, up to 6 kms at a steady pace.

Oh, almost forgot, you will need a good pair of running shoes, not some old pair that aren’t for running – PROPER RUNNING SHOES – OK? Otherwise you could really do yourself some damage. Jogging in a good soft supportive pair of running shoes is a whole different world. In UK, everyone uses ASICS – they’re great and you don’t have a to break the bank to get a good pair, like £40 – £75.  Also if you want you can go to a specialist jogging shop, where they can analyse your gait while jogging and fit you with a pair of decent running shoes which suit your style of jogging.

2. Getting Started

Now the disclaimer is out the way, if you want to give it a go, I would just get on the treadmill and just try to slowly take your speed up to where you have to go faster than just walking to keep up – this is your slowest jogging pace. I started at 7kms/hr.  Just try and keep it up for as long as you possibly can and record how far you get (try for 1km).  Then a week later, do it again and see if you get further.  If it gets too easy, put up the speed.  Once in a while, try and really push yourself to get the best results. My PT in response to my interest in starting jogging put me on the treadmill to do 3kms starting at 7km/hr, then steadily increasing it to 8.5km/hr – it was the first time I had ever jogged for longer than 3 minutes and that was HARD! but it really worked! Next time I was on there for 3kms at 8.5km/hr all the way, now I’m doing it at 9.5km/hr and plan to run it next time at 10.5km/hr.  Also I intersperse sprints in the mix – running 1km as fast as I can, have a break for as long as I want, then run another km, until I’ve done 3-4kms in total.  I started these sprints at 7-8km/hr, now I running them at 10-12km/hr; I’m working up do doing all 4km sprints at 12km/hr.

Remember that jogging is HARD when you first start out, but you feel really alive and are buzzing when you finish, thinking ’so what’s next? – BRING IT ON BABY!’, not that you want a lie down and something to eat.  Be warned, jogging can be quite addictive

3. Running Club – me?

When you have some experience and little confidence that you can jog a few km’s, then join a beginners running club.  We requested a beginners running club at the gym and got it, since many of us couldn’t jog for a whole hour at 12km/hr without breaking a sweat! We go out for 30mins and do a combination of things.  Like jog really slowly to the lake, then do a few short sprints at our own pace a few times (with walking breaks in between), then slowly jog, yesterday we did a few hills (eeek! – managed it though, just!), then a few sprints, then a short slow jog back.  Its really fun, relaxing yet exhilirating, the time just flys by and you burn around 400 Kcals maybe more!

4. Self Conscious?

A lot people, not only those who are overweight (yes true, size 8 to 20 – everyone) are terrified of jogging, since they are afraid that other people are looking at them and will think or say nasty things about how they look.  The truth is that no one looks great when they jog, and no one cares. I’m large and have never had any problems, if I did, I would just run past them a bit faster. Also I’ve found that on a weekend there are loads of joggers out, of all shapes and sizes, and you just blend in.  If you are still self conscious, then in a group (like a running club) you have more support if you encounter any trouble (which you won’t).

5. My Goal.

About a week ago I said I would try and get my running time to 30mins or below for 5kms in 2 weeks.  I haven’t done a new time yet as I have been trying to take my speed up with the running club, which I started recently (3 weeks ago).  Its working, as jogging outside is harder than inside on the treadmill and I tend to have to go faster than usual to keep up.  I will see if this has helped me improve my time on Friday. Fingers crossed I can run the 5km at mostly 10km/hr! Wish me luck guys!

Till next time . . .