3 Reasons Why Jogging Doesn’t Work

Jogging (any other type of long, slow, long-distance training) is not an optimal training method. It can be downright bad for you. I said it there. Here’s why.

1. It doesn’t help you look good (this one is big, isn’t it?)

It’s time to be more honest… the main reason people want to start an exercise program is to look good. Nothing wrong with that.

Sure, most people don’t want to look like a professional bodybuilder and most just want to look toned. I would guess that an ideal “toned” physique for most people would be something like the bodies of those models in a health magazine like “Men’s Health” or “Shape”.

Now for a reality check… how many people who jog (see the treadmills in gyms or the jogger on the street) look like those cover models? That’s right, not many (if any!). In fact, most runners look tired, bored, and unhappy (whoops, it’s just their faces). Their bodies look smooth, wavy, and not particularly impressive.

“Oh, but maybe they’re just getting started.” Well, look at the people who have a jogging routine. Same people, same distance, same place, same gym, etc. Check them out 3 months or even 12 months later. Yes. Same appearance or even fatter! I suspect we all want RESULTS for our hard work. That’s fair! But that’s not what jogging offers.

What do most people need to look better than they do now? 2 simple things. More muscle (yes, even women, in the right places) and less fat. Scientific studies and real world evidence show us that jogging provides neither. Without getting too science-nerd-geeky (which I actually enjoy), here are some results from those studies. These results can be seen empirically by you in your running friends, as well as by me in my clients who used to run before they knew the truth.

Result A: Running does not help fat loss more than a good diet. Eating healthy is excellent for losing fat. Running adds NOTHING to it. Disgusting surprise!! This is also not about 10 minutes a week. It’s 30-50 min 3 times a week! More than most runners.

Result B: jogging does not help to gain muscle. Jogging puts your entire body into “starvation mode.” The body thinks “I’m lost in the jungle that’s why I’m jogging so hard to find the exit.” What is the best way to survive in the jungle? It is using as few calories as possible so that we can live on less food. How do we achieve that? Your body commands that its calories be removed. Only muscles use calories! Whoops, there goes your fat burning, calorie usage, good looking muscles.

So far, jogging is zero out of two on the good looks score. And it gets worse! As you jog, you become more and more efficient at jogging. The fuel efficiency of cars is good. Efficiency in jogging to look good is bad! It means you use LESS calories as you “get better” at jogging. Oh no! The reality of this is that you need to run longer and longer just to use the same number of calories as you used to. This not only means that jogging doesn’t work, but it works the other way around!

2. Running doesn’t help you in the “game” of life

Okay, more real life. I just got back from my stint in the army reserve. All Singaporean men have to do this service to our nation. I am an army engineer. We build things and we blow things up. In our training we NEVER had to jog to succeed in our missions. All of our critical tasks were force related. At no time would jogging have helped my men or me to perform these tasks successfully.

When was the last time you had to get up and run 10K? Never? Yes me neither. However, just like my army story, things in real life are related to strength! Carrying a growing child is a task of strength. So is changing a car tire, moving furniture, carrying groceries, running after the bus when it’s late, climbing stairs when the elevator is full—this list can be very long.

Another real life consideration is posture. Most people have bad posture. We slouch too much from spending a lot of time in front of a computer at work and school. This can cause headaches, neck pain, and back pain (plus not looking as good as we could). Unfortunately, this head-forward posture is efficient for taking in oxygen while jogging, and many runners do this. So jogging makes a bad situation worse!

The next point is sobering. I spent time helping out at a place where older people gather for social support and playing simple games. It was very clear that happy and healthy seniors were those who were strong, mobile, and able to care for themselves without help. I could tell by their handshakes who was still in good shape and who had health problems. I want to be strong until my last breath and I assume you do too.

The game of life is long. And many seniors are left bedridden or motionless due to crippling health conditions. Guess what, aerobic capacity isn’t a big determinant of our quality of life as we age. Two main determinants of an older person’s quality of life are leg power and grip strength. These are indicators of lower and upper body strength and power (strength and especially power are lost quickly if we don’t specifically train for them as we age). These are maintained with resistance training, not slower jogs. Many seniors are immobile due to falls and accidents that are due to a lack of strength, not because they got out of breath climbing a flight of stairs.

3. Running is not so good for your health

There is a saying I like “you don’t run to get fit, you get fit to run”. It’s true, more than half of all people who start a jogging program are injured within 6 weeks. That’s higher than most high risk or contact sports like rugby, American football or auto racing!

First, there is the issue of foot strength. Most people wear shoes all day and therefore have weak feet. Injuries to the ankles, heels, and soles of the feet, such as plantar fasciitis, are common because most people’s feet are not built to take a hit.

Let’s move up to the knees. Each step has an impact of 3 to 6 times the body weight. All this depends on the running mechanics, the shoe and the running surface. 3 times is a low estimate. Many times we have bad mechanics, poorly chosen shoes and surfaces that are too hard. Combine this with poor technique and muscle activation (again caused by poor posture and an inactive lifestyle) and your knees take more than their fair share of impact. For women, their naturally wider hips and less than ideal biomechanics mean that knee problems are even more prevalent among women who jog.

Poor pelvic alignment means that even the lower back takes a lot of the impact on the ground. With the right training, rehabilitation, and changes to your exercise routine, not only do these problems go away, but you get great results (meaning you look great and feel no pain).

So what can we do? Well, I always suggest sprints (quick or faster strides) for my more experienced clients. Or racing on a stationary bike for the ladies and less experienced clients. These are done in the form of intervals, for example, 30 seconds of running/sprinting. 90 sec walk. These save our joints (running fast is hard on our muscles, not our joints, and there are fewer impacts overall) and give great results (here we go, results again! They matter!).

Running is certainly better than watching TV or surfing the Internet all day. But it’s really a fairly low-benefit activity compared to the potential risks. There are much better alternatives like sprint cycling, sprint running (if you’re a well-trained athlete), and total-body resistance training with short rest intervals. All of these alternatives provide much greater benefits than jogging, take less time (VERY important for long-term success), and are more fun (also important for long-term success).

Conclusion:

I hope brokers don’t take this article as a personal attack. I certainly don’t mean it that way. It’s just that in a fast-paced culture (with so little time to exercise) and with today’s levels of inactivity, obesity, and other lifestyle-related health conditions, we can’t afford to do anything less than optimal training. . Even if we are blessed with plenty of time, why would we do anything less than ideal? Get off the treadmill and into a well-designed resistance and interval training program.