Running sucks. I don’t care what you say but there’s nothing genuinely enjoyable about pounding pavement for 10 kilometres straight while trying to block out the pain by blasting a playlist through some headphones.
Sure, the endorphins after a run are great but not even that buzz is worth it for me.
Even though I think runners are slightly insane, I’ve always admired them. It takes a special brand of insanity, a lot of willpower, and super fitness to enjoy that kind of exercise.
But it turns out that running isn’t the best way to get fit. In fact, it’s the worst way to improve fitness.
-gif- shocked and elated tbh
If you want to get in shape, skip the marathon and sprint to the nearest weight room.
Speaking to Vice, Lee Boyce, a strength coach and owner of Boyce Training Systems in Toronto, explained that running for fat lost (like many people do) is ineffective.
“That’s usually what the mentality is, that it’s a way to get leaner and lose weight, but doing other things outside of running will probably have a better effect at catalysing that result,” he said.
Lee’s golden tip for fat-loss is the same as any good trainer out there: compound strength exercises. Stuff like squats, deadlifts, shoulder presses – the things that use your big muscles and activate your whole body.
The more weights you lift, the stronger our bodies become and a strong body is the best way to prevent injuries, increase metabolism, burn fat, and stay mobile and functional especially as we get older.
Running is hard on your body but not in a constructive way – it puts a lot of excessive strain on your muscles and joints but doesn’t build proper strength. Cardiovascular endurance? Sure. But there are other ways to get your heart rate up and maintain your fitness levels that don’t ruin your knees. Specifically, interval or circuit training.
This type of cardio training keeps your heart rate up “but you get more benefits because you’re actually challenging your muscles against resistance, which will burn more calories, potentiate a lot more fat loss, and raise your metabolism,” Lee explained.
The man is right: studies have consistently shown that weight training and sprinting are more effective than running at targeting stubborn fat and creating a good internal environment for fat loss (i.e. it balances your hormones out).
The science is pretty technical (I won’t bore you with that) but the takeaway message is stupidly simple: running is good for cardio because weights and circuits are better. They still make you breathe hard but they help your body in more ways than a evening jog ever will.
Just love to run? Don’t want to give it up? That’s fine – you do you. Just do you at a faster pace, for shorter time, and lift some heavy things where you can.
