Sunday, 12 June 2022 00:00

Are You Making Running Harder Than It Needs to Be? Easy Running Tips

Let’s talk easy running tips. No matter how experienced you are, they’re always handy. After all, even the most successful runners are always looking for ways to adjust, alter, and tweak what they do to provide the best possible outcomes. It helps to make them faster, improve their endurance, or simply enhance the overall experience and enjoyment of it.

Every Runner Can Use Easy Running Tips

You may think that you're doing everything right when it comes to running. You might think that you've asked a lot of questions, researched the answers, and have been sticking to them religiously. However, you may also be surprised to discover that despite all of your good intentions, you're actually holding yourself back.

Stretching, for example, is something that has been recommended for most runners and that many runners know is the best thing to do to get things started and to prevent injury. However, the key isn't in doing the action. It's in doing the right action. According to Texas A&M University, the typical stretching routine actually slows runners down.

Without knowing the right easy running tips with respect to your stretching, you could be standing in your own way. It’s important to open yourself up to examining each area where your favorite sport can be improved for performance and enjoyment alike.

Easy Running Tips You Can Use to Stretch Properly

A new study that was recently published in the Strength & Conditioning Journal determined that the majority of people are doing the wrong kids of stretches before they run. This undermines the "running economy", that is, the efficiency of your run. Stretching needs to be done in order to improve flexibility while enhancing the oxygen use of the muscles.

Common Mistakes

The most common mistakes that are made by runners when they stretch include:

  • Static stretching – This means taking a certain position and then holding it for a length of time or for as long as possible. This can lead to an inefficient stride because it lengthens the wrong muscles and doesn't help the tendons and hamstrings that need to be tight or loosened (depending on what they are).
  • Lacking dynamic movements – These include high knee walking, lunges, hip lifts and other types of stretches and warm-ups that involve action and use of muscles instead of stretching them out from a static position. Dynamic stretching makes it possible to stretch out the parts of the body that need to be, while leaving the appropriate areas tighter because that is how they should be left.
  • Boosting knee and hip flexibility – This is particularly important for distance runners. When the hips are tight, the alignment is thrown off, so it is tougher to push off with each step. When knees are not flexible, there is an added amount of resistance with each step harming the running economy. Working on flexibility in the knees and hips should be considered very important to running performance and ease.

By making changes to stretch properly and to enhance flexibility in the right parts of the body, it can make a big difference to your running performance and can stop your favorite sport from being as difficult as it seems.

Fuel and Energy

Other important and easy running tips have to do with how you fuel your body. If you’ve been functioning on the myth that working out on an empty stomach will force your body to burn more fat, think again. Instead, you’ll only recover whatever you burn when you eat afterward – you have to eat sometime, after all – but you’ll also reduce your performance and, therefore, your fat burning by failing to properly fuel yourself before you run.

Instead, make sure you are adequately hydrated and that you’ve eaten the right light fuel ahead of time to give your body what it needs. If you’re long-distance running, you might also need to bring food with you to refuel along the way.

You might also find that by choosing the best diet pills for energy, you’ll give yourself an additional advantage in charging up. This is particularly true if you’re new to running and still finding your way with the right fuel through food.

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