tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/jogging-27803/articlesJogging – The Conversation2022-03-14T17:22:52Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1784752022-03-14T17:22:52Z2022-03-14T17:22:52ZRunning injuries don’t happen for the reasons you think – here’s the three best ways to prevent them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451840/original/file-20220314-18-eeq24d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6006%2C3998&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Most running injuries happen because of overuse.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/runner-sport-knee-injurywoman-pain-while-395823328">sawaddeebenz/ Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Running is one of the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/travel/la-trb-fitbit-global-workouts-20150824-story.html">most popular</a> forms of physical activity worldwide. But though it requires little expertise or equipment – and can be <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0033062017300488?casa_token=A4F7ppCpKtwAAAAA:UXtyxI8cJDgRHzbl9QXlgktUsB3U6v6DaL0Q3d5b5sgVSwp5dqztbGs0SDGCBnThkfD5-XRC">very beneficial</a> for our health – it unfortunately also comes with a relatively high risk of injury. In fact, one survey found nearly half of all runners <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1440244018301798?casa_token=rUcD_hcLHv0AAAAA:DS6BQbUBlO8uk1ahHV0nBPVrdZYH3xdjzSG48_dhhfNuNsr7QidfwdINlvO5frO1bFOSnPCB#abs0005">experience injury or pain</a>. Another study even estimated that runners experience nearly <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-015-0333-8">18 injuries</a> for every 1,000 hours of running.</p>
<p>Novice runners have the highest likelihood of sustaining an injury. The most common injuries they experience are in their lower body (such as in the Achilles tendon, shins or knees) and are often the result of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095254621000454">overuse</a> – an injury that happens in a muscle or joint due to repetitive trauma, usually as a result of doing more than you’re capable of, or not training with proper technique. </p>
<p>But that doesn’t mean injuries are inevitable. There are many ways you can protect yourself from an injury – so long as you ignore some long held ideas about the best way to do this.</p>
<h2>Injury prevention myths</h2>
<p>One common belief in the running community is that static stretching as part of a warm-up or cool-down can reduce risk of injury. But recent evidence suggests that stretching <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15438627.2016.1258640">does little</a> to prevent injuries. It may even reduce running performance in races less than <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15438627.2016.1258640">60 minutes</a> long.</p>
<p>The belief that footwear is a significant factor in whether or not a person gets injured may also be untrue. While comfortable, properly fitting shoes are important for preventing minor issues <a href="https://www.asics.com/gb/en-gb/running-advice/how-to-prevent-blisters-when-running/#:%7E:text=Running%20shoes%20which%20are%20too,turn%2C%20will%20lead%20to%20blisters.&text=If%20your%20feet%20are%20too,them%20more%20prone%20to%20blisters.">such as blisters</a> and can help with <a href="https://theconversation.com/super-shoes-explaining-athletics-new-technological-arms-race-156265">running performance</a>, there’s little evidence suggesting that footwear alone <a href="https://meridian.allenpress.com/jat/article/55/12/1215/446284/Can-the-Appropriate-Footwear-Prevent-Injury-in">reduces injury risk</a>. </p>
<p>There’s also little evidence that shoes prescribed based on foot posture <a href="https://meridian.allenpress.com/jat/article/55/12/1215/446284/Can-the-Appropriate-Footwear-Prevent-Injury-in">reduce injury</a>. A study using army recruits during basic training even showed there was little difference in <a href="https://www.jospt.org/doi/full/10.2519/jospt.2014.5342">injury risk</a> regardless of the type of support a person’s shoe had. </p>
<h2>Evidenced-based tips</h2>
<p>If you want to run injury free, here are the best, evidence-based ways:</p>
<p><strong>1. Build strength</strong></p>
<p>A recent study of Brazilian runners found that performing an eight-week training programme that focused on foot and ankle strength reduced injury risk by <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0363546520969205">nearly 60%</a> compared to a group who didn’t strength-train.</p>
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<img alt="A woman in athletic wear performs a squat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451839/original/file-20220314-24-psl2qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451839/original/file-20220314-24-psl2qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451839/original/file-20220314-24-psl2qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451839/original/file-20220314-24-psl2qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451839/original/file-20220314-24-psl2qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451839/original/file-20220314-24-psl2qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451839/original/file-20220314-24-psl2qq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Weight training may help reduce injury risk somewhat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/side-view-young-athlete-squatting-wall-646596646">Artem Varnitsin/ Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>While exercising to prevent injury in runners is a relatively new concept, such programmes have also shown promise in other running-based sports such as <a href="https://bmcsportsscimedrehabil.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13102-017-0083-z">football</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02640414.2020.1721255">volleyball</a> where overuse injuries are also common. In general, strength training should be done three to five times a week for at least 15 minutes each session. Exercises should focus on building muscular endurance, coordination and balance – such as lunges and squats.</p>
<p><strong>2. Not recovering between training sessions</strong></p>
<p>Failing to recover between training sessions is shown to lead to chronic fatigue or overtraining – which can cause <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1941738111434406?casa_token=dNAxbIh11ewAAAAA:01f4QFlseYa-cqwLx0CVswAWugvlvTAqqnMvUCdXqZkPObjM2Y2d0KBh9evEtxiwr-YN1SvqQV9i">performance decline</a>, low mood and muscle aches. These <a href="https://europepmc.org/article/med/1623894">increase risk</a> of overuse injuries as the body’s muscles and tissues aren’t able to repair and adapt between runs. The amount of time a person’s body needs to recover between runs will vary, though 36-48 hours is typical.</p>
<p>Not getting enough or not getting <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-014-0260-0?fbclid=IwAR1BPqYJynmx-Z5mCslc0J-SvnFJxp44BGwwCOSdFxCWbF3RuGpnW_3cCso">good quality sleep</a> can also lead to overuse injuries, as sleep is important for helping the body to recover and restore itself. This is why it’s important to get around seven to nine hours of sleep each night – <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17461390801954794?casa_token=RAv3GSqMuWQAAAAA:s0rqNuo747JNQkxeszXPtGZqWA2V0bS0MC8FsV4SSIOUhzg0tmOf6vWSxPd3ntJ4LflRlis5QByk">alongside adequate nutrition</a>. </p>
<p><strong>3. Avoid doing too much too soon</strong></p>
<p>Runners are often also advised to follow the “10% rule” when training to avoid injury, meaning they shouldn’t increase their training load (the volume and intensity of their running) by more than 10% each week. Yet research shows that the 10% rule is <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6253751/">no better</a> at reducing injury risk than increasing your training load by a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0363546507307505?casa_token=2Y4rOhNnNiwAAAAA%3A3ONPQgOopOGHyMX8IPno7NatAiLOLp60F8suMlX2s9IOcnwzPB4sqyM38kYuCMRhC_eJhGU0DGI">greater degree</a>: increasing by <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17940147/">up to 24%</a> each week has no greater risk of injury for novice runners. </p>
<p>On the other hand, increasing running volume by <a href="https://www.jospt.org/doi/pdfplus/10.2519/jospt.2014.5164">around 30%</a> each week is linked to greater risk of injury in novice runners. In practical terms, this would mean increasing your running load from 10km per week to 28.5km per week over a four-week period. </p>
<p>Given that injuries are typically the result of a combination of factors – including age, gender, experience and injury history – growing evidence suggests that the best way for runners to avoid injury is to learn how to <a href="https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/bjsports/early/2017/08/17/bjsports-2017-098113.full.pdf">listen to</a> their bodies. A recent study showed that having an obsessive passion for running was associated with an <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8057706/">increased risk</a> of injury – this is likely due to runners ignoring their bodies and avoiding the early warning signs of injury. </p>
<p>Being able to listen to your body improves with experience. But two studies have shown that people suffering from both knee and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0363546515584760">achilles injuries</a> were still able to run without significantly worsening their pain or injury so long as they listened to their body and <a href="https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/bjsports/early/2017/08/17/bjsports-2017-098113.full.pdf">modified their running style</a> slightly. </p>
<p>It’s unlikely a person can avoid getting injured altogether – though following these strategies may help reduce the risk and severity of injuries somewhat. If you do get injured, the best thing to do is consult a professional. But pain permitting, you may still be able to do <a href="https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/ijsnem/31/2/article-p135.xml">other types of exercises</a> in the meantime (such as cycling or using an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E15Q3Z9J-Zg">elliptical</a> or even <a href="https://theconversation.com/three-reasons-runners-should-start-lifting-weights-178453">strength training</a>) to help as <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-021-01547-1">you recover</a>. And, as you become <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1440244018301798?casa_token=rUcD_hcLHv0AAAAA:DS6BQbUBlO8uk1ahHV0nBPVrdZYH3xdjzSG48_dhhfNuNsr7QidfwdINlvO5frO1bFOSnPCB#abs0005">more experienced</a> as a runner, you may actually suffer fewer injuries than you did at the start.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178475/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Running injuries don’t have to be inevitable.Nathan Liddle, Lecturer in Physiotherapy, Teesside UniversityJonathan Taylor, Lecturer in Sport and Exercise, Teesside UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1724932021-11-24T19:46:39Z2021-11-24T19:46:39ZJury finds 3 Georgia men guilty of Ahmaud Arbery murder: 3 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433772/original/file-20211124-23-1q6b1yi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C0%2C3169%2C1496&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Murderers who will face maximum sentence of life in prison.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/AhmaudArbery-GeorgiaTrial/290fc5913b704f019be708b84e278c24/photo?Query=Arbery&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=852&currentItemNo=0">Pool/AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It took jurors around 11 hours of deliberations to arrive at <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/11/24/ahmaud-arbery-trial-verdict/">guilty verdicts in the trial</a> of three men accused in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery.</p>
<p>Shortly after 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 24, 2021, before a courtroom that included members of Arbery’s family, all the three defendants – Greg McMichael, Travis McMichael and William Bryan – were found guilty of counts including murder. They each now face a maximum sentence of life in prison.</p>
<p>Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52623151">was killed on Feb. 23, 2020</a>, after being pursued through the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2020/05/08/ahmaud-arbery-shooting-what-we-know-satilla-shores-community/3096389001/">predominantly white suburban neighborhood of Satilla Shores</a>, near Brunswick in Georgia.</p>
<p>For many, the manner of his death raised questions over the role race played in the killing, evoking a U.S. in which gangs of white men killed Black men and boys with impunity. But race <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/19/us/ahmaud-arbery-shooting-race.html">played a backseat role</a> in the trial, only being brought up in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/22/us/arbery-murder-trial-prosecutor-closing-arguments.html">prosecutor’s closing argument</a>. Instead, the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/05/us/jury-race-makeup-ahmaud-arbery-case/index.html">near all-white jury</a> – 11 of the 12 jurors were white – were invited to focus more on whether the defendants were <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/ahmaud-arbery-murder-trial-closing-arguments-day-1/">justified in trying to apprehend</a> Arbery as he jogged down the road.</p>
<p>The Conversation’s authors have explored how race and law intertwine in the following stories related to Arbery’s murder.</p>
<h2>1. The use and abuse of citizen’s arrest</h2>
<p>In the course of a two-week trial, jurors heard evidence from <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/georgia-jury-set-begin-deliberations-ahmaud-arbery-killing-2021-11-23/">more than two dozen witnesses</a>. At the heart of the defense was a claim that the three men accused were <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/11/05/us/ahmaud-arbery-shooting-trial">protected by the state’s citizen’s arrest</a> law.</p>
<p>Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/georgia-jury-resume-deliberations-arbery-murder-trial-2021-11-24/">made a point of explaining</a> the law in his final instructions before the jury retired to consider its verdict. He told them citizen’s arrests can be made only if a crime has taken place in the presence of the person making the arrest, “or within his immediate knowledge.”</p>
<p>The verdict in the case suggests jurors sided with the prosecution’s view that the citizen’s arrest defense did not hold water.</p>
