Back in the day, running was the only thing I used to do for my workouts. When I first started to exercise and create a fit lifestyle it was running that I turned to for my workout program. The problem was this: no matter how far I ran, I wasn’t losing the fat when I looked in the mirror.
Don’t get me wrong, if you’re looking just for a cardio workout then of course running is a great option. You will improve your lungs and keep your heart healthy (don’t forget heart disease is the number one killer), and you will burn calories the whole way. But when it comes a fat burning workout or transforming your body you will likely not get the results you want.
Just check out these three reasons why running is the best: .
Calories aren’t the only thing you will be burning while you’re Forest Gumping it… you also lose lean, sexy muscle. You want your muscle! If you’re losing muscle then that means you are keeping body fat. What happens is that with a decrease in muscle you will get a decrease in metabolism so you will likely even add more fat on to your frame without changing your diet.
Moving along, another downer for running is the likelihood that you may have joint pain. Out of all fitness activities and fat burning workouts, running is on the top of the list for injuries. I am talking about ankle issues (sprains, tears, etc), knee issues, back pain, and hip injuries. With each step you run, the pressure you put on your legs and joints builds up. After just a mile, you have places thousands of pounds of pressure on your legs. This happened to me from my past running history: back pain, shin splints, and stress fractures.
And the last reason you might want to look into a a different exercise routine is due to calorie burning. Of course you burn a lot of calories during a run, but when the run comes to an end so does the calorie burning. And keep in mind from above that those calories aren’t all being burned from body fat. It doesn’t have to be like this! Weight training is one exercise that you will burn calories during the workout and because of the muscle workout you will keep burning calories for up to hours, if not days after.
Great options include circuits because they are weight training and cardio in one, intervals sprints, and of course a good weight lifting workout to transform your body.
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