The Jog

Readers of the Japan Japan thread may have read about my recent jogging trips. I've let myself become such a fat bastard it's an embarrassment. Plus with summer coming up I don't want people saying, "Hey, that guys got bigger tits than my girl".

I'm up to the point were my legs say no but my body is willing. Basically I do a 3.8km rout which has a lot of up hill sections. I jog for about 2km of it while walking at a fast pace for the rest. The problem is that my shins get really sore and the muscles behind the shins are like a brick. I've always had muscle legs but never like now.

Do you guys have any tips on how to ease the pain from the legs. It's really holding me back as I'm willing to jog more but the legs aren't having any of it.

Yakumo

 

Are you stretching properly before you go for your jog? May want to eat a banana for potassium before you go out too

 

Sounds like you've got 'shin splints'. Look it up on Wikipedia and you can learn more about this condition. It's not serious, but can be really uncomfortable - I had it a few years ago. I went to physio to get it sorted, and here's some quick words of advice:

* Wear good trainers, and replace them every six months. Your legs will be taking a lot of punishment running on tarmac, so you need good trainers that will absorb the shocks. Don't wear cheap trainers - buy good ones.

* Stretch your legs properly before you run. I now stretch for 10mins before running, and a quick Google search will reveal loads of different stretches you can do. It may feel like a waste of time, but it prevents long-term damage to your legs. If you want to know what stretches I do, let me know.

* To relieve the pain of shin splints, you need to massage the muscles around your shin bones. Basically, stick your finger down the sides of your shin bones, and rub gently (this can be really painful at first). Keep doing this every night for 10mins or so, and eventually you'll start to feel better.

But get good trainers and stretch - that's the best advice you can get!

 

How often do you run?

 

I have this problem on my bike. My cardio is terrible but my legs are what hit the wall. Good thread to have.

 

Ah, yes it does sound like Shin splints. The feeling I get is a cold like sensation followed by a nasty pins&needles feeling. I also have flat feet. As a child I had special extensions built on to my right shoe in order to make me walk normally. Of course I don't need such stuff now but it could be related to why I'm having pain.

I'll get my self a nice set of soft trainers and try jogging in the park for a while. The ground there should be softer.

I go for the jog every other day. So yesterday I went for one so today I'll stay at home and go out for another jog tomorrow. Every day would probably kill my legs.

Yakumo

 

Good for you. Exercise is always a good thing. I can't really motivate myself to do it anymore; just too much of a pain. Of course I do ride my bike around campus, but I don't get much exercise from that.

The other thing about running is that you need to stretch after you run as well. I find that if I don't stretch after running my legs will be sore for days. I've heard that it's important to stretch both before and after you run, but in my experience doing it afterwards is most important. Just my 2 cents.

 

If they're shin splints you will eventually get over them (it's the muscle getting used to the work out). The unfortunate thing is, your extra 20k or so you're making your legs hold up is not trivial in the least. Just gotta stay at it.

I would recommend knee braces if you start feeling anything in your knees. I went for my normal 10k jog last night and the 2nd lap (of 5 2k laps) my knee wouldn't stop hurting so I walked one more and called it a night. Not worth the ensuing pain the next day.

All in all, listen to your body (and stick with it). Gotta look good in that speedo in July!

 

I've been hiking myself, seen a few pound drop but nothing in the last few days.

Thing is one of my legs feels shorter than the other causing odd amounts of stress that changes legs. I can feel it particularly in my lower back muscles, totally awesome trying to sleep with this. Tylenol might as well be candy corn.

 

that's right. Last year i never went to the beach because I was ashamed of my fat ass. This year though I'm going:nod:

Some good advice in this thread :thumbsup: clearly I need to do some stretching

 

As mentioned in the other thread, go on easy and increase speed as well distance according your abilities. everything else will come by time. And every beginning is also the most painful thing. Also try to go on your daily jogs with a more or less empty stomache.

To loose weight, especially in our age, pure training alone mostly does not suffice, you also need to adjust your daily eating habits, especially your carbohydrate intake.

Therefore try to reduce your carbs intake to a minimum, and if you eat then only during moring times for breakfast etc. and as less as possible toward evening and nothing during night.
There are a lot of low carb nutritions for a good dinner like almost any kind of meat, fish, vegetables etc. just try to avoid rice (or from rice made stuff like omochi etc.), bread, fruits and such stuff. or put it up on your breakfast schedule.

Also try to eat less, AKA If you're kinda feeling full then stop.