<p>Following the death of Arbery, Georgia weakened <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/05/11/995835333/in-ahmaud-arberys-name-georgia-repeals-citizens-arrest-law">its 150-year-old citizen’s arrest law</a>. But as Seth Stoughton, <a href="https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/law/faculty_and_staff/directory/stoughton_seth.php">professor of law at University of South Carolina</a>, explains, many states retain similar legislation. In fact, citizen’s arrest laws have been around for centuries – but they have often been open to abuse. Such laws can be “badly misused by those who believe their higher social status gives them authority over someone they perceive as having lower status.”</p>
<p>“Frequently, this falls along racial lines,” Stoughton adds.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/trial-of-ahmaud-arberys-accused-killers-will-scrutinize-the-use-and-abuse-of-outdated-citizens-arrest-laws-170046">Trial of Ahmaud Arbery’s accused killers will scrutinize the use – and abuse – of ‘outdated’ citizen’s arrest laws</a>
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<h2>2. Criminalizing Black joggers</h2>
<p>Lawyers for the three defendants claimed in the trial that the accused men were within their right to conduct a citizen’s arrest because <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-11-22/jury-hears-closing-arguments-in-ahmaud-arbery-murder-trial">they believed Arbery had committed a burglary</a> despite there being no evidence to suggest that the 25-year-old had stolen anything.</p>
<p><a href="https://socy.umd.edu/facultyprofile/ray/rashawn">Sociologist Rashawn Ray</a> focused on the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-killing-of-ahmaud-arbery-highlights-the-danger-of-jogging-while-black-138085">setting and circumstances surrounding the shooting</a> – that the victim was a Black man jogging in a white suburban neighborhood.</p>
<p>In Ray’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2017.03.008">study of race and physical exercise</a>, he found that Black men living in white neighborhoods were far less likely to go for a run in the areas surrounding their home than were white men, white women and Black women. The reason? “Black men are often criminalized in public spaces – that means they are perceived as potential threats and predators,” Ray writes.</p>
<p>Black joggers interviewed as part of Ray’s research reported having the police called on them, seeing neighbors cross the street as they approached and shutting screen doors as they passed.</p>
<p>“For Black men, this means that negative perceptions about their propensity to commit crime, emotional stability, aggressiveness and strength can be used as justification for others to enact physical force upon them,” Ray concludes.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-killing-of-ahmaud-arbery-highlights-the-danger-of-jogging-while-black-138085">The killing of Ahmaud Arbery highlights the danger of jogging while Black</a>
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<h2>3. Cellphone footage: Evidence or exploitation?</h2>
<p>During the trial, jurors were shown the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59180744">graphic footage depicting the last moments</a> of Arbery’s life. For some, it may not have been the first time they were seeing the grainy images.</p>
<p>Such videos have emerged in several recent deaths of Black men at the hands of police officers – or, in Arbery’s case, citizens.</p>
<p>To <a href="https://annenberg.usc.edu/faculty/allissa-v-richardson">Allissa Richardson</a> at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, the images that circulate are the modern-day equivalent of the grotesque photographs that accompanied the lynchings of the Jim Crow era.</p>
<p>Just as these images from the past serve a purpose today – to educate America about race relations in the U.S. – so too can the video images shot on bystanders’ cellphones. For example, they can be used as evidence in court.</p>
<p>But Richardson <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-cellphone-videos-of-black-peoples-deaths-should-be-considered-sacred-like-lynching-photographs-139252">cautions that casual viewing</a> of Black people dying online and on TV can become exploitative.</p>
<p>“Likening the fatal footage of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd to lynching photographs invites us to treat them more thoughtfully. We can respect these images. We can handle them with care. In the quiet, final frames, we can share their last moments with them, if we choose to. We do not let them die alone.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-cellphone-videos-of-black-peoples-deaths-should-be-considered-sacred-like-lynching-photographs-139252">Why cellphone videos of Black people's deaths should be considered sacred, like lynching photographs</a>
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<p>[<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/politics-weekly-74/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=politics-important">Get The Conversation’s most important politics headlines, in our Politics Weekly newsletter</a>.</em>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172493/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Experts help explain the context around the murder trial and convictions of Greg McMichael, Travis McMichael and William Bryan.Matt Williams, Senior International EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1511432021-01-07T19:09:31Z2021-01-07T19:09:31ZPhysical activity is good for your concentration – here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374811/original/file-20201214-23-12333ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C5%2C3982%2C2652&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Even short periods of physical activity can improve concentration throughout the day.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/asian-boys-girls-fitness-outdoor-concept-1661190802">Somkid Saowaros/ Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Whether it’s during the post-lunch slump or just one of those days, we all struggle to concentrate on what we’re doing sometimes, whether that’s at work, school, or home. Being able to concentrate on what we’re doing would inevitably make us more productive, but that’s often easier said than done. For people looking to improve their concentration, exercise is often recommended as the antidote – and for good reason, as research shows that physical activity can improve concentration in people of all ages.</p>
<p>I’ll define “concentration” as our ability to focus on a task and ignore distractions. So in order to have good concentration, we need to have two important aspects of cognitive function working at their best. The first is sustained attention, in which we’re able to focus on certain pieces of information for prolonged periods of time. The second is executive function, which is our ability to think and make decisions at a complex level.</p>
<p>But how does exercise help us improve these skills? Most research into the effects of exercise on concentration have studied the links in young people in schools. This is likely because of the clear effect concentration has on academic achievement, with a key priority of schools being to improve academic achievement and exam results. </p>
<p>Research shows that acute bouts of physical activity (such as walking or running during break) have a positive effect on concentration in young people. This effect has been shown after various forms of physical activity including <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306452209001171?casa_token=37HK-ayyiTwAAAAA:ySXJUH_4zsOWtktEyYKLusdGsLueDqHeY4Y1Sx3OioJjKKeIPWX01lbx5V4eQWGF-p4U2fPEA9Q">walking</a>, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4929070/">running</a> and <a href="http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/33530/1/11030_Cooper.pdf">team games</a> (such as football and basketball). But this effect tends to only last for around one hour, so regular opportunities to be active across the school day are important.</p>
<p>Another really interesting discovery is that young people with higher levels of fitness demonstrate <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-020-09484-w">superior concentration</a>, when compared with less fit children. For example, young people who have higher cardiorespiratory fitness display better concentration than those who are less fit. So based on current evidence, regular physical activity appears to be very important for improving concentration in children.</p>
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<img alt="Two boys challenge each other for the ball during a football match." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374792/original/file-20201214-21-1sltqid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374792/original/file-20201214-21-1sltqid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374792/original/file-20201214-21-1sltqid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374792/original/file-20201214-21-1sltqid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374792/original/file-20201214-21-1sltqid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374792/original/file-20201214-21-1sltqid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374792/original/file-20201214-21-1sltqid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Team sports are especially good for concentration.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/boys-kicking-football-on-sports-field-172398914">Fotokostic/ Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although there’s less evidence in adults, research does still show that acute bouts of physical activity, such as a 20 minute walk or jog, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006899312004003?casa_token=4VvVk8VEeEQAAAAA:RNAGs9jDIA2bu13i47PjgMIbP1Axyeov0GNcUGGPu_U_zqPkvOSGhiCvg0Gl9ogOreE26QUfZpQ">enhance concentration</a> for up to one hour afterwards. Studies have also shown that having people take breaks for physical activity during the work day improves self-reported concentration and mood – both of which could improve productivity. Physical activity and higher levels of physical fitness have even been shown to benefit many parts of brain function – including concentration – in <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2015-55483-005">people aged 65 and over</a>.</p>
<p>We have less information though about the mechanisms that explain why physical activity improves our concentration. We think that it could be caused by certain psychological mechanisms – such as feeling more alert and having better mood following physical activity – that improve concentration. Increased blood flow to the brain and changes in the <a href="https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.14814/phy2.12163">parts of the brain</a> that are activated during and <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2011-02060-009">after exercise</a> have also been suggested.</p>
<h2>Get moving</h2>
<p>But which types of exercise are best? The simple answer to this question is that it depends on a lot of things.</p>
<p>Some evidence shows that any exercise which <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0212482">requires decision making</a> (such as team games, like football and hockey) might be particularly beneficial to concentration, due to the fact that your brain is engaged during these types of exercise.</p>
<p>But research also shows that any exercise which is extremely vigorous or exhausting, such as high-intensity interval training workouts may – at least in the short-term – actually have a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5504581/#:%7E:text=Maximal%20intensity%20exercise%20in%20children,improve%20following%20a%20recovery%20period.">negative effect on concentration</a>, due to the fact that it’s very difficult to concentrate when exhausted.</p>
<p>The research is clear, however, that short bouts of moderate, physical activity are great at improving concentration immediately following exercise. This might include going for a brisk walk, a run, or even a leisurely cycle. But the best type of physical activity is one that you enjoy, and can be easily incorporated into daily life. Ultimately, people need to be able to regularly perform physical activity in order to gain both immediate and long-term benefits. </p>
<p>So if you spend a lot of time sitting at your desk during the work day, regular activity breaks will help you to keep your concentration on the task in hand. Even just taking your dog for a short walk or running to the shop for a quick errand will help.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151143/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Cooper has received no research funding that directly impacts upon the content of this article.</span></em></p>Research shows short bouts of physical activity can boost your concentration for up to one hour.Simon Cooper, Senior Lecturer in Sport Science, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1496642020-12-16T16:05:28Z2020-12-16T16:05:28ZParkrun enthusiasts can still get their fix – even during lockdown<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375345/original/file-20201216-17-4apr88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4234%2C3066&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">As the pandemic continues, many are looking for ways to replace parkrun safely.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/runners-running-on-grass-away-camera-1441935023">WoodysPhotos/ Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the coronavirus pandemic struck the UK in March 2020, many social fitness activities were halted with immediate effect as the country was placed in lockdown and people were prevented from meeting together in groups to exercise. </p>
<p>The rules were relaxed over the summer and many people were able to get out and enjoy activities such as jogging and cycling. But as autumn brought colder weather and an increase in infection rates across much of the country, the reintroduction of restrictions once again brought a halt to social fitness – including to the popular <a href="https://www.parkrun.org.uk/">parkrun</a> initiative.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.parkrun.org.uk/">Parkrun</a> is an organised and timed 5km run, which takes place in public green spaces on Saturday mornings around the world. Starting with an unofficial gathering of 13 amateur runners in the UK, over two million people have since taken part at one of the 730 free weekly events around the world. Any community can host a parkrun, anyone can help organise an event, and anyone can participate, for free.</p>
<p>Parkrun has been extremely successful in attracting thousands of people to take part in regular physical activity, including those who are statistically less <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12529-014-9431-5">likely to exercise</a> – such as those who lack social support or can’t afford to pay for a gym membership. It’s also a place to meet friends, become part of your community, and is <a href="https://www.england.nhs.uk/blog/dont-just-sit-there-get-your-trainers-on/">recommended by GPs</a> as a means of boosting mental health. As coronavirus continues to put strain on our many peoples’ wellbeing around the world, understanding how to “replace” parkrun is essential.</p>
