The Switch from Brisk Walking to Jogging

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After you've been brisk walking long enough, you can gradually shift to jogging. I don't recommend anyone doing jogging or running at once. There has to be a gradual switching process. Even for young athletes.

What I mean is, young athletes should have a warm-up phase before breaking into a jog or run. The warm up can be a brisk walk for a minute or two. This makes running or jogging safe for the muscles, preventing them from suffering injury.

Injury is the number one thing you have to avoid, especially injury in your ankle tendons and ligaments, your forelegs and others. If you don't walk or jog properly. you can also develop injuries on your knees or hips. And this creates problems to your sports performance. whatever your sport is. And the first thing on proper walking or jogging is warm up.

With adults, I strongly recommend doing brisk walks for some months before switching to jogging. This conditions the leg muscles and the body before you take on a more strenuous course. In my case, I brisked walked for 2 years (after my muscle trauma incident) and then started to mix brisk walking with jogging.

Another time I stopped jogging for a while, I again started with brisk walks for some 6 months or so before I proceeded to jogging and running.

And that's another vital tip---initially mixing walking with jogging before doing full-swing jogging. And much later, mixing jogging with running, and then all three.

The important thing is to avoid shocking the body with sudden and intense workouts. Be gentle and kind with your body, even if you're still young, and give it time to adjust to new physical culture. Shocks against it will prove unhealthy (even dangerous) later, especially when age starts to get the better of you.

And the last but not least tip is to always consult your medical doctor first before trying any physical exercise. Yesterday, I was talking to a 74-year old guy at the Capitol Medical Center clinics. He underwent quadruple bypass recently even if he has been active with tennis since he was a teenager. And one colleague of his suddenly dropped dead right after bouts of tennis.

Why did all these happen?

They failed to check with a medical doctor. Never assume good health, although you feel in tiptop shape. Always consult your medical doctor, especially on brisk walking and jogging.

Okay, it's 6.30 am and time for me to go out and jog now! See you all later.

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Why You Should Have Jogging "Classmates"

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You should have jogging or brisk walking "classmates." That's what I call them. They also brisk walk or jog regularly in the morning or afternoon around our place and, the first time around, I often met them in the streets---just plain met them.

Later I met them eye to eye and much later with a smile. Then one time I stopped to say "Hi!" and that strengthened the familiarity among us. And then I asked them their names. One guy was named, Benjie," the other was "Paul," the guy with the big dog was also named "Paul" and another who looked Chinese was "Rex."

And so on.

I would meet them on the road and say "Hi!" and talk to them for a while and then go on my way. You got to have classmates like that whose help you might need someday if you meet some trouble on the street. Who knows, you might trip or stumble and injure yourself and need a helping hand. That's where your "classmates" come in.

They sometimes walk together in a group, chatting happily as they brisk walk. That's exciting, but I prefer jogging alone. I've always been a loner. And anyway, I am more able to focus on my workout when doing it alone. But I do socialize with them. In fact, I can easily make them laugh. But I try not to be too close to them. I want to focus on my run.

Another reason is, group jogs or runs entice you to compete against each other. You try to jog faster than the rest. Sometimes I want to keep up a gradual pace, hopping high and wide, especially uphill. This way I get the most of my jog. Others might find me too slow.

Or, it may be the other way around. I might suddenly break into a sprint and leave them behind and think I'm showing off.

Nonetheless, it's important to befriend other joggers---young and old. It's more fun and challenging to belong to a community than to be lone ranger all the way. I find great delight just smiling at new joggers and brisk walkers in the area, saying hello or good morning. It's great laughing with veteran joggers.

There was this man in his wheel chair who looked depressed while watching joggers pass by. When I passed him by, I smiled and said, "Good morning" enthusiastically. He was elated and smiled and returned my greeting jovially, looking like he was energized a bit. You can do that service while running outdoors.

That's why it's great to have jogging classmates.

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Why Relaxing is Essential to Brisk Walks, Runs and Jogs

From watchfit.com

Never go out there to brisk walk with worries. Leave your worries where they originated. Office worries should stay in the office, family worries at home, and so on. When you brisk walk, jog or run you have to be relaxed.

Worrying causes stress and stress multiplies free radical damage in your body. Now, did you know that aero workouts produced added free radicals in your body? But it's no cause for concern as long as your aero workout really keeps you healthy. The body will naturally get rid of the free radicals created.

But not if you workout with worries and too much stress. The free radicals produced may become too much than what the body can deal with.

Thus, relaxing is essential when you brisk walk, jog or run.

What I do is forget about worries and problems and look at my surroundings as I brisk walk outdoors. I keep myself in the "now."

I tell myself, "I'm here, walking, jogging or running, and I'm on this road that has lots of trees, gardens and Zen houses. Wow!" Then I appreciate God. Then I look around and appreciate everything or take note of things. Of course, mind where you're going or stepping on. In our area, we have lots of booby traps and land mines. I mean, don't step on dog poo and don't step into large holes in the streets.

It will help you relax to start slow and very gradually build up speed. I walk leisurely at first and then brisk walk before I break into a jog. And then I run. And then I switch motion---brisk walk, jog, run and on.

This way I keep myself relaxed.

Do you need to set goals or beat the record you made yesterday? If you're not an athlete participating in a competition, you don't need to. I never joined walking or running competitions, although I've been running to shape up since grade school. Just enjoy your workout. So what if I just jog for 15 minutes today? So what if all I did this morning was brisk walk? The thing is, you did something.

But often, I make it a point to jog and shadow box at least 30 minutes a day. If at times I do less than that, it's okay. no worries. Sometimes, I just lay idle all day long if that's what would relax me. Sometimes give yourself idle breaks---probably once a week.

Don't kill yourself trying to get fit.

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