It seems that many people got excited about the article in the Daily Mail about the dangers of running, and as the paper didn’t print any research or science to back the claims up I can understand why.
Before I begin I would like you to know that my primary concern with all my clients is getting results as quickly and safely as possible. I have nothing against running for recreation and I have even been a runner myself in the past. However, when it comes to fat loss, which is my clients primary concern, there are much safer and quicker ways to get results. If long steady running was the answer to fat loss then I would be using it too!
The first claim is that “long distance running decreases the size of your heart”
Dr. A. Sears quotes “Continuous duration taxing your endurance produces some unique challenges your body must overcome. It must not run out of fuel, overheat, or be overwhelmed with metabolic wastes. One of the ways that your body adapts is by gradually rebuilding your heart, lungs, blood vessels and muscles as small as possible and still have the minimum “horsepower” required. You wouldn’t build a Formula-1 car to drive in a school zone. You’d waste fuel with a Ferrari sized engine going 20 miles per hour. And you’d waste raw material to build and maintain a monster truck if you don’t carry heavy loads. Forced, continuous, endurance exercise induces your heart and lungs to “downsize” because smaller allows you to go further… more efficiently… with less rest… and less fuel.”
He continues by saying “Non-vigorous durational exercise also fails to challenge the heart and lungs to achieve and maintain the capacity necessary to respond to sudden and unexpected increases in demand.4,5 This problem worsens with aging because both lung size and cardiac output decline with age. Of even greater concern is the evidence that repeated durational challenges with low-intensity exercise may actually reduce cardiac function.6 These findings are of paramount importance in light of the fact that even moderate reductions in cardiopulmonary capacity dramatically increase the risk of disease progression and mortality.7,8
The second claim is that “running causes injury through repetitive movements”
Part of the training process here at GB Personal Training is a functional movement assessment. All clients get tested for the way they move through their natural movement patterns including joint and core stability. It is fair to say that almost all new clients fail the core stability and hip stability part of the assessment. Basically working an office job weakens these key areas. Your core musculature is what helps stabilise your lumbar spine and control your pelvis. Your hip stability ensures that your hip is in correct alignment and capable of dealing with load. Add on top of all this most peoples incorrect firing patterns resulting in the Glutes (the hips primary hip extensor) not activating before the hamstrings (the hips third hip extensor) and you have a very confused pattern of movement.
So now take this ill-functioning person and have them run thousands of steps at 2.5 times their body weight on an unsupported system and you have a recipe for disaster. Just take a look at Running magazine’s and forums and you see countless questions about shoes for weak feet, shin splints, knee problems, hip and lower back issues and even neck and shoulder problems transmitted through the body via the kinetic chain.
Truth is most of these people need some degree of correctional exercise and strengthening prior to any kind of running.
The Third Claim “Running can do the Opposite to Speeding up your Metabolism”
Increasing your metabolism is the key to fat loss. Muscle mass is an energy drain on the system. The more muscle mass you have the more energy you require for your muscles to maintain size. This is one of the reasons why strength training is vital for fat loss. Cardio training does not build muscle mass and unlike intense strength training or interval work does not create any EPOC (Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption) which is defined scientifically as the “recovery of metabolic rate back to pre-exercise levels” and “can require several minutes for light exercise and several hours for hard intervals.”
“A new study shows that the muscles of marathon runners actually shrink. When the muscle biopsies of marathon runners were analyzed, researchers found their muscle fiber size had decreased and atrophied.6″
If your intention with running is fat loss then there is now overwhelming research that shows how high intensity training (short bursts) or intense strength training are far better alternatives. One research documented below shows how fat loss was increase by 9 times in those that did intense training in comparison to steady cardio like running.
The Fourth Claim “Running can cause your body to gain fat”
Following the table by McArdle W.D. 1999. Sports & Exercise Nutrition. NY: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Resting uses 60% fat, Moderate Intensity (Running) 55% fat, High Intensity (Short Bursts) 3% fat. This looks good at first glance, steady cardio is burning more fat and this is often a misconception when training on cardio machines that state the fat burning quality. Unfortunately, once finished the fat burning stops, unlike the intensity training that continues for up to 24 hours.