<h2>Getting your fix</h2>
<p>Having been initially suspended in March 2020, parkrun was due to start again in the UK during October – but its restart has been further delayed. This absence could be costly, given many people participate in parkrun as a way of supporting their health and wellbeing. </p>
<p>It’s unlikely parkrun will return before COVID-19 cases are under control. However some aspects of it can still be replicated safely. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://www.zwift.com/uk?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=zwift_eur_gb_cycling_search_brandcoreex_performance_eng-imprshare-20&gclid=CjwKCAiA8Jf-BRB-EiwAWDtEGk63eGUh4UXB19dt8inwx4f2UyjaCj5V_UmI46u1FnE9dSgyNn15GRoCPUgQAvD_BwE">some</a> online <a href="https://rouvy.com/en/">applications</a> allow users to pair a stationary bicycle or treadmill with a TV or tablet, and follow an online route with friends from anywhere in the world in real time.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.strava.com/dashboard">Other</a> <a href="https://www.endomondo.com/">apps</a> allow you to build your own 5km route, or you can track the distance you run and the time it takes you to complete your run. You can then share your run and compare times with your friends. This can help users encourage friendly competition and each other. Some software also provides text message functions, or you can <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.discord&hl=en_GB">download voice chat</a> that allows runners to chat with friends while they work out. </p>
<p>One of the reasons for parkrun’s popularity is because people find it gives them a sense of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/16138171.2020.1792113">solidarity and community</a>, as runners of all ages and abilities can come together to tackle the same goal at the same time. Although these apps work a bit differently to parkrun, they may still give exercise a greater sense of satisfaction – while making it a social activity.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman riding a stationary bike while looking at a tablet." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375346/original/file-20201216-17-i8ru67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375346/original/file-20201216-17-i8ru67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375346/original/file-20201216-17-i8ru67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375346/original/file-20201216-17-i8ru67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375346/original/file-20201216-17-i8ru67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375346/original/file-20201216-17-i8ru67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375346/original/file-20201216-17-i8ru67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some apps allow you to follow a route with friends in real-time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/home-workout-indoor-stationary-bike-asian-1689144121">Maridav/ Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Taking part in mass online events (such as those live-streamed on social media) may help people keep exercise as a habit, while also feeling part of a community – both of which are reasons for parkrun’s popularity. “Wake Up with Joe”, broadcast at the same time every morning by UK fitness coach Joe Wicks, is one example of this approach.</p>
<p>People can take part in such live-streamed events no matter their skill level, and they don’t need any special equipment to participate. These are both factors which also <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/18387357.2018.1509011">explain why people enjoy</a> parkrun. Parkrun also hosts events on the same day and at the same time each week, which helps participants incorporate exercise into their routine, and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1469029207000039">form habits</a>. As such, live-streamed events which are broadcast at regular, fixed times are most likely to be successful. However the fact that people don’t have to make a firm commitment to attend parkrun on a formal basis paradoxically means people actually <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/1479-5868-9-78">come along more often</a> – and online livestreamed events will likely work the same. </p>
<p>The roles of the volunteer and the community are also central to parkrun’s success. Online platforms which enable users to contribute in some way – for example designing their own events or routes, as you can do using <a href="https://www.racerunner.com/">JustMove</a> – can also drive engagement. In these difficult times, it’s important to be as creative as possible, and systems which deliver a sense of unity in an accessible and low-pressure format will go down well. </p>
<p>Online apps mean that as COVID continues, it’s still possible to join a group of friends online for a virtual run or ride. Adapting them to provide the parkrun sense of <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12529-014-9431-5">community, accomplishment and freedom</a> could give us a temporary alternative – which also helps us stay <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/1479-5868-9-78">motivated to keep exercising</a> in the long run.</p>
<p>But it’s important to note that unlike parkrun, many of these apps are not free. The pandemic has increased inequalities around <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1329">health and wellbeing</a> more than ever, by further limiting opportunities for exercise to those who are already deprived. This makes it all the more important to use the lessons of parkrun in identifying or creating exercise options which are accessible to all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149664/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rhi Willmot is affiliated with The Welsh Institute for Physical Activity, Health and Sport (WIPAHS) </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>John A Parkinson receives funding from Wales European Funding Office, Awyr Las charity for Public Health Wales. </span></em></p>Parkrun gave participants a sense of community, belonging, and accomplishment. Here’s our take on how temporary alternatives can do the same.Rhi Willmot, Postdoctoral research assistant at the Welsh Institute of Physical Activity, Health & Sport (WIPAHS), Swansea UniversityJohn A Parkinson, Professor in Behavioural Neuroscience, Bangor UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1445562020-09-01T08:26:51Z2020-09-01T08:26:51ZShould I stop running if my knee hurts?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354862/original/file-20200826-7352-mnb3wd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5964%2C3973&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/group-joggers-exercising-central-park-nyc-508073035">goodluz/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The most common site for pain in <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25851584/">recreational runners</a> is the knee. For some, especially older runners, the pain can be a symptom of osteoarthritis. But does running worsen knee pain and osteoarthritis?</p>
<p>A <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30273410/">study from Canada</a> shows that many people – including health professionals – believe running might be harmful to knee joints, particularly in people with knee osteoarthritis. One in two people believes that the repetitive loading associated with running, especially frequent or long-distance running, will speed up the deterioration caused by knee osteoarthritis and shorten the time to having the knee surgically replaced with an artificial joint. </p>
<p>But are these fears about running supported by science? Recreational exercise does not seem to be <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29934429/">harmful to knee cartilage</a>. In fact, exercise is important for cartilage health – the stimulus <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23561529/">brings nutrients to the joints</a>. And people who exercise moderately are <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28240703/">less likely to have knee osteoarthritis</a>. More specifically, recreational runners have <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28504066/">far lower rates of knee osteoarthritis than non-runners</a>. So you could say that <em>not running</em> might be bad for your knees. </p>
<p>However, high-volume or high-intensity running is associated with higher rates of knee osteoarthritis <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28504066/">compared with recreational running</a>, suggesting that there is probably a sweet spot which doesn’t involve being a couch potato or getting too competitive. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Exhausted runner" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354647/original/file-20200825-18-nft8vn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354647/original/file-20200825-18-nft8vn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354647/original/file-20200825-18-nft8vn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354647/original/file-20200825-18-nft8vn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354647/original/file-20200825-18-nft8vn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354647/original/file-20200825-18-nft8vn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354647/original/file-20200825-18-nft8vn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Don’t overdo it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/tired-woman-runner-taking-rest-after-388376620">Izf/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What if you already have knee pain or osteoarthritis?</h2>
<p>It is not clear whether continuing to run with knee pain or osteoarthritis is bad for your knees, and many researchers around the world are exploring this question. But continuing to run, if you can, will help achieve the many health benefits of regular physical activity, including preventing at least 35 chronic diseases, such as <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23798298/">heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and depression</a>. In general, runners live three years longer than non-runners. And the benefits of running are independent of other things, such as <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25082581/">age, sex, weight, alcohol and smoking</a> In other words, if two people regularly smoked cigarettes or drank alcohol excessively, and one of them was a runner, the runner would still live longer than the non-runner.</p>
<p>Running is an activity that can be done outdoors in most parts of the world and requires minimal equipment. And health benefits can be achieved with as little as <a href="https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/54/15/898.abstract">50 minutes running a week</a>. During the pandemic, the fact that it can be done alone without the help of others further increases its attractiveness and ensures people can continue to participate to stay healthy.</p>
<h2>Three tips for managing running-related knee pain</h2>
<p>You can exercise safely by following <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-your-knee-hurts-keep-exercising-says-expert-93377">simple rules</a>. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Reducing running volume or intensity (reduced speed, avoiding downhill) will <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28476901/">reduce knee loads and can help reduce pain</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>Seeking help and guidance for therapeutic exercise, such as strengthening the knee and hip muscles, from a physiotherapist or other qualified professional, can reduce knee pain related to running and other activities, including in people with <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31475628/">knee osteoarthritis</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>Carefully consider changing your running technique with guidance from a professional. Changing your running style to a forefoot strike instead of heel strike can <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31823338/">reduce loads on the knees</a> and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27111879/">running-related knee pain</a>. However, it will increase loads on the ankle, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31823338/">posing risks to injure other joints and tissues</a>. Increasing running cadence (step rate) or changing the position of your trunk can also reduce loads on the knee and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26884223/">may help reduce pain</a>.</p></li>
</ol><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144556/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christian Barton receives funding from a Medical Research Future Fund TRIP Fellowship. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ewa M Roos does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>How to run safely with knee pain.Ewa M Roos, Professor of Muscle and Joint Health, University of Southern DenmarkChristian Barton, Senior Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, MRFF Fellow, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1446682020-08-26T23:43:41Z2020-08-26T23:43:41ZStrength training is as important as cardio - and you can do it from home during COVID-19<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353798/original/file-20200820-14-1vtwr55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C6000%2C3979&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We often get bombarded with the message “regular physical activity is the key to good health and well-being”. To most of us, when we hear “physical activity”, we typically think of aerobic exercise such as walking, jogging, and cycling.</p>
<p>But recent evidence suggests muscle-strengthening exercise is very beneficial to our health. In our study, <a href="https://sportsmedicine-open.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40798-020-00271-w">published today</a>, we argue muscle-strengthening exercise deserves to be considered just as important as aerobic exercise.</p>
<p>And the good news is strength training can be done by anyone, anywhere — and you don’t need fancy equipment.</p>
<h2>Strength is just as important as cardio</h2>
<p>Muscle-strengthening exercise is also known as strength, weight or resistance training, or simply “lifting weights”. It includes the use of weight machines, exercise bands, hand-held weights, or our own body weight (such as push-ups, sit-ups or planking). It’s typically performed at fitness centres and gyms, but can also be done at home.</p>
