This is a guest post by David Dack.
Starting a running program with the right training strategies is key to staying injury-free and achieving long-term consistency—this is especially true if you’re an overweight person. In fact, overweight people should be extremely cautious when it comes to starting a high impact activity such as running as they are more prone to experience injury and burnout.
Therefore, if you’re an overweight person who’s seeking the best approach to tackle a running program, then below are 3 of the best guidelines to help get the most out of your training sessions while steering clear of injury and early setbacks.
Beginner Running Tip 1: Walk First, Run Later
One the most common gaffes among novice runners, overweight or not, is trying to do too much too soon at quick of a pace. Or what’s commonly known as overtraining. This is a recipe to disaster and can only leave you injured and discouraged. Nevertheless, you can avoid this pitfall by starting slowly and building the intensity up gradually.
For that, walking first is the best approach. Of course, you can introduce the running later on but only when you feel confident enough about your cardio power. You may be excited about your new weight loss goals, however, that’s no excuse to overdo the exercise. Doing so will only backfire on you. Instead, follow a walk-run-walk training pattern and see your fitness level increase gradually with each training session.
Beginner Running Tip 2: Check your Pulse
One of the most overlooked training tools among beginner runners is keeping tags on proper heart rate. See, most beginners get obsessed with the scale that they totally ignore the importance of heart rate for healthy performance. This is a big mistake. For starters, checking your pulse on a regular basis can help you spot the risk of overtraining before it gets any worse. For instance, if your pulse is spikier—6 to 12 beats per minute—than its usual pace, then the chances of overtraining are high. No panic here. You only need to back off a bit and only resume the training when your heart rate has dropped to its normal pace.
Secondly, regular checkups can help you keep track of your progress. See, as the training progresses forward, your heart becomes much more adept at pumping blood to your body and working muscles. Hence it’ll need less beats to do the similar task for you as it used to do. For that reason, if you take notice in a drop of your heart rate, embrace it and congratulate yourself. That’s a cheers sign you’re heading into the right direction.
Beginner Running Tip 3: Take Recovery
Taking ample recovery during your first weeks of training is mandatory. In fact, recovery and consistent progress go hand in hand. You can’t get one without the other. The human body needs adequate time to adapt to the training load so it gets stronger for future workouts. Otherwise, skipping on recovery day will only leave you extremely fatigued and prematurely disappointed.
As a result, make sure to space out your training days with a recovery day. Take as much recovery as you need especially after a hard training session or when your heart rate is unusually spiky. Not only will recovery days help your body to get stronger, it’ll also help you keep your mind fresh and have positive outlook on training. Your mental energy plays a crucial rule as well.
Here you have it. Now you have a basic knowledge of what it takes to start and keep running without much trouble. These are the 3 tips you need if you want to keep training within your fitness levels. Nonetheless, speed of implementation is key to success. So take action now!
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