Dr. A. Sears quotes “Burning fat while exercising signals to your body that it needed the fat. This trains your body to make more fat for the next time you exercise. Your body then replenishes your fat each time you eat and becomes efficient at building and preserving fat necessary for long mid-level cardiovascular sessions in preparation for the next endurance workout. In doing so, it sacrifices muscle and other high-energy burning tissues and preserves fat. So don’t bother trying to use this strategy to lose body fat. Your body will fight you in the effort and you can only do it by sacrificing lean tissue like muscle and internal organs. And if the sole purpose of the activity was to maximize the proportion of energy derived from fat, why not just rest? Notice that the body burns an even higher percentage of energy as fat (60%) while resting. The “cardio” proponents seem to overlook this fact. So durational exercise stimulates your body to build fat. Then, if you stop your “cardio,” you’ll put on fat very rapidly.”
Add on top of all this:
A groundbreaking study of long-distance runners found that after a workout, “bad” cholesterol and triglyceride levels increased, and threw blood-clotting factors off-balance, increasing inflammation and clotting. These are signs of heart distress and precursors to heart attack.9
REFERENCES
1. Williams P. Relationships of heart disease risk factors to exercise quantity and intensity. Arch Intern Med. 1998;158(3):237-245.
2. Lee IM, Hsieh, CC, Paffenparger, RS Jr. Exercise intensity and longevity in men. The Harvard Alumni Health Study. JAMA. 1995;273(15):1179-1184
3. Lee IM, Sesso HD, Paffenparger, RS Jr. Physical activity and coronary heart disease risk in men: does the duration of exercise episodes predict risk? Circulation. 2000;102(9): 981-986.
4. Baily S, Wilkerson DiMenna F, Jones A. Influence of repeated sprint training on pulmonary O2 uptake and muscle deoxygenation kinetics in humans. J Appl Physiol. 2009 Jun;106(6):1875-87.
5. Adachi H, Koike A, Obayashi T, et al. Does appropriate endurance exercise training improve cardiac function in patients with prior myocardial infarction? Eur Heart J. 1996 Oct;17(10):1511-21.
6. Oberman, A, Fletcher F, Lee J, et al. Efficacy of high-intensity exercise training on left ventricular ejection fraction in men with coronary artery disease (the Training Level Comparison Study). Am J Cardiol. 1995 Oct 1;76(10):643-7.
7. Schunemann H, et al. Pulmonary function is a long-term predictor of mortality in the general population: 29-year follow-up of the Buffalo Health Study. Chest. 2000 Sep;118(3):656-64.
8. Kannel WB, Seidman JM, Fercho W, Castelli WP. Vital Capacity and Congestive Heart Failure. The Framingham Study. Circulation. 1974;49(6):1160-1166.
9. Liu et al. “A marathon run increases the susceptibility of LDL to oxidation in vitro and modifies plasma antioxidants. American Journal of Physiology, Endocrinology and Metabolism. 1999. 276(6): E1083-E1091.
10. Sedlock, Darlene, et al. effect of exercise intensity and duration on postexercise energy & Exercise. 1989.
11. Tabata I, Nishimura K, et al. effects of moderate-intensity endurance and high-intensity intermittent training on anaerobic capacity and VO2max. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1996 Oct;28(10):1327-30.
12. Hetland ML, Haarbo J, et al. Low bone mass and high bone turnover in male long distance runners. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Vol. 77, 770-775, 1993.
13. Schuenke MD, Mikat RP, McBride JM.Effect of an acute period of resistance exercise on excess post-exercise oxygen consumption: implications for body mass management. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2002 Mar;86(5):411-7. Epub 2002 Jan 29.
14. Kramer, Volek et al. Influence of exercise training on physiological and performance changes with weight loss in men. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., Vol. 31, No. 9, pp. 1320-1329, 1999.
15. Bryner RW, Ullrich IH, Sauers J, Donley D, Hornsby G, Kolar M, Yeater R.Effects of resistance vs. aerobic training combined with an 800 calorie liquid diet on lean body mass and resting metabolic rate. J Am Coll Nutr. 1999 Apr;18(2):115-21.
16. Metabolism 1994; 43: 814-818
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