<p>More than 30 years of clinical research has shown that muscle-strengthening exercise increases muscle <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27433992/">mass</a>, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs40279-018-0872-x">strength</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6279907/?report=reader">bone mineral density</a>. It improves our body’s capacity to clear <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20433212/">sugar</a> and <a href="https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/54/6/341">fat</a> from the bloodstream, and improves our ability to perform <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29521871/">everyday activities</a> such as walking up stairs or getting in and out of a chair. It can also reduce symptoms of <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29800984/">depression</a> and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28819746/">anxiety</a>.</p>
<p>In our research, we reviewed the evidence from several large studies and found muscle-strengthening exercise is associated with a reduced risk of <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31104484/">early death</a>, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24453948/">diabetes</a>, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5546793/">cardiovascular disease</a> and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25530447/">obesity</a>. Importantly, these health benefits remained evident even after accounting for aerobic exercise and other factors such as age, sex, education, income, body mass index, depression and high blood pressure.</p>
<p>Compared with aerobic exercise like jogging, clinical studies show that muscle-strengthening exercise has greater effects on age-related diseases such as <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6351669/">sarcopenia</a> (muscle wasting), <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30006762/">cognitive decline</a> and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21123213/">physical function</a>.</p>
<p>This is particularly significant considering we have an <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/older-people/older-australia-at-a-glance/contents/demographics-of-older-australians/australia-s-changing-age-and-gender-profile">ageing population</a> in Australia. Declines in muscle <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5732407/">mass</a> and <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474-4422(18)30403-4/fulltext">cognitive function</a> are predicted to be among the key 21st-century <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5732407/">health</a> challenges.</p>
<h2>Most of us don’t even lift — but we should</h2>
<p>While the health benefits of muscle-strengthening exercise are clear, the reality is most adults don’t do it, or don’t do it enough. Data from multiple countries show <a href="https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(18)32137-8/abstract">only</a> <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/7/2266">10-30%</a> of <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28230924/">adults</a> <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32056889/">meet</a> the muscle-strengthening exercise guidelines of two or more days per week. <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0153225">Australian</a> <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-016-2736-3">adults</a> reported among the lowest levels of strength training in the world.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/jpah/17/5/article-p512.xml">data</a> from more than 1.6 million US adults show nearly twice as many do no muscle-strengthening exercise at all, compared with those who do no aerobic exercise.</p>
<iframe title="US adults who don't exercise" aria-label="chart" id="datawrapper-chart-GybUt" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/GybUt/3/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border: none;" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The reasons fewer people do strength training than aerobic exercise are complex. In part, it might be because muscle-strengthening exercise has only been included in guidelines for less than a decade, compared with almost 50 years of promoting aerobic exercise. Strength training therefore has been considered by some physical activity and public health scientists as the “<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27769211/">forgotten</a>” or “<a href="https://www.jsams.org/article/S1440-2440(19)30954-5/pdf">neglected</a>” guideline. </p>
<p>Other factors that may contribute to fewer people doing strength training include the fact it:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>involves a basic understanding of specific terminology (sets and repetitions)</p></li>
<li><p>often needs access to equipment (resistance bands or barbells)</p></li>
<li><p>requires confidence to perform potentially challenging activities (squats, lunges and push-ups)</p></li>
<li><p>and risks the fear of judgement or falling foul of social norms (such as a fear of excessive muscle gain, or of getting injured).</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Here’s how to get started</h2>
<p>Unlike most aerobic exercise, strength training can be done at home. It can also be done without extensive equipment, using our own body weight. This makes it a great form of exercise during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many people are confined to their homes or otherwise restriced in where they can go.</p>
<p>If you are currently doing no muscle-strengthening exercise, getting started, even a little bit, will likely have immediate health benefits. <a href="https://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/factsheet_adults/en/">Guidelines</a> recommend exercising all major muscle groups at least twice a week: legs, hips, back, chest, abdomen, shoulders and arms. This could include bodyweight exercises like push-ups, squats or lunges, or using resistance bands or hand-held weights.</p>
<p>Here are some excellent free online resources that provide practical tips on how to start a muscle-strengthening exercise routine: </p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/8-tips-for-safe-and-effective-strength-training">8 tips for safe and effective strength training</a> (Harvard Medical School)</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/strength-training/art-20046670#:%7E:text=Before%20beginning%20strength%20training%2C%20consider,about%2012%20to%2015%20repetitions.">Strength training: get stronger, leaner, healthier</a> (Mayo Clinic).</p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An elderly lady lifting some small weights at home" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353801/original/file-20200820-18-yf44yn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353801/original/file-20200820-18-yf44yn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353801/original/file-20200820-18-yf44yn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353801/original/file-20200820-18-yf44yn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353801/original/file-20200820-18-yf44yn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353801/original/file-20200820-18-yf44yn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353801/original/file-20200820-18-yf44yn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Muscle-strengthening exercise can be performed by anyone, anywhere. And its health benefits rival, and often exceed, aerobic exercise.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Governments need to step up</h2>
<p>Many people find aerobic exercise difficult, impossible or simply unpleasant. For these people, strength training provides a different way to exercise.</p>
<p>The evidence supporting the health benefits of muscle-strengthening exercise, coupled with its low participation levels, provides a compelling case to promote this type of exercise. But historically, physical activity promotion has generally focused on aerobic exercise.</p>
<p>If governments expect more people to do muscle-strengthening exercise, they need to provide support. One strategy may be to provide affordable access to community fitness centres, home-based equipment and fitness trainers. And media campaigns endorsing muscle-strengthening exercise could also be important for challenging negative stereotypes such as excessive muscle gain. It’s unlikely any of these strategies will be successful individually, so we’ll have to tackle the problem on a few different fronts.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144668/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Our research suggests the health benefits of lifting weights rival, or even exceed, those of aerobic exercise. So why do so few of us do it?Jason Bennie, Senior Research Fellow, University of Southern QueenslandJane Shakespear-Druery, Accredited Exercise Physiologist, PhD Candidate, University of Southern QueenslandKatrien De Cocker, Senior Research Fellow, University of Southern QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1380852020-05-07T20:37:56Z2020-05-07T20:37:56ZThe killing of Ahmaud Arbery highlights the danger of jogging while Black<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333504/original/file-20200507-49542-9audry.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C6%2C1414%2C776&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Footage captured the last moments of Ahmaud Arbery's life.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIve50vSeLQ&bpctr=1588882465">Atlanta Journal-Constitution/Youtube</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Unsteady cellphone footage follows a jogger – an apparently young, black man – as he approaches and attempts to run around a white pickup truck parked in the middle of a suburban road. Moments later he lies dead on the ground. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/06/ahmaud-arbery-shooting-georgia">killing of Ahmaud Arbery</a> took place on Feb. 23, after the 25-year-old was confronted by Gregory McMichael, a 64-year-old former police officer and investigator for the Brunswick, Georgia district attorney’s office, and his 34-year-old son, Travis. It took 10 weeks to gain widespread attention with the circulation of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIve50vSeLQ&bpctr=1588880417">video footage</a> on social media, prompting <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/07/ahmaud-arbery-video-shooting-sharing-viral">revulsion</a> and <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/496571-ocasio-cortez-calls-for-justice-in-shooting-death-of-ahmaud-arbery">calls for justice</a>. </p>
<p>Gregory and Travis McMichael were both taken into custody on May 7 on <a href="https://gbi.georgia.gov/press-releases/2020-05-06/ahmaud-arbery-death-investigation">charges of murder and aggravated assault</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fIve50vSeLQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Warning: This video includes graphic images.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Death in suburbia</h2>
<p>But the killing of Arbery by people with links to law enforcement raises important <a href="http://rashawnray.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Why-Police-Kill-Black-Males-with-Impunity_Gilbert-and-Ray.pdf">questions over why it took so long to make arrests in the case</a> and the so-called <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/learning/editorial-winner-breaking-the-blue-wall-of-silence-changing-the-social-narrative-about-policing-in-america.html">blue wall of silence</a> that extends from law enforcement agencies to prosecutor’s offices and courtrooms.</p>
<p>But there is a separate question that needs to be asked: Why do these incidents seem to occur in certain types of neighborhoods? <a href="https://www.zipdatamaps.com/31523">Satilla Shores</a>, where Arbery was killed by the McMichaels, is predominately white and suburban. It evokes memories of the killings of <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/03/what-happened-trayvon-martin-explained/">Trayvon Martin</a>, <a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article9165083.html">Jonathan Ferrell</a>, <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-killing-of-renisha-mcbride">Renisha McBride</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/15/us/fatal-shooting-of-black-woman-outside-detroit-stirs-racial-tensions.html">Tamir Rice</a>.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/experts/rashawn-ray/">sociologist and public health scholar</a>, I have studied physical activity and how it varies by race and social class. I know that the exact behaviors that are encouraged to extend life for all are the exact ones that can end the life of men like Ahmaud – in short, jogging while black can be deadly. </p>
<p>In 2017, I published a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2017.03.008">study on physical activity</a> – focusing on where and how people exercise, and breaking this down by race and gender. I surveyed nearly 500 middle-class black and white professionals around the United States. The research also included in-depth interviews, focus groups and observations of public spaces in cities with varying racial and class compositions including Oakland and Rancho Cucamonga, California; Brentwood, Tennessee; Bowie, Maryland; and Forest Park, Ohio. </p>
<p>I found that race and place significantly inform where people engage in physical activity: White men, white women and black women living in predominately white areas were significantly more likely to engage in physical activity in their neighborhoods. Black men living in predominately white neighborhoods, however, were far less likely to engage in physical activity in the areas surrounding their own homes.</p>
<h2>Good neighbors?</h2>
<p>Black men I interviewed who had jogged in white neighborhoods where they lived reported incidents of the police being called on them, neighbors scurrying to the other side of the street as they approached, receiving disgruntled looks and seeing the shutting of screen doors as they passed. Similar experiences have been documented in public places <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/24/shopping-while-black-yes-bias-against-black-customers-is-real">like stores</a>, <a href="https://www.phillymag.com/foobooz/2018/06/30/black-dining-philadelphia/">restaurants</a> and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/02/us/starbucks-arrest-agreements/index.html">coffee shops</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333484/original/file-20200507-49538-1i3zydh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333484/original/file-20200507-49538-1i3zydh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333484/original/file-20200507-49538-1i3zydh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333484/original/file-20200507-49538-1i3zydh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333484/original/file-20200507-49538-1i3zydh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333484/original/file-20200507-49538-1i3zydh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333484/original/file-20200507-49538-1i3zydh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A memorial left at the site where Ahmaud Arbery was shot dead on a quiet suburban road.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/cross-with-flowers-and-a-letter-a-sits-at-the-entrance-to-news-photo/1212005350?adppopup=true">Sean Rayford/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Black men are often criminalized in public spaces – that means they are perceived as potential threats and predators. Consequently, <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674238145">their blackness</a> is weaponized. Moreover, black men’s physical bodies are viewed as <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2095676?seq=1">potential weapons that could invoke bodily harm</a>, even when they are not holding anything in their hands or attacking. In fact, black people are <a href="http://rashawnray.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Why-Police-Kill-Black-Males-with-Impunity_Gilbert-and-Ray.pdf">3.5 times more likely than white people</a> to be killed by police in situations where they are not attacking nor have a weapon.</p>