2ndly, I do not know about your daily evening drinking habits, but if there are some, better turn them back as well or stopp them completely, at least on working days.

Following these things and you may experience instant results.

Good luck Capt'n Yak

 

You need moderate carbs at least. That whole "as little carbs as possible" is a myth (unless you're dieting w/ zero exercise). The carbs are your energy. If you don't have enough you will run out of steam (and feel long term fatique which sucks massive as). You should probably not eat as much bread as me though, that's for sure.

 

At least 30 minutes before you jog have some fruit and a cup of tea (with no sugar), running on an empty stomach is bad as your body will tend to burn through the carbs you have in your body but then burn amino acids.

Exercise everyday, even going for a 3km walk will help. Again everything in moderation.

As mentioned do stretch before and after exercise, and do not limit yourself to jogging, do try swimming as well as gentle exercises like pilates.

You should also not eat empty calories, so stay away from McDonalds, sweets and fizzy drinks, alcohol and eat more decent Japanese food simple things like rice, fish (esp white fish) and vegetables. Drink more water, green tea and tea in general, drinking green tea with meals will help the body burn fat quicker.

I think me, you, tatsujin and gaijinpunch are all around 35/36 so I am sure what we say is right in some way.

 

This is only halfway correct, you still have your fat reserves which are nothing other than pure fuel for your body/muscles.
I agree that you need carbs as an immediate fuel, since fat can not be used as fuel immediatelly, or not until it is converted back into glycogen, the real muscle fuel after refined, but which needs certain time.

Therefore it is the right timing of your carb supply which counts the most. If you do sport activities eat some carbs before the training (1 ~2hrs). For non training days, keep it as low as possibe. And if your target is to burn fat like hell while your jogs etc., also don't take to much, since then the body will just feed itself with the easier to burn carbs (turning fast into glycogens), rather than with heavier to burn fats (turning slow into glycogens), which is our target here.
The body is like us humans, always trying to go the easiest and most stoneless way.

As I get it right, Yakumo is not planing to become an athlete or body builder, but really like to burn his fat reserves. I believe that this is the best way to do so.

One of the most important fact is that you have to encourage your metabolism. You remember when you were younger, you could run on much lower fire but without getting tired fast or sweating like a fat pig. You have to find halfway back to that. This can be achieved with a metabolic diet.

 

Should probably do it no more than 3 times a week, especially if you're having issues like this. Exercise is all about recovery.

 

Yup, you should take it easy at first, 3 times a week is more than fine.

You should stretch a bit before jogging (not too much stretching though) and then you could warm up your joints, mostly your knees.

Go for the jog, and then after you are done you should stretch some more.

If you have the time, you could take 20 min at night before going to sleep to do more stretching, it will help you a lot, I do it some times when I had a serious trainning session on brazilian jiu jitsu.

As for the shins, you have to be careful with that, do not overstress them, get a proper pair of jogging shoes with air or gel chambers, and orthotic arches if you have flat feet as ASSEMbler said, if the pain continues, there are some special excercises you can do to strengthen the area.

Another thing, you don't necessarily need to run, long fast paced walks are really good as well, if you have the time to take really long walks it will make it easier to lose weight, because when you run your body needs to burn energy faster, and the faster way to get energy for the body is to process the sugar and carbs in your body, beacuse access to the fat reservoirs is slower. So, walking (keeping your heart rate at 60-70%) is more effective for fat loss, as it will burn fat instead of carbs. The bad thing is that walking takes up much more time.

 

Wow, loads more hints. thanks. I am feeling the benifits after a few weeks. I find it easier to go further, breathing is becoming eaiser, especially after a jog. I feel lighter with breathing than I did.

I will take all the things I've read here in to consideration. Time is the major problem I have. Normally, I get home about 6pm. Eat at 7 then go out around 8:30 to 9pm. I like going out late because the streets are empty making it easier to get about. I normally get back about 9:40 which I think isn't a bad time considering the rout I take is 3.8km and up hill quite a bit. Going for a jog in the morning is no good for me. I'm a night person. I hate waking up.

 

They are your reserves though... as you've said. Fatigue sucks. It's probably the worse thing when you're trying a new work out program.

I've come from a similar body frame (actually much bigger). You need energy... unless he's trying to make featherweight for a boxing match by the summer.

 

Lol yeah. In the end, every Body is very different and individual. So everyone has to find his own best way how it "works out" the best.
Listen to others advices is one thing, trying out which works best the other.