The Benefits of Running

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Embarking on a new fitness regime such as our Foundation Runners Programme is a big step and takes a lot of self motivation just to sign up…and that’s before you even start thinking about the training! We all have our own reasons for starting an exercise programme and hopefully you had a chance to reflect on your own personal motivations after reading our Find Your Why blog a few weeks ago.

However, we’re approaching the halfway point now, and let’s be honest, self motivation can start to wane. So in addition to all of the personal reasons why you have decided to start running (which we’d recommend you keep looking back at any time you need to bolster your self motivation over the remaining weeks), here are some cold, hard facts about the wealth of physical benefits running has to offer. (Besides what we have here, there’s a whole host of mental health benefits too, which we’ll explain in another blog).

The Physical Health Benefits of Running

There are numerous benefits for our physical health.

Heart and lung health

Running improves our cardiovascular fitness. As your body becomes better at taking oxygen in and as your heart becomes stronger, it’s ability to pump more blood out each beat, improves. The muscles which need the oxygen therefore receive it faster. As your heart becomes stronger it can pump more blood with less effort. As a result, the force on your arteries decreases, lowering your blood pressure.

Running can reduce your risk of major illnesses, such as heart disease, high blood pressure and type 2 Diabetes. Research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, based on 230,000 participants, suggested that whatever length of time you run for or how fast you go, participants had a 30 per cent lower risk of early death from heart and circulatory conditions. As we run our heart and lungs get stronger, transporting blood and oxygen more efficiently around the body.

Muscle, Bone & Joint Strength

Running is a great way to help build up muscular, bone and joint strength. Running utilises hundreds of the body’s muscles which contract and relax continuously throughout your run. This helps strengthen each of the individual muscles and ligaments involved which, in turn, helps support our joints so they are less vulnerable to injury. Muscular strength is the amount of force that your body can exert. When running, a good example of this is in how much power you have in each stride when pushing away from the ground.

Our bone health also improves. With every step, you’re delivering force 2.5 times your own body weight through your legs as you hit the ground and when that external pressure is applied to the bone this sends a message to bone-building cells to take action and rebuild stronger. This means it is also good for reducing the risk of developing osteoporotic fractures which can affect 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men over 50 years old, according to research by the International Osteoporosis Foundation.

Muscular Endurance

If muscular strength is the amount of force that your body can exert, muscular endurance is the ability of a muscle to perform repetitive contractions for an extended duration. When running you are increasing the endurance of each of the muscles involved which, through continuous progressive training, enables you to run for a longer period of time. This is sometimes referred to as stamina.

Weight Management

Running burns calories, and therefore introducing this into your weekly routine is likely to have a positive effect on your weight. The amount of calories we burn while running depends on our weight and the pace we are running at, but as a guide, the average person will burn between 80 - 140 calories per mile. Over time and when combined with a healthy diet, calories burned can lead to pounds dropped.

As you can see, the physical benefits of running are numerous. When the going is getting tough and your legs are feeling tired, it’s important to keep these in mind to help you continue putting one foot in front of the other! We’re looking forward to explaining some of the mental health benefits of running in our next blog.