Orienteering is a way to combine running (or walking) with thinking.
Running as a Thinking Person’s Sport
51–60 of 148 posts
Re: Running as a Thinking Person’s Sport
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are plenty of compelling arguments against excessive running: 1) It is destructive to your joints and tendons. Injury rates are very high among runners. 2) It is stressful, resulting in chronically elevated cortisol levels. 3) It is time consuming and boring (of course this is subjective), and very inefficient at improving fitness.
Pretty sure there have been studies positively correlating running a certain amount with dying younger. I can't imagine sucking in city pollution can be that healthy either. Anecdotally, it helps my anxiety.
Running has served me as an early warning of health problems.
Re: Running as a Thinking Person’s Sport
#53I hate how much the authors of this article imply causality. >There also, interestingly, was less activity among the runners in a part of the brain that tends to indicate lack of focus and mind wandering. Could it not be that people who have the willpower to run regularly also have the willpower to stay focused? >In essence, the runners seemed to have brains in which certain cognitive skills, including multitasking a…
There are plenty of compelling arguments against excessive running: 1) It is destructive to your joints and tendons. Injury rates are very high among runners. 2) It is stressful, resulting in chronically elevated cortisol levels. 3) It is time consuming and boring (of course this is subjective), and very inefficient at improving fitness.
1) The idea that running is bad for your knees and joints is a popular fitness myth. According to several studies runners, even those who have run competitively for many years, do not have an increased prevalence of osteoarthritis.
2) Chronically elevated cortisol levels are result of overtraining. If you do that, you are doing it wrong. Overtraining happens when a person experiences stress and physical trauma from exercise faster than their body can repair it. Overtraining is not same as training a lot. Gradually increasing the running time and having enough rest days prevents that while the running distances grow.
3) You get runners high and it's not boring.
Of course there are people with conditions that get worse with running. Fat people should start slowly.
Re: Running as a Thinking Person’s Sport
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
Running is not great for losing weight, so I'm having doubts about this one...
> Running is not great for losing weight Since when? I'd like a citation on that.
Figure a 100 calories per mile; not exact for every person, but close enough for our purposes. Now let's take the common "imma have a smoothie, I ran today". I've seen people order smoothies that contain a thousand calories, that's what it said on the sign. But that's ridiculous, lets go with half that. 10K run, carry the 2, comes out to 6.2 miles. Your smoothie cancelled all but 120 calories. And you need to burn 3500 calories to lose a pound.
Put another way, if you ran fifty miles and took in no calories (obviously hypothetical), you'd lose ~1.5 pounds. You still have to make dietary changes if you want to lose weight.
Signed, Skinny, lifelong runner who hasn't the first clue what it's like to try and lose weight
Re: Running as a Thinking Person’s Sport
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
Anything done excessively can be unhealthy, by definition, but there's only a grain of truth to what you're saying. To your point 1: done properly, running isn't particularly harmful to joints and tendons, and some studies even seem to show that running can be beneficial in that regard[1]. The rapid changes in direction that cause the most stress are less prevalent in running than just about any other sport, not even…
Biking, swimming, and rowing are all better on the joints than the impact from running. >P.S. Instead of getting your friends to downvote, how about suggesting an actually-healthy alternative? Don't complain about downvotes, it makes for boring conversation.
I had 2 herniated discs (L4-L5, L5-S1) in 2014 due to swinging an axe over my head for an extended period of time on a large structure fire.
I say that to say this; running is way better for my back than cycling. My left leg, mostly my foot, still haven't completely recovered from the nerve impingement, but I am running 30 to 40 miles a week with no problems (lots of trail running too, check my Strava :) )
I can't cycle like I used to on any "normal" bicycles. This position, bent at 90 degrees or more, that one is required to sit while cycling is actually pretty terrible for the lower back. Also, being male and being part of a large male dominated industry - firefighting, I see lots of male cancers. That is, testicular and prostate cancers. My department is participating in a massive testicular and prostate study; We are being asked to change our chonies often and wash hands before going to the bathroom as the scrotum is a sponge for anything it touches... smashing that region when cycling for extended periods of time seems like a bad idea (and it hurts).
Re: Running as a Thinking Person’s Sport
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are plenty of compelling arguments against excessive running: 1) It is destructive to your joints and tendons. Injury rates are very high among runners. 2) It is stressful, resulting in chronically elevated cortisol levels. 3) It is time consuming and boring (of course this is subjective), and very inefficient at improving fitness.
