This is not really part of the program I've
laid out for taiso, but I do
it and enjoy it.
Over the course of the last few decades, running has somehow gotten
center stage as the only exercise a person needs to stay healthy. This
is patently false. Running is part of the picture, but generally it
causes atrophy of the upper body if done for endurance as well as a
host of knee/hip and back issues. What's more, it really is not
all that efficient at burning off calories. While you are actually
engaged in running, sure, you are using up calories, but as soon as you
stop, your metabolism goes back to normal and stops. Strength training
is probably the best way to burn calories since it is well documented
that growing more muscle takes lots and the body continues to burn
energy for up to about 48 hours post workout.
So, where to put this in a conditioning program? I alternate between
two types, jogging (on an elliptical trainer
since I have a bad knee and this prevents injury) and swimming. Both of
these
grow lots of mitochondria in the cells to aid endurance and these
address ST
fibers. Another really great way to get cardiovascular training is to
jump rope. Get a book from the library, since this is almost an artform
all by itself. A martial arts belts makes a pretty good jump rope if
you want, although
if you are going to really get into rope jumping, get a good one. Those
plastic ones
that kids use are better than the ones made of leather (frays), cable
(can hurt you badly)
or cloth (tends to disintegrate). Rope jumping is not hard and
super-portable, but just to extensive to cover here. Do cardiovascular
training as you like.
Walking is something that is also to be
considered. I normally keep a weekly
goal. I have to refer back to my hip problem since I found a variety of
oddball problems
arose from an inability to walk. Walking tones all sorts of things and
we were designed
to walk quite a bit (hunter gatherers have to gather and hunt, don't
they?) If you don't like or want to do any cardivascular training, you
should really think about walking.
One other thought is that walking or running a given distance burns the
same number of calories,
at least in theory, but I don't think so in practice. When people run
they strip down to just
the bare minimum for the weather. When people walk, they tend to carry
things like full backpacks.
I really think that walking burns more calories in practice.
Just because you can walk, does not mean
you can run. I've actually seen people that walk faster than they run
because their mechanics are so lousy. Generally when you run you should
have your chest forward and be looking ahead. Shuffling along while
watching the ground means your form is off. Also, your feet should hit
either at the ball or mid-foot. Running with a heel first landing
causes you to come to a stop with almost every step and that is very
harsh on your joints. Need I remind you that the Latin word mille for 1,000 is the basis of the
word "mile"? This is because 1,000 strides was one Roman mile (and you
thought they just made up 5,280 feet. A stride is approximately as long
as the person is tall, so Romans were a bit shorter on average, we
infer.) If you have pain (shins, knees hips are the main culprits) it
is a good idea to get evaluated by someone who has experience.
Swimming is another great exercise, but
there is a steep learning curve to it before you can get a quality
workout in. I would generally suggest everyone take a few courses at
the Y and plan on getting the basic strokes of side, crawl and back
down. Butterfly is great, but complex. Breaststroke is often far too
taxing on the knees, so I don't really count that as such a good stroke
to learn.
(Although it does have its uses --
originally it was so you could swim through a marsh and push reeds out
of the way, unlike the crawl stroke, which is from the American Indians
and was the prferred way to get across a river. Sidestroke in its
current form is traceable to samurai who swam in bamboo armor and
needed to be able to draw a sword when sneaking into a boat. Suijutsu is the Japanese name for
samurai arts that involve swimming and back in the early 1900's many
Olympic freestyle records were set by Japanese doing sidestroke. This
is because they did suijutsu
and were trained to sprint in armor.)
My personal favorite way to practice
swimming is to do figure-8's in the pool. Your back and rotator cuffs
will like you for this. This is an analog of circle walking. Very
simple, effective and useful. Normally I do not allow myself to touch
any external surfaces once I start swimming, exceptions are made for
things like equipment issues (goggles leaking), clueless lane partners
and the like. If you really want, mix some swimming sprints in.
One final point is that running is not in the same catogory as
sprinting. Sprints are really a type of plyometric training. Sprints
are good and will make you strong, but you cannot sprint for a half an
hour without a trip to the emergency room. When I talk about running, I
do mean jogging.