Tips for jogging

By Catalogs Editorial Staff

How to get the most out of your jogging routine.

Being healthy and pursuing a healthy lifestyle is a life-long, daily pursuit for those who are serious about their health. Taking vitamin supplements, exercising, drinking water and eating healthy all work in conjunction with being completely healthy.
Being active is also key and finding a sport to fit busy lifestyles is important in determining how long a person will stay with a program. For any program to be ideal, it must be flexible, convenient and offer numerous benefits. Jogging is an ideal light exercise that fits all of those criteria and has quickly become a sport of choice for many.

Light jogging is a great exercise sport that has numerous health benefits. Most people start jogging as a way to jump start a weight loss program or just to get their bodies moving with some sort of beneficial exercise.

With its heart-healthy benefits, many that take to the jogging lifestyle immediately develop a love for it and make it a permanent part of their exercise routine. As they become more and more involved with jogging, they may develop their own tips for jogging that they discover just by simply doing it. The post-jog feeling is different for everyone, but the majority of light joggers would agree that it is an exhilarating feeling.

Runners and joggers alike are always looking for ways and various methods that will improve their new cardiovascular lifestyle and make it more challenging, a little better, a little easier, more satisfying and see quicker results. They don’t necessarily want to cheat while they’re jogging – – they simply want to get the maximum benefit from it that they can and explore all available options.

Some tips for jogging that work for almost all joggers, beginners and seasoned, are those that are universal and apply no matter what shape they’re in or the length of time they’ve been jogging.

Jogging Tips

Start slow. Joggers should always begin their routine with a mild warm-up. This can be a slow to medium paced brisk walk. This can vary anywhere from five to fifteen minutes. The jogger can pick up their pace just a little once they begin to feel a little warm and their breathing heightens. A warm-up will get the muscles ready and loosen the joints to get ready for a slightly faster pace. Without a sufficient warm-up, there is a risk of sustaining injury. It’s not necessary to go into a full run because jogging is meant to be lighter than running.

Keep Your Own Pace. Jog with a pace that is designed for your current body’s physical conditioning and shape. Each person has their own pace and it is ill-advised to try and match another person’s pace without considering their physical conditioning or background. Many tips for jogging for beginners will tell you to increase your pace at certain intervals, but only do this if your body is comfortably ready. It’s fine to challenge and push your body, but you may hamper your productivity if you push too fast too soon.

Get Good Shoes. Without a doubt, the one thing that any jogger and runner can do to heighten their new exercise experience or bring it to an abrupt end is having the wrong shoes. This is very important because it does keep the body from injury and undue pain. Go to a professional athletic shoe store and let them assess your feet and determine what type/style of jogging shoe you need. In addition to good shoes, go ahead and invest also in good jogging socks that help absorb and wick away moisture from the feet while jogging. They are well worth their value.

Breath. This may sound like a humorous item in these tips for jogging, but proper breathing cannot be stressed enough. Take deep breaths in while you’re jogging and push the air from your stomach. Taking in sufficient air and exhaling quickly removes toxins from your body and cleanses the lungs. Sometimes joggers get distracted with everything else going on with their pace, stride, foot motions, etc. that they forget to breath correctly.

Listen. Your body will queue you when it is injured or when it cannot perform its best. Listen to it when it does this and you will save yourself a lot of anxiety and lost exercise time. As mentioned earlier, it is good to challenge the body, but know the difference in when the body is being challenged and when it is injured. Safety above all is more important so listen to your body’s small or big aches and assess whether or not it is a serious injury or if your body is protesting your new fitness routine.

The jogging sport is definitely an acquired taste and a sport where a person either loves it tremendously or dreads with disdain. However, it is a sport where the results are well worth the initial investment made if there is a dedication made to the discipline of learning the art of jogging.