<p>My research highlights that the <a href="http://rashawnray.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/What-If-He-Didnt-Wear-the-Hoodie.pdf">social psychology of criminalization</a> – the inability to separate concepts of criminality from a person’s identity or role in society – is important here. Often, physical features such as skin tone are used to guide attitudes, emotions and behaviors that can <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2332649214561306">influence interactions between people of different races</a> and lead to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022103108000401?via%3Dihub">oversimplified generalizations</a> about a person’s character. For black men, this means that negative perceptions about their propensity to commit crime, emotional stability, aggressiveness and strength can be used as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022103105000351?via%3Dihub">justification for others to enact physical force</a> upon them.</p>
<h2>Signaling or survival?</h2>
<p>Some black men attempt to make themselves less threatening. When it comes to jogging in white neighborhoods, some of the black men I spoke to wore alumnus T-shirts, carried I.D., waved and smiled at neighbors, and ran in well-lit, populated areas. </p>
<p>This is hardly surprising. Black men do this at work by thinking consciously about their attire, tone and pitch of voice, and behavioral mannerisms. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, many black men are going to great lengths to reduce criminalization by staying in the house, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/editorial/opinion--this-is-why-some-black-men-fear-wearing-face-masks-during-a-pandemic/2020/04/08/5a897b6a-78bf-4836-94cd-c3446dc06196_video.html">wearing colorful masks</a> and even forgoing masks altogether.</p>
<p>Sociologists call it a signaling process. Black men call it survival.</p>
<p>An irony in the case of Ahmaud Arbery is that it has set in motion a campaign that could see more black men putting on their running shoes. The #<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/07/us/ahmaud-arbery-run-support-demonstration/index.html">IRunWithMaud social media campaign</a> is encouraging people to jog 2.23 miles – a reference to the date on which Arbery was killed.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This story was updated on May 7 following the arrests of Gregory McMichael and Travis McMichael.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138085/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rashawn Ray has received funding from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Brookings Institution. </span></em></p>Research shows black men are less likely to exercise in white neighborhoods. Those who do jog report having police called and neighbors shun them.Rashawn Ray, Professor of Sociology, University of MarylandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1362352020-04-15T06:10:17Z2020-04-15T06:10:17ZHow to keep a coronavirus-safe distance when you’re jogging or cycling<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327587/original/file-20200414-63518-11ajr5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=839%2C415%2C5057%2C3474&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Pazargic Liviu</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We’re told to keep a minimum of <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert/how-to-protect-yourself-and-others-from-coronavirus-covid-19/social-distancing-for-coronavirus-covid-19">1.5 metres apart</a> from others to avoid the spread of COVID-19 via contact with virus-contaminated droplets. </p>
<p>So when <a href="https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/health-wellbeing/horror-new-simulation-shows-just-how-dangerous-your-outdoor-run-could-be--c-969064">news emerged last week</a> of a study showing the potential for droplets to spread beyond 1.5m if a person is walking, jogging or cycling, it raised concerns.</p>
<p>But the study was published before it was peer-reviewed by experts to double-check the findings.</p>
<h2>A cough on the move</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.urbanphysics.net/COVID19.html">authors of the study</a> say the 1.5m rule is based on people standing still. But when people are moving they found the droplets can travel much further and potentially infect anyone following behind.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-why-should-we-stay-1-5-metres-away-from-each-other-134029">Coronavirus: why should we stay 1.5 metres away from each other?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Their computer modelling shows droplets released from breathing or a sneeze can travel up to 5m behind a person walking at 4km/h, and up to 10m behind a person jogging at 14.4km/h.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vTzjC5HATXg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Source: Ansys Inc.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The authors say people are better off walking or running side by side, keeping that 1.5m distance apart, or when in one line allowing at least 4m to 5m apart for walking, 10m for running and slow biking and at least 20m for fast biking. </p>
<p>The study led <a href="https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/news/a32094750/coronavirus-runner-slipstream/">runners</a>, <a href="https://www.cyclingnews.com/features/belgian-study-on-safe-distancing-while-exercising-goes-viral/">cyclists</a> and <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/v74az9/the-viral-study-about-runners-spreading-coronavirus-is-not-actually-a-study">others</a> to question whether the advice could be trusted.</p>
<h2>Is this credible research?</h2>
<p>The study, by a team of engineers in Europe, is a <a href="http://www.urbanphysics.net/COVID19.html">preprint publication</a>, which means it hasn’t been peer-reviewed by other scientists and journal editors to check the research methods and findings. </p>
<p>In other words, the quality of the simulation could be anything between flawed and reasonably realistic. Without peer review we cannot know.</p>
<p>The study is also based on a computer simulation, so it’s a hypothetical study not involving human participants. </p>
<p>Like any simulation it is based on a long chain of assumptions, such as assumptions relating to specific environmental conditions where jogging takes place. For example, it doesn’t take into account any impact from wind. </p>
<p>The study authors have tried to address these and other concerns in a series of <a href="http://www.urbanphysics.net/COVID19.html">Q&As</a>. They say peer review could take more than a year for results to be published, so they were keen to get the advice out now for others to scrutinise:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The peer review publication will follow next. But we are not on the same time line when there is a pandemic storming the world. We thought that the priority was on people’s health.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>What should you do?</h2>
<p>There are no grounds for this unchecked simulation to change any current advice or attitude in the community.</p>
<p>It would be irresponsible to issue formal or informal lifestyle advice based on a computer simulation that has not been checked for even its theoretical scientific rigour.</p>
<p>Maintaining 5m to 20m distance when walking, running or cycling outdoors would make it almost impossible to exercise in some cities and would undoubtedly discourage some people from going out at all.</p>
<p>There is also the danger any such unfounded information to change people’s behaviour could become an expectation. That could generate conflict and friction between people who think others are not heeding the advice to stay safe.</p>
<p>Advising people to run alone is also unnecessary and should not deter people from meeting up with their exercise buddy, if that helps their motivation. </p>
<h2>Who to trust?</h2>
<p>Stick to official advice and do not rush to make any new lifestyle decisions.</p>
<p>Governments usually develop their advice <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert/government-response-to-the-covid-19-outbreak">in consultation</a> with eminent scientists and clinicians. </p>
<p>The best advice remains what the government and local authorities recommend. In Australia that means keeping a <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert/how-to-protect-yourself-and-others-from-coronavirus-covid-19/social-distancing-for-coronavirus-covid-19">social distance of 1.5m</a>. Some other countries recommend a <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-why-should-we-stay-1-5-metres-away-from-each-other-134029">distance of 1.8m or even 2m</a>.</p>
<p>When doing exercise in pairs, such as running, then stick to at least 1.5m from anyone, including walkers and fellow runners. If a runner or cyclist coughs or sneezes, they need to make sure they cover their mouth and go even further away from anyone else.</p>
<p>A consequence of <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert/how-to-protect-yourself-and-others-from-coronavirus-covid-19/social-distancing-for-coronavirus-covid-19">current formal advice</a> is that running or cycling on narrow and busy outdoor tracks and paths should best be avoided because of the close proximity and the risk of touching or coming too close to others.</p>
<p>Exercisers could use such tracks very early in the morning or at other less busy times.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-stay-fit-and-active-at-home-during-the-coronavirus-self-isolation-134044">How to stay fit and active at home during the coronavirus self-isolation</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Physical inactivity during the COVID-19 self-isolation is a serious threat to people’s mental and physical health. Maintaining or increasing physical activity is one of the most important <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-stay-fit-and-active-at-home-during-the-coronavirus-self-isolation-134044">coping mechanisms</a> during the extraordinary conditions we are experiencing.</p>
<p>In the countries where outdoor exercise has not been <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2020/03/19/coronavirus-which-countries-are-under-lockdown-and-who-s-next">banned</a> – including Australia – safe cycling, running and walking are all great ways to meet or exceed the <a href="https://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/factsheet_adults/en/">World Health Organisation</a> recommendation of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity per week.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/136235/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emmanuel Stamatakis received funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, the British Heart Foundation, PAL Technologies (Scotland), and the National Institute for Health Research (UK) for research projects related to physical activity and health. He is affiliated with the BMJ as Editor-in Chief of BMJ Open Sports & Exercise Medicine, and Editor of the British Journal of Sports Medicine.</span></em></p>The official advice is to stay at least 1.5m apart from someone else when exercising. One study has challenged that and says we need to move further apart. But does the study stack up?Emmanuel Stamatakis, Professor of Physical Activity, Lifestyle, and Population Health, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1276342019-11-25T14:52:41Z2019-11-25T14:52:41ZRunning shoes: how science can help you to run faster and more efficiently<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303322/original/file-20191124-74557-16zkcnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The key to record-breaking performances?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/man-runner-on-street-be-running-1129471388">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Long-distance running times are dropping – and the first <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/50025543">sub-two hour marathon</a> was completed recently by Kenyan athlete, Eliud Kipchoge. Some are arguing that <a href="https://theconversation.com/wafer-thin-bicycles-speedy-shorts-go-faster-trainers-controversial-technology-in-sport-126301">innovations</a> in trainer design are playing a pivotal role in these <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/50041037">improvements</a>. But what is the science behind these elite running shoes? Can they really make such a big difference? And can they get even better?</p>
<p>Over the last two decades, there has been <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci/special_issues/Sports_Materials">growing focus</a> on the <a href="http://sportsengineering.org/">engineering</a> of sports equipment, <a href="https://www.springer.com/journal/12283">including running</a> <a href="https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/journal/proceedings-institution-mechanical-engineers-part-p-journal-sports-engineering">shoes</a>. But while we are seeing rapid development in this area, these steps are often incremental improvements rather than massive strides of change.</p>
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<p>The first ever running shoe appeared about <a href="https://mentalitch.com/the-history-of-running-shoes/">200 years ago</a> and <a href="https://www.runnersworld.com/gear/a20787065/a-brief-history-of-the-running-shoe/">both materials and design</a> have <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sportacademy/hi/sa/athletics/features/newsid_3935000/3935703.stm">improved enormously</a> since then. But if you consider the changes on a year-to-year basis, the variances are fractional. They do, however, add up.</p>
<h2>Preventing injury</h2>
