Are you fit for running? Stand up first and don’t forget to exercise your leg strength

Running sounds easy, but why are some people prone to injuries when participating in road running? Either my knee hurts or my ankle is sprained. In addition, in order for some people to lose weight effectively through running, it is also crucial to build a body that can run, and don’t forget to exercise your leg strength to extend the distance and time of running.

Is it suitable for running? Self-test first

What kind of body is suitable for running? So as not to get hurt easily? Fitness coach James Shuichi Nakano recommends a simple self-test method in his new book "The World's Most Effective Running Weight Loss Method".

【Standing test】

Sit shallowly on a chair, cross your hands in front of your chest, extend your left foot forward, and without using any reaction force, slowly stand up using only the strength of your right foot. Do the same with the other foot.

As for the height of the chair, the standard is 20 cm for men in their 20s and 30 cm for women; 30 cm for men in their 30s and 40 cm for women; for people in their 40s to 60s, it is 40 cm for both men and women. The lower the chair, the higher the difficulty.

Keep walking every day to exercise your legs

After taking this test, determine two things:

① Both feet can maintain balance to complete the "Standing Test".

② Even if you are standing on one foot, you can put on your shoes smoothly without shaking your body.

Don’t think that you can run as long as you pass this test. This is just the minimum standard, so in your daily life you should continue to "walk briskly" and actively climb stairs, gradually extending the running distance and time, so that you can successfully exercise your leg strength.

Because, for people who don’t have the habit of exercising, even if they walk first and exercise for a while before starting to run, when they run for the first time after exercise, some people will still feel that their feet are under impact that they have never experienced before, and they cannot extend the running distance and time.

Strength training is essential to avoid road running injuries

Therefore, it is recommended to do muscle strength training to prevent knee pain. The characteristic of these muscle strength training exercises is that by maintaining the same posture, you can increase the load and awaken muscles that are not usually used, thereby effectively exercising your leg strength.

When the body is moving, it uses 60-70% of its innate muscle strength. When doing these muscle strength training, because the muscle strength must be continuously exerted, the longer it lasts, the more tired the muscles become. In this way, the previously dormant muscles will know "If we don't start moving, it will be too late!" and continue to wake up, and many muscles begin to activate.

Just by giving lazy muscles some stimulation, you can improve your leg strength and make the originally weak knee area more stable.