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Running as a Thinking Person’s Sport

nytimes.com

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Re: Running as a Thinking Person’s Sport

#91

Post by beachstartup »

xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #44
trentmb wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the shaming brah

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…

people in general don't think young disabled people are any less disabled. when they see a young person limping around nobody thinks "what a fake". wtf? where did you get this idea?

your friend's dad is just ashamed, and that's his way of lashing out. he's a mental midget.

and besides, when has anyone seen every disabled parking space taken up? places like hospitals have a huge amount of disabled spots so this barely ever happens.

Re: Running as a Thinking Person’s Sport

#92

Post by njs12345 »

brianwawok wrote: post #38
naasking wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Running is not great for losing weight Since when? I'd like a citation on that.

As a sometimes fat runner, I cite myself. Weight is won or lost in the kitchen. Full stop. A 1 hour run might burn 500 calories. If you go and eat till you are not hungry, you can easily eat 800 or 900 calories. You are not going to lose much weight at the method.

A 1 hour run for me burns 1000+ calories: https://www.strava.com/activities/800853045

Of course it's possible to eat 1000 calories' worth of food in one sitting, especially if you're eating something with tons of carbs in. But if you keep your diet roughly the same and go on a 1 hour run three times a week, you'll definitely start losing weight..

Re: Running as a Thinking Person’s Sport

#93

Post by croon »

Admittedly I skimmed through it with a preconceived notion, but the research seems to by convenience target endurance runners, but I don't see where it has to be specifically running, or endurance. Why not interval runners, bikers, swimmers, rowers, Tabata interval trainers, any aerobic training?

Specifically since research I've read suggests that VO2 improvments is more efficient with interval training than with endurance training [*].

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26243014

Re: Running as a Thinking Person’s Sport

#94

Post by dspillett »

CJefferson wrote: post #77
nabla9 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 e…

The knees is still out. One problem with studying long term runners, I'd often people who get knee pain drop out. That's me -- went to various physios, they all agree I've messed up my knees, and won't ever recover enough to take up running again.

Like the back problems sometimes associated with rowing, a lot of knee issues from running are due mainly to bad form.

If you over-stride, particularly down-hill (and going "too fast" down hill instead of managing your pace/stride is a recipe for over-striding) the knees will be too straight during impact and so experience excessive impact force (and therefor potential damage) that would otherwise be absorbed by muscles/tendons/elsewhere.

Re: Running as a Thinking Person’s Sport

#95

Post by douche »

JohnTHaller wrote: post #63
hueving wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Rowing should only be done with a very good coach. Source: Girlfriend has two bulging discs in her back due to a bad coach of her freshman year rowing team.

Doesn't surprise me. I had some friends in college, men and women, that rowed, and universally they were put through hellish, body-destroying workout regimens that the football team would have looked cross-eyed at.

It still seems weird to me that rowing is a competitive sport. Rowing is something you do with a six-pack of beer in the cooler and a tacklebox and reel by your side, rather than as an end in itself. But I have decidedly plebeian tastes.

Re: Running as a Thinking Person’s Sport

#96

Post by dspillett »

eutectic wrote: post #11
gragas wrote: post #7

I 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.

>* It is time consuming and boring (of course this is subjective)*

Very very subjective...

> and very inefficient at improving fitness

Depends on what your fitness goals are. It is pretty effective at maintaining cardiovascular capability but doesn't do much for overall strength or, on its own, weight management. Anecdotal data point: as a regular runner, 10K in The trick to overall fitness, and something I could benefit from addressing, is to not concentrate on just one thing. Mixing running with body-weight exercises (push-ups, pull-ups, crunches, dips, ...) is generally considered a good minimal-equipment combination. For "bulking" or faster muscle strength gains add in some weights. For weight loss: eat less (or, for a more nuanced approach, eat better).

Re: Running as a Thinking Person’s Sport

#97

Post by throwanem »

tempestn wrote: post #78
theparanoid wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Body weight exercises such as pull-ups, sit-ups, and push-ups are the best for fitness.

Again, this depends on how you define both "best" and "fitness". What's best depends a lot on what someone enjoys. I would rather do an activity I enjoy for 40 minutes than get the same benefit doing something I hate for 20. Likewise, fitness means different things to different people and at different times. You may be focusing on cardio-vascular fitness, or on strength, or speed, or weight loss, or performance in a…

Or, you know, "do something". Throwing a bunch of complexity and equipment cost at someone who doesn't currently exercise at all isn't likely to help anything much. Pushups and situps require only a clear stretch of floor.

Re: Running as a Thinking Person’s Sport

#98

Post by jurasource »

I'm a ultra distance runner and fairly regularly run for over 12 hours. One of the first things people normally ask is "don't you get bored", but honestly the concentration needed to maintain good form, eat, drink, not get lost, doesn't leave much room for much else. I've been running for over ten years, and I'd say it's only in the last year that I've realised how important that concentration is, to do it well that is, it's easy to trundle along allowing ones mind to wander...

Re: Running as a Thinking Person’s Sport

#99

Post by douche »

I just can't do running, for the sake of running. I will grudgingly run up and down a basketball court, but at least there there is the promise of analyzing and exploiting the geometry of the court on the offensive or defensive end to do something interesting once you've chugged down the court.

The exercise that I miss most, ironically, given how much I cussed about it as a kid, is sawing, splitting and stacking firewood. It can be almost meditative, and its fantastic for building real, functional strength.

Re: Running as a Thinking Person’s Sport

#100

Post by throwanem »

mikestew wrote: post #54
naasking wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 35…

I've walked three miles a day, every weekday this year, and not lost so much as an ounce - I've shed a lot of thigh fat, true, but the increase in calf and thigh muscle mass easily makes up for that.

Same for the situps and pushups I've been doing since August. I'm a hell of a lot more fit than I was, and I move better than I have in years. Hasn't made my gut any smaller. Sure, I've had to put three new holes in my belt, and probably need to go down a waist size next time I buy trousers. But it turns out that improved abdominal muscle tone just means you carry belly fat higher, so even though my waistline's shrunk, I actually look fatter than I did before. (On the other hand, I can move like I did in my twenties, so I'm willing to take the hit to my narcissism here.)

I've twice in the last decade lost fifty pounds or more in under a year. Both times, I did it purely by means of calorie restriction.

Exercise will make you healthier. It will not, by itself, make you lose weight. You do that by making sure that (calories in - calories out) has a negative sign, daily, over a long period of time. Aerobic exercise can help in that you burn more calories that way. But it's an adjunct, and insufficient on its own.

It's not easy, especially when you start out habituated to large meals and highly caloric sugary foods. It is absolutely doable, and the younger you start, the easier it is.

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