<p>A running shoe should protect the foot and the runner from injury. It provides stabilisation of the foot and protects skin from damage. It should also limit potentially harmful impact forces as the foot strikes the ground, while returning energy to the runner.</p>
<p>Running shoes are designed in a way that improves running efficiency. Science suggests that if you can reduce the energy it takes to run, then in theory, you should be able to run faster and for a longer period.</p>
<p>To do this, a number of techniques can be adopted. First, we can <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-017-0811-2">reduce the mass of a shoe</a> to <a href="https://shapeamerica.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02640414.2019.1633837#.Xdfx00x2tMs">make it lighter</a>. This will allow a runner to swing their legs more efficiently. Another claim is that if there is more cushioning in the midsole, then an athlete can run with <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-017-0811-2">straighter legs</a>, again making them more efficient.</p>
<p>Adding <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-017-0811-2">stiff plates</a> <a href="https://shapeamerica.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02640414.2019.1633837#.Xdfx00x2tMs">within</a> <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.453.6692&rep=rep1&type=pdf">the</a> [midsole], may also help an athlete to run better by redistributing positive lower limb joint work from the knee to the joint of your toes <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1440244019303822">above the ball of your foot</a>. These stiff plates may also store and return energy to the runner.</p>
<p>In general, when we compress this midsole, and then release it, we want as much energy as possible to be returned. The more energy that is returned, the more efficiently an athlete should be able to run.</p>
<p>It can, of course, be difficult to design tests that systematically explore all these factors, but they are being explored by science.</p>
<h2>Every runner is different</h2>
<p>Major sporting brands spend a lot of time and resources designing and tuning running shoes, but the biggest challenge they face is <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12283-015-0183-5">the fact that everyone is different</a>.</p>
<p>The design and engineering that goes into a running shoe is quite heavily dependent on the runner, and their requirements. Each person will have his or her own running style and, of course, every foot is unique. There is never going to be a one-size-fits-all in shoe design.</p>
<p>A sprinting shoe would also be entirely different to a marathon shoe, for example. Marathon footwear needs cushioning to reduce injury risk from many impacts over a long distance; while a sprinting shoe could benefit from <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14763140408522830?casa_token=_xSwMcssHSQAAAAA:XxnpqUFesAGenlmIcHehViKniuo_PaVqUWew2w6onq4VrtWMl0dOa3Upy3uGkxaVY372yUH1lPC0Qg">being stiffer</a> without necessarily requiring as much cushioning.</p>
<p>Similarly, some runners strike the ground right on their heel. These “rear-foot strikers” likely need more cushioning. Others will strike more on their forefoot. They are probably less concerned with cushioning, and could benefit from a more minimalist running shoe, or <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature08723">even running barefoot</a>.</p>
<h2>Testing for excellence</h2>
<p>Testing falls into two main areas. The first is engineering testing: testing of the design and materials. This involves testing the shoe in isolation.</p>
<p>For example, you might want to look at the ageing of a shoe. This might involve putting an artificial foot in the shoe and compressing it thousands and thousands of times to mimic someone running, and then seeing how the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1754337118824001?casa_token=P_mdA42e_IsAAAAA%3A9N0z9VXRxIBBTEaOwdLBr2Rllmx7wx9bMt-dAz7tyv4Dp_EA2e7JnP2UjvUe5Jf4y82aA7cCrQ5L">properties change</a> over <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19424280.2016.1228702?casa_token=a9yrrPie9XUAAAAA%3AxajCQBAZCDxchX0p1aVEQ7FSJ6nirzDovFwr6OhPL7NAVm7WNS9KpvYvxH3DD12iCOXvkJP0Bv9n">time</a>. </p>
<p>But you should also explore the interaction of the shoe with the athlete, investigating the effect the footwear has on the runner, their performance and the general physiological state of the individual.</p>
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<span class="caption">What’s the right shoe for you?</span>
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<p>To test this, athletes might be asked to run over force plates while being filmed with a motion capture system, to see how the footwear influences their movement and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0021929087903241">ground reaction forces</a>. We could also look at the injury risks at this time.</p>
<p>You might also have participants running on treadmills and then <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-017-0811-2">monitor</a> their <a href="https://shapeamerica.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02640414.2019.1633837">oxygen levels</a>. In these types of experiments you can see how efficient they are at running with different kinds of footwear.</p>
<h2>Material gains</h2>
<p>Materials are probably the most crucial thing in footwear science. Many of the latest innovations in running shoes are based around the materials being used.</p>
<p>The shape of a shoe is more or less fixed to the shape of the foot. But you might make the midsole thicker and from a softer, more resilient material, providing a bigger distance for it to compress over, so it can absorb and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-017-0811-2">return more energy</a>. </p>
<p>You can consider a range of things when looking at different materials. You might want to consider using lighter materials, materials that return more energy or materials, which allow the shoe to be <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/8/6/941">more fitted to the foot</a>.</p>
<p>Running shoe midsoles are typically made from moulded materials like EVA foam. The bottom of a shoe needs to be rubbery and provide grip, and often textiles go on top to form the upper.</p>
<h2>The future of footwear</h2>
<p>I believe the future of running footwear is in sustainability and customisation. In future, people could be able to design their own shoes to their preference. I also believe shoes will be designed to better suit the needs of the runner. For example, we might monitor how someone runs in the lab and then design a pair of shoes specifically for them. </p>
<p>One thing is certain, though. We still do not fully understand what makes the best running shoe and science is key. We still have a long race ahead of us.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127634/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Allen works for Manchester Metropolitan University. He has received contract research funding from sports brands for work on materials in relation to footwear. He worked for Adidas in 2005. </span></em></p>As record running times drop, what role is footwear playing?Thomas Allen, Senior Lecturer, Department of Engineering, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/646132016-11-07T03:21:20Z2016-11-07T03:21:20ZHealth Check: why do we get a stitch and how can we stop it?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136992/original/image-20160908-25237-jogo0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">For a long time it was thought during exercise there would be a reduction in blood flow to the diaphragm in favour of supplying blood and oxygen to the working limb muscles. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com.au</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A stitch in medical terms is known as “exercise-related transient abdominal pain”. People often describe it as a sharp or stabbing pain, or sometimes cramping, aching or pulling in the side, just below the ribs. Some people can overcome the pain and continue to exercise, but most will need to slow down or stop for relief. </p>
<p>The pain will usually subside within a few minutes of stopping exercise, although some people may be sore for a few days afterwards if the initial pain was quite severe.</p>
<h2>Why do we get a stitch?</h2>
<p>We don’t know what causes a stitch. However, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10449020">for a long time it was thought</a> during high-intensity or lengthy exercise, there was a reduction in blood flow to the diaphragm, the large muscle involved in breathing, in favour of supplying blood and oxygen to the working limb muscles. </p>
<p>This idea is now not well regarded because both the leg muscles and the diaphragm work harder during running so it is unlikely blood would be shunted away from a muscle that is working hard. A <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17703996">study assessed</a> the health of the diaphragm muscle of participants while they were and were not experiencing a stitch and found no difference. This suggests the amount of activity of the muscle was the same in both conditions therefore not likely to be the origin of the pain.</p>
<p>A stitch can occur during any kind of mid- to high-intensity exercise, however it is mostly associated with running. A <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10449020">current explanation</a> is that during running, the stitch is caused by the weight of organs such as the stomach, spleen and liver pulling on ligaments that connect them to the diaphragm. <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27177949">Perhaps the jolting of the organs while running</a> puts strain on these ligaments resulting in the stitch. But, since stitches can occur in other forms of exercise like cycling, rowing and swimming, perhaps this is not the answer either.</p>
<p>Some have suggested level of fitness is the key, however there are plenty of very fit runners who have a stitch during training.</p>
<p>The author of a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2796944/">literature review</a> on exercise-related transient abdominal pain suggested during exercise the lining of the inside wall of the abdominal cavity, called the peritoneum, gets irritated which results in the stitch. This would depend largely on the type and amount of food eaten just before exercising.</p>
<h2>How do you resolve and prevent a stitch?</h2>
<p>A pre-run meal to boost energy stores is not necessarily a bad idea, but choosing the right type and amount of food and leaving enough time between eating and exercising are all important factors. </p>
<p>Prevention is better than cure and the idea that pre-exercise food intake may be the cause of the stitch is reasonable; so limit the amount of food you eat before your run. </p>
<p>Foods higher in fibre and fat take longer to digest so give yourself plenty of time for that process to run its course before you run yours. You should allow at least one and a half hours after eating before you begin exercising.</p>
<p>Don’t eat a large meal in the two hours prior to the exercise and in particular avoid sugary drinks like soft drinks and juice, and sugary foods like lollies. Since the most likely explanation for the stitch currently, is the irritation of the lining of the peritoneum, limiting your food and drink intake before running will be most important.</p>
<p>Ensuring you are well hydrated before beginning your training session will also help. This requires drinking lots of water in the 12 hours before exercise. Then in the two hours before, just drink small amounts to make sure you do not bloat or need to go to the toilet during training, or worse, a race or match. </p>
<p>Going from relaxed, straight into a fairly high intensity run may also result in a severe stitch in a matter of minutes. So, begin with a warm up and build the intensity gradually. This will optimise your workout and reduce the chance of a stitch.</p>
<p>If you breathe regularly and efficiently you can synchronise the breathing rate with your strides. So breathe in for two or three strides and out for two or three strides. If your stride rate changes, your breathing rate should change with it.</p>
<p>If a stitch does occur, usually it will ease if you stop or reduce the intensity of the activity. So, be careful about what you eat prior to exercise and, if you do get a stitch, take a short break before resuming exercise.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64613/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Lavender does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A stitch will usually ease if you stop or reduce the intensity of the activity.Andrew Lavender, Lecturer, School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/635422016-08-11T13:24:59Z2016-08-11T13:24:59ZJogging can add years to your life – here are six simple tips to get you started<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133586/original/image-20160809-9267-o9yhy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The sight of the determined, lycra-clad jogger has become a familiar feature of urban parks around the world. Jogging – <a href="http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/jogging">defined as</a> “the activity of running at a steady, gentle pace” – was made popular by running pioneer <a href="http://www.nzedge.com/legends/endurance/arthur-lydiard/">Arthur Lydiard</a>, who realised that this was a better way to train for competition than sprinting to exhaustion. Jogging gained a huge following in the 1980s, and has recently experienced <a href="https://theconversation.com/running-numbers-continue-to-rise-heres-why-59862">something of a resurgence</a>. </p>
<p>There are clear health benefits to this relatively cheap and accessible activity. The <a href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/245038.php">Copenhagen City Heart study</a> – which collected data between 1976 and 2003 – revealed that regular jogging increases the life expectancy of men by 6.2 years, and women by 5.6 years. </p>
<p>Peter Schnohr, chief cardiologist of the study, found that jogging improves oxygen intake and heart function, reduces <a href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/270644.php">blood pressure</a> and <a href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/248423.php">inflammation markers</a>, increases <a href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/info/diabetes/whatisinsulin.php">insulin</a> sensitivity and bone density, and helps to <a href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/info/obesity/how-much-should-i-weigh.php">prevent obesity</a> and blood clots, among many other things. </p>
<p>So, how much jogging do you have to do to gain this bounty of benefits? The Copenhagen City Heart study itself recommends between 60 and 150 minutes per week, in total. The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) likewise <a href="http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/fitness/Pages/physical-activity-guidelines-for-adults.aspx">suggests that</a> 19- to 64-year-olds should be doing 150 minutes of <a href="http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/aerobic+exercise">moderate aerobic exercise</a> each week – where aerobic exercise is a workout which you can maintain for relatively long periods, without too much impact on your breathing rate. </p>
<p>These benefits are maximised by jogging for more than 20 minutes, at least three to five times per week. But, based on my own experience as a competitive runner and coach, there are a few other tricks you can use to get the most out of your regular jog.</p>
<h2>1. Improve your technique</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-find-your-best-running-style-60398">Everybody runs differently</a>, so your technique is going to be unique. Even so, there are a few key pointers that may help. The UK Athletics resource <a href="http://ucoach.com/assets/uploads/files/LIRF/LiRF_Course_British_Athletics_v2.0_April_2014.pdf">UCoach</a> recommends running tall, with high hips, and placing each foot directly beneath your centre of mass keeping your arm action relaxed and efficient, with rhythmical stride. Within the first ten weeks, new joggers should expect to see their movement become more efficient, and their <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22525760">running gait</a> improve. </p>
<h2>2. Wear the right shoes</h2>
<p>Going to a specialist running store is very useful – they should be able to give you feedback and advice on your current running shoes, your technique and what extra support you require. This can make a big difference when it comes to <a href="http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/41/8/469.long">preventing injuries</a>; something all runners are trying to achieve. </p>
<p>Keep in mind, however, that the most expensive shoes might not be the best – in fact, it’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/expensive-running-shoes-dont-prevent-injuries-but-comfortable-ones-might-44314">probably more important</a> to make sure they are comfortable.</p>
<h2>3. Set goals</h2>
<p><a href="http://fitnessforlife.org/AcuCustom/Sitename/Documents/DocumentItem/8790.pdf">Setting goals</a> is proven to give you the motivation you need to get started, and to continue training. These may include personal goals to get fit and lose weight, or you may aim to complete an event like a 5km, 10km or half or full marathon. Remember, any goal is a great tool – but you may simply enjoy jogging – that’s fine, too. </p>
<h2>4. Mix it up</h2>
<p>Mixing up your jogging routes and venues is key to beating off <a href="http://www.runnersworld.com/for-beginners-only/10-ways-to-beat-boredom-on-your-run">potential boredom</a>. So, make sure not all your jogs are over the same distance and on the same loop. You can’t beat a new trail for a longer jog, just make sure you know where you are going – or you may be running for longer than you anticipated. </p>
<h2>5. Become a social jogger</h2>
<p>Jogging with others is a great way to be social and also go longer and further. The rise of the <a href="http://www.parkrun.com">Parkrun</a> is a global phenomenon that gets many thousands of people each week running, jogging and walking over a 5km distance. There are many Parkruns spread all over the UK. It is <a href="https://theconversation.com/parkrun-is-an-important-movement-and-should-remain-free-for-participants-58097">free to enter</a>, and they happen every Saturday morning at 9am in many urban parks. </p>
<h2>6. Smarten up your jog</h2>
<p>This is jogging for the new age. There are numerous smartphone apps and <a href="http://www.cnet.com/news/fitness-trackers-rise-and-fall/">trackers</a> that will monitor and motivate you. They will measure your routes, give you split times and show your progression. You can do virtual jogs with your friends, have mini competitions and even have real-time online coaching support from trained professionals. </p>
<p>There are even apps that will create a music playlist with beats to match your steps per minute. Research <a href="http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/2945">tells us</a> that synchronised music increases exercise output, and helps to reduce the perceived effort of jogging. </p>
<p>Jogging is an accessible urban sport – it’s also smart, sociable and healthy. It isn’t a surprise that jogging has made a comeback. So, put on your trainers, grab your smartphone, go for a jog and live longer.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63542/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Thie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Jogging is the ultimate urban sport: accessible, affordable and very, very good for you.James Thie, Performance Director of Athletics & Lecturer, Cardiff Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/616952016-06-30T09:03:02Z2016-06-30T09:03:02ZIs it OK to have a beer after exercise?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128282/original/image-20160627-28379-1fgeusk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&search_tracking_id=ukLvXW8UkW3zeacCjtxZ0g&searchterm=beer&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=177912356">pogonici/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>People take up running, and other types of exercise, mainly to get fit and lose weight. But there’s often a social aspect, too. After a gruelling run, some people like to retire to the pub or club house for an ice cold beer. </p>
<p>It can’t do any harm … can it?</p>
<p>If we simply look at numbers, running mainly uses the body’s carbohydrate (sugar) and fat stores to provide energy for muscle activity, with the average 70kg person burning approximately 120 calories per mile covered. A pint of beer or lager contains about 200 calories, so modest beer consumption after a run is unlikely to lead to excessive weight gain. Still, all else being equal, the number of calories in beer means that fairly long distances have to be covered to make up for heavy consumption. </p>
<h2>The upside</h2>
<p>So, the odd beer after a run is not going to make you fat. But could it also have benefits?</p>
<p>Prolonged exercise results in depletion of the body’s liver and skeletal muscle glycogen (sugar) stores. These stores are important to offset fatigue and maintain exercise performance so you don’t “hit the wall”. As such, high carbohydrate diets are often recommended for ardent exercisers. </p>
<p>During exercise – particularly in the heat – water and electrolytes are lost through sweating. Following exercise, it is important to rehydrate, as well as to supply the body with adequate nutrition to help it recover and adapt. </p>
<p>To achieve this, many take to sports drinks, which contain electrolytes such as potassium and sodium – important for the body’s functions – as well as carbohydrates which are used as an energy store. Despite containing less sodium, beer can in fact be remarkably similar to many sport drinks. So you might ask: why should I not just drink beer instead since it contains many of the beneficial nutrients of a sports drink? There may be downsides…</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128290/original/image-20160627-8002-13rb5x6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128290/original/image-20160627-8002-13rb5x6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128290/original/image-20160627-8002-13rb5x6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128290/original/image-20160627-8002-13rb5x6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128290/original/image-20160627-8002-13rb5x6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128290/original/image-20160627-8002-13rb5x6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128290/original/image-20160627-8002-13rb5x6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Siri, find me the nearest pub.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/s/jogger/search.html?page=5&thumb_size=mosaic&inline=258858872">Mooshny/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The catch</h2>
<p>The potential downside of having a beer after exercise comes from the alcohol content (most beers are 4-5% alcohol by volume). One problem is that alcohol tends to make you pee more, so it may not be very effective for rehydration and therefore could be harmful for recovery from exercise. </p>
<p>The major organ of the body working during exercise is our skeletal muscles (arms, legs and trunk – about 50% of body weight). Running as an activity can be quite damaging for the muscles and other surrounding tissues, such as bones and tendons. As the feet strike the ground, shock waves are sent up the legs creating micro-damage in muscles and surrounding tissues. This is why we feel pain in the hours and days after running and why it can lead to injury. </p>
<p>Yet as we continue training, our muscles should become more resilient to these stresses. So a major concern is how alcohol might affect recovery from exercise and proneness to injury. Unfortunately, some research suggests that <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24748461">alcohol negatively impacts recovery and may increase the incidence of injury</a>.</p>
<p>When looking at research directly in relation to muscle tissue, it becomes even clearer why drinking alcohol has the potential to impair recovery processes and fitness gains associated with exercise. Studies have shown (albeit mainly in animals) that alcohol consumption negatively affects many of the processes in muscle that both <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24533082">remove damaged proteins and replace them with new ones</a>. </p>
<p>When it comes to the liver, the effects of long-term excessive alcohol intake on health, irrespective of exercise, are well documented (development of fatty liver and cirrhosis). In relation to exercise, the liver is a major glycogen store and, in spite of beer’s nutritional value, there is some evidence that alcohol impairs liver glucose storage and release. Once again, these aspects are likely to be detrimental to optimal exercise performance and recovery. </p>
<p>Excessive alcohol consumption can also suppress the ability of muscle to act as a “glucose sink”. A major health benefit of exercise is the control of blood sugar, which helps to avoid diabetes. Still, alcohol can <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4693236">oppose the sensitizing effect of exercise</a> on the control of blood-sugar levels. </p>
<p>Also, studies have shown alcohol intake can lead to hormone imbalances. For example, alcohol when coupled to exercise increases catabolic hormones such as the “stress” hormone cortisol, which breaks down muscle. At the same time, alcohol can decrease anabolic hormones, such as testosterone, which help <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4056249/">build up muscle</a>. Longer-term changes in the balance of these hormones can be bad for your health.</p>
<p>So is it OK to have a beer after a run? It is clear alcohol intake – despite its caloric value – can negatively impact responses to exercise. Excessive alcohol consumption could affect aspects of recovery, adaptation and even impact longer-term health benefits of exercise. Still, these conclusions should be placed in context. Existing research linking alcohol consumption to the benefits of exercise remains limited and equivocal. </p>
<p>However, while this is a relatively understudied area, having one or two pints of beer after exercise is likely to have little effect on responses to exercise – unless you are a professional looking for that extra 0.1%. Indeed, in many cases moderate alcohol consumption has been shown to be protective overall, rather than harmful. Everything in moderation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61695/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Does a post-workout pint undo all the health benefits?Philip J Atherton, Associate professor, University of NottinghamMatthew Brook, PhD Candidate, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/614542016-06-28T14:02:45Z2016-06-28T14:02:45ZRunning makes you smarter – here’s how<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128500/original/image-20160628-7851-y2yxzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&search_tracking_id=Ya9hpeWc18KCy_bkJidIqQ&searchterm=marathon&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=272797034">Bikeworldtravel/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As far back as the Greeks and Romans, humans have documented the belief that there is a strong link between exercise and intelligence. But in the last two decades, neuroscience has begun to catch up with <a href="http://bit.ly/294Xtmw">Thales</a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/298DQXO">Juvenal’s</a> idea that a sound mind flourishes in a healthy body. While the studies unite in telling us that running will makes us smarter, it is only partly true. The process is more complicated and reveals more about the wonderful complexities of both the human body and its evolution. Although the science might be helping us to understand how the mechanisms work, an important question remains: why does running make us smarter?</p>
<p>Two studies, one published by Finnish researchers <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/JP271552/abstract">in February</a> and the other in Cell Metabolism in <a href="http://bit.ly/29k88px">June</a>, have expanded our understanding of the mechanisms involved in running and the ways that it enhances memory and cognition. Before these, it was understood that exercise induced a process called neurogenesis (where new brain cells are created) in a part of the brain involved in memory formation and spatial navigation, known as the hippocampus.</p>
<p>While intense exercise will create brain cells, they are basically stem cells waiting to be put to use. Exercise doesn’t create new knowledge; rather, it gives you the mental equivalent of a sharpened pencil and clean sheet of paper. It prepares you for learning, but you have to actively do some learning yourself, too. Integrating exercise into your working or studying day would seem like a sensible option, if this particular benefit is of interest to you.</p>
<p>What the new research tells us is that it is not just any exercise that will create new brain cells for you. In the <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/JP271552/abstract">study by Finnish researchers</a>, they discovered that only certain kinds of exercise are likely to result in the growth of new brain cells in adults. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128505/original/image-20160628-7842-inavs0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128505/original/image-20160628-7842-inavs0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128505/original/image-20160628-7842-inavs0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128505/original/image-20160628-7842-inavs0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128505/original/image-20160628-7842-inavs0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1136&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128505/original/image-20160628-7842-inavs0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1136&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128505/original/image-20160628-7842-inavs0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1136&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Marathon man, Alan Turing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&search_tracking_id=0b7Ci9aHwT3syfCYuWBdxQ&searchterm=Alan%20Turing&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=3271334">Guy Erwood/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>According to the researchers, the exercise needs to be “aerobic and sustained”. But they also looked at the neurobiological effects of the currently popular “high intensity interval training” (HIT), as well as resistance training (weightlifting). While the team discovered a minor response after HIT there was no response at all after the resistance training. So HIT will have a small impact on cognitive abilities, while weightlifting, it seems, will definitely not make you smarter. (The weightlifters have Arnold Schwarzenegger in their camp. Runners have the mathematical genius capable of running a marathon in 2 hours 46 minutes, Alan Turing, in theirs. As a committed distance runner, I’m saying nothing …)</p>
<h2>Brain’s Miracle-Gro</h2>
<p>Since the <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0006899396002739">1990s</a>, it has been understood that exercise also assists in learning because the activity produces a protein called <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-derived_neurotrophic_factor#Function">brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)</a>. BDNF promotes the growth of new neurons and supports existing ones. <a href="http://johnratey.typepad.com/blog/2008/03/miracle-gro-for.html">John Ratey</a>, a Harvard professor of psychiatry, called it “Miracle-Gro for the brain”. </p>
<p>The Cell Metabolism study examined Cathepsin B (CTSB) protein secretion during running. By assisting in the expression of BDNF, this protein had beneficial effects on cognition, specifically enhanced adult brain cell growth in the hippocampus and spatial memory function.</p>
<p>The science is just settling into its pace and I am sure that in the next few years more and more research will appear to make sense of our deep love for this most simple and natural form of exercise. But there’s still that question: why does the body need to reward us with greater cognitive function and more effective spatial memory and awareness just because we run?</p>
<p>I think the answer is to be found in natural selection. We have not evolved to be healthy, or to have a nice experience on this earth. Evolution is only really interested in the human body staying alive long enough to procreate. From that point on, natural selection is more or less disinterested in our well-being. When we look at these cognitive rewards in this way what do they tell us about ourselves and the human body?</p>
<h2>Outrunning your knowledge</h2>
<p>The human body has been around for about 2m years, and only in the last few thousand of these have we become literate – map-makers that can walk, make notes, and record journeys. For most of our history we have not had the technology that allows us to outsource this heavy cognitive work to a piece of paper, or a GPS.</p>
<p>As a child, the 19th-century poet, John Clare, desired to walk to the edge of the horizon to find new worlds beyond. He wanted, he said, to walk all the way <a href="http://bit.ly/28RfGhD">out of his knowledge</a>. I think that what these discoveries about running and improving cognitive abilities tell us is that the hunter-gatherers of prehistory had to have the ability to outrun theirs. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128499/original/image-20160628-7832-pnk4p9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128499/original/image-20160628-7832-pnk4p9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=734&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128499/original/image-20160628-7832-pnk4p9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=734&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128499/original/image-20160628-7832-pnk4p9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=734&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128499/original/image-20160628-7832-pnk4p9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128499/original/image-20160628-7832-pnk4p9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128499/original/image-20160628-7832-pnk4p9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John Clare outwalked his knowledge.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/John_Clare.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The many tweaks to the human body that make it possible for us to run for 10km on a hot day (standing on two feet, with the ability to sweat to keep cool) mean that even though we are slow in a sprint, we can chase down almost any animal on the planet to the point of exhaustion over longer distances. This is called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_hunting">persistence hunting</a>, and it was a risky activity because it required hunters to leave behind the places they knew in the determined pursuit of prey. With no map-making technologies, the navigational skills of the brain had to step up and do all the work. So those people who adapted this brain cell growth response to distance running were more likely to find their way back to their tribe, and consequently, to survive.</p>
<p>The growth of new brain cells in the hippocampus and the enhancement of spatial memory that is brought on by endurance running is basically an evolutionary safety net for when you have outrun your knowledge, when you have run so far that you no longer know where you are and you need to learn, fast. It is a mechanism that makes information uptake easiest when historically you might have been tired, lost, and at your most vulnerable.</p>
<p>So lace up, step out the door, and prepare yourself for the rewards of an out of knowledge experience.</p>
<p><em>Correction: The original version of this article said that Alan Turing could run a marathon in “2.4 hours”. It has now been corrected to: “2 hours 46 minutes”.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61454/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vybarr Cregan-Reid receives funding from The Arts Council. He is the author of 'Footnotes: how running makes us human' published by Ebury.</span></em></p>Running causes new brain cells to grow. But why does this happen? What is the evolutionary advantage?Vybarr Cregan-Reid, Author of 'Footnotes: How Running Makes us Human' (Ebury, 2016) & Reader in Nineteenth-Century Studies at the the University of Kent, University of KentLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/598622016-05-26T09:58:05Z2016-05-26T09:58:05ZRunning numbers continue to rise – here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124116/original/image-20160526-22060-1gk1yn4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&search_tracking_id=GrYot8XnC8HrDtbFzyMg1g&searchterm=jogging&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=393880156">oneinchpunch/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>With a reported <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/the-running-blog/2013/feb/05/why-we-love-to-run">2m</a> people running in the UK and an estimated <a href="http://www.usatf.org/news/specialReports/2003LDRStateOfTheSport.asp">10m</a> in the US, the activity is on the rise, and fast becoming the most popular form of exercise.</p>
<p>Running fits as snuggly into modern life as an eager foot into a plush pair of new trainers. It can be done alone and in almost any environment. As a solitary activity, there is no need to work around other people’s schedules. There are no courts, pitches, nets, bats, rackets or hoops necessary. You can just put on your shoes and go. It feels like the most natural way to exercise, but it has not always been this way. And it is not only these practicalities that motivate us.</p>
<p>Although running has a complicated history, we know that jogging as a <a href="http://cgj.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/06/26/1474474013491927">“palliative to sedentariness”</a> first took off in the 1960s. Since then it has become a huge business with the athletic shoe industry alone worth <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/athletic-footwear-market-to-value-usd-844-billion-by-2018-could-grow-at-cagr-of-18-from-2012---2018-transparency-market-research-512842661.html">tens of billions</a> of dollars.</p>
<p>Before the jogging revolution, though, it was a distinctly niche activity. The few people that did it had probably been to one of the more affluent schools. A quick leaf through the periodicals of the nineteenth century, such as Bell’s Life in London, and Sporting Chronicle, confirms it was a sport for gentlemen (and sometimes for the hustlers that conned them).</p>
<p>I have covered this more extensively in <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1108162/footnotes/">my research</a>, but loosely defined, “sport” has been recorded since the beginning of documented history (The Epic of Gilgamesh from 3,500 years ago recounts scenes of wrestling and hunting) and it has been a regular mainstay of literature since then. But, exercise, as we might recognise it, being movement for the purposes of maintaining physical health, only becomes common as recently as the early nineteenth century.</p>
<p>We can see it in Jane Austen novels. Fanny in Mansfield Park is forever “<a href="https://austenprose.com/2009/02/25/mansfield-park-why-does-fanny-price-rankle-our-ire/">knocked up</a>” on the sofa as the result of a good walk, but exercise is mostly a pastime for the daughters of gentry, for whom the competition inherent in sport would not be appropriately gendered behaviour. Austen also uses the idea of exercise and movement to pass judgement on her characters: generally, those who over-indulge in it are villainous or not to be trusted, and those who possess more moderate appetites for it are usually our hero or heroine. The finest walker in Austen is Pride and Prejudice’s <a href="http://www.pemberley.com/etext/PandP/chapter8.htm">Elizabeth Bennet</a>, who seemingly strikes just the right balance when she arrives at Netherfield with flushed cheeks and muddy skirts to visit her sister – surely, the Georgian equivalent of a trail run.</p>
<p>By the nineteenth century, then, exercise emerges as an activity commonly seen around the leisured classes. Without physical work, their bodies wither and weaken, so must be exercised. Which is where the inventors came in.</p>
<p>In 1797, the Monthly Magazine announced a new patent for Francis Lowndes’s <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Uuh7FgrmEkEC&pg=PA799&lpg=PA799&dq=the+monthly+magazine+gymnasticon&source=bl&ots=WxA2--C52H&sig=3OnPhyFKytx0D7R4PLfqmj_tsXc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjY8NuVtvXMAhWD5BoKHZXrDR0Q6AEIIjAB#v=onepage&q=the%20monthly%20m">Gymnasticon</a>, the earliest of static exercise machines. The magazine explained that it may be of use “when peculiar or sedentary occupations enforce confinement to the house”.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124024/original/image-20160525-25226-1vaizx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124024/original/image-20160525-25226-1vaizx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124024/original/image-20160525-25226-1vaizx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124024/original/image-20160525-25226-1vaizx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124024/original/image-20160525-25226-1vaizx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124024/original/image-20160525-25226-1vaizx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/124024/original/image-20160525-25226-1vaizx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Gymnasticon. An antidote to peculiar occupations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/medical-patient-gymnasticon-a-machine-everett.jpg">Public domain</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Whenever I have displayed this image at a talk, it is guaranteed to make the audience laugh. It seems such an undignified contraption. But how different is it to, say, a cross-trainer?</p>
<p>Austen’s suspicion of exercise seems to hold true for us today. People will run in parks, but won’t do aerobics workouts in them. P.G. Wodehouse was right in his first Blandings novel, Something Fresh (1915), in which he explained that anyone who wished to exercise outdoors in London had a choice: either give up, “<a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=okiPCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA5&lpg=PA5&dq=defy+London%E2%80%99s+unwritten+law+and+brave+London%E2%80%99s+mockery&source=bl&ots=Ybl_3oBW_X&sig=8zOp6Gf-eV99zaLXDgMJohpLLjY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj0s_-QufXMAhWMDRoKHTlADDoQ6AEIHTAA#v=onepage&q">or else defy London’s unwritten law and brave London’s mockery</a>”. But if exercise is degrading why, as every year goes by, are there more runners?</p>
<h2>Not to be mocked</h2>
<p>The answer is that you only have to put on a TV to see that sport is respected worldwide, but exercise is not revered in the same way. And I think that running is popular because it has its feet in both camps of sport and exercise. It is a permissible public activity because of its associations with sport (unlike Zumba or Body Pump, for example).</p>
<p>The industrial revolution has swept away most of our forests and green spaces, and in doing so changed completely our ways of working, leaving us desperately searching for the easiest means to exercise because it is no longer a part of our working day, but an addition to it.</p>
<p>The number of runners will only continue to increase in the coming years, as austerity bites and convinces us to work ever longer hours, over more days. In rejecting our lethargy, we will continue to look to the easiest, cheapest and most accessible and enjoyable activity that we can. Running remains just about the only intense aerobic activity that does not require you to brave London’s mockery.</p>
<p>And, it’s terrific fun. </p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vybarr Cregan-Reid receives funding from The Arts Council. He is the author of 'Footnotes: how running makes us human' published by Ebury.</span></em></p>How did jogging go from a Victorian gentleman’s pastime to the most popular form of exercise on the planet?Vybarr Cregan-Reid, Senior lecturer & author of Footnotes: how running makes us human, University of KentLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.