Pretty sure there have been studies positively correlating running a certain amount with dying younger. I can't imagine sucking in city pollution can be that healthy either. Anecdotally, it helps my anxiety.
Well, where are the studies? While we are talking about dying; Personally, I would rather die young than die in a "home" shitting myself unable to remember who I am. I see this more than I care to and it is horrible.
Re: Running as a Thinking Person’s Sport
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's so unfortunate that so many people don't understand when young people are, effectively, disabled. A friend's parents stopped talking to him and shamed him because he applied for a handicap parking permit (doctor recommended). He can't walk much more than 100 feet without agonizing pain. He's 28. The father's words were something like "how will you feel when you are taking away that parking spot from an elderly p…
I feel like an ass now- I'm nowhere near as bad as your friend yet- it certainly hasn't hit my hips or back yet, my autonomy isn't affected, I don't need painkillers. For what it's worth, pass on my support to him- if only for selfish reasons; I see myself becoming like him in the near future.
NB: This may not apply to you, but here's my experience.
I was about 225 lbs and had experienced (mild) arthritis in my knees, starting in my late-20s. Around age 32 I resolved to finally get in shape, the arthritis was, at this point, mild-to-moderate, still in the knees (now in the hands). Losing the weight and regular exercise (in my case running, which I'd been doing as part of soccer on the field, but not for distance until this point) greatly improved my arthritis symptoms. The evenings after a run, my knees felt fantastic. Weeks where I skipped, the symptoms returned (no worse than before, just back to "normal").
Once the weight was lost, however, the symptoms almost completely went away. This is very much a YMMV situation, but it's something to consider.
Exercising the full range-of-motion of the joint + weight loss can help a lot, even if it is just delaying the inevitable. I'll happily accept 5-20 years of improved mobility even if I end up immobilized by this like a good chunk of my ancestors.
The exercise needn't be running. Cycling, elliptical, and rowing machines are low-impact cardio and let you exercise your knees range-of-motion pretty effectively. Bodyweight exercises like squats and lunges and similar, done regularly, will also improve the muscles around the knee, which can help.
Again, for some forms of arthritis this won't help or won't help as much, but for others (like me) it can be a life changer. The path I was on, I'd be unable to run or play soccer at this point (80% confidence in that statement, would've sought medical treatment by this point if I'd stayed on that path).
Re: Running as a Thinking Person’s Sport
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's been pretty effective for me. What are better ways of losing weight?
It takes hours of running to offset a couple of beers worth of calories. If you're eating unhealthy and drinking a lot, there is no amount of running to undo it.
This is not true. "A study done by researchers at Syracuse found that men burned about 105 kilocalories/mile on average running a mile in 9 minutes and 30 seconds, and about 52 calories when walking the same mile in 19 minutes." [1]
[1]http://running.competitor.com/2015/03/training/many-calories...
Re: Running as a Thinking Person’s Sport
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's so unfortunate that so many people don't understand when young people are, effectively, disabled. A friend's parents stopped talking to him and shamed him because he applied for a handicap parking permit (doctor recommended). He can't walk much more than 100 feet without agonizing pain. He's 28. The father's words were something like "how will you feel when you are taking away that parking spot from an elderly p…
I feel like an ass now- I'm nowhere near as bad as your friend yet- it certainly hasn't hit my hips or back yet, my autonomy isn't affected, I don't need painkillers. For what it's worth, pass on my support to him- if only for selfish reasons; I see myself becoming like him in the near future.
Don't. Everyone's different and everyone has different struggles. It's unfair to say "well I have problems too but I've never let them stop me." Everyone has different tolerances. Just enjoy what you have and make the most of it.
Re: Running as a Thinking Person’s Sport
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
Anything done excessively can be unhealthy, by definition, but there's only a grain of truth to what you're saying. To your point 1: done properly, running isn't particularly harmful to joints and tendons, and some studies even seem to show that running can be beneficial in that regard[1]. The rapid changes in direction that cause the most stress are less prevalent in running than just about any other sport, not even…
Biking, swimming, and rowing are all better on the joints than the impact from running. >P.S. Instead of getting your friends to downvote, how about suggesting an actually-healthy alternative? Don't complain about downvotes, it makes for boring conversation.
> Biking, swimming, and rowing are all better on the joints than the impact from running.
I was a competitive swimmer for a large portion of life. My back hated me for it. Running has been nothing but good to me.