Two Painless Methods For Becoming a Runner

Mind is All

If you have wished you could be a runner but have gotten overwhelmed everytime you tried to take it up, you will benefit from these painless methods of building up to running. Most wanna-be runners give up because they push too hard on the first few workouts, frustrating themselves. The least painful way to go from walking to running is to walk, then run, and then walk, and then run, slowly increasing how much you run versus walk. These methods won't transform you into a runner immediately, but they'll help you build up to running in such a way that the workouts will never feel like they are too much.

Try the stopwatch method of working from walking to running. A stopwatch is inexpensive and incredