Table of Contents
1. Your own cruise control
Are you completely untrained? Then you should ignore kilometers or speed and just start running instead.
The pace: a bit faster than when walking briskly. If it gets tiring or you run out of breath, take a walk break. Once you get your breath back, increase the pace again. Your breath determines the pace – it’s as simple as that.
Tip: lengthen the running phases and shorten the walking breaks from training to training. Training with a heart rate monitor is ideal for those who are inexperienced in running. The watch on your wrist shows you your heart rate all the time.
For women, things are going well when your heart beats between 130 and 170 times a minute. The older you are, the lower the pulse should be.
2. Get some fresh air
The thing about breathing is very simple: don’t give it a thought. Because our breathing frequency and depth regulates itself. The carbon dioxide content in our exhaled air is decisive. If the concentration increases, we automatically breathe faster. Therefore: let it breathe! By the way, you get more air through your mouth.
3. The Fat-Off Extra
If you want to get slimmer while running, you should know that well-trained muscles also increase daily energy consumption. That’s why sports scientists recommend a mix of strength training and endurance training for those who want to lose weight – sometimes easy, sometimes intensive. A regular muscle workout leads to an increase in muscle mass. And this is associated with a permanent increase in calorie consumption. Even when at rest, muscles have a significantly higher energy requirement than fat tissue. Every extra pound of muscle mass increases the daily basal metabolic rate (energy consumption at rest) by up to 50 kilocalories.
4. Workout for the feet
Mile after mile they run around unnoticed – and that’s why your feet deserve a little extra training session.
Let’s get started: stand barefoot, support your hands on your hips, bend one leg slightly, lift the other leg with your knee forward to about the horizontal, your lower leg hangs loosely down. Alternately balance each leg three times for one minute. Experts bend the supporting leg lower and only stand on tiptoe. Trains the foot muscles from the heel to the toes as well as the ankles.
5. Cheating
Always running? If you find that too boring, you can supplement your training with other sports. Biking replaces a relaxed endurance run. Due to the lower intensity, one hour of cycling counts as a 30-minute run. Ideal if your legs are still heavy from the day before. Hiking is the equivalent of a long jog, because the cardiovascular system has to work properly when trekking for hours. Three hours count as 80 minutes of easy running. With aqua jogging, you run against the water resistance using a buoyancy aid .
It’s exhausting: 30 minutes of intense training in the pool is equivalent to a brisk 30-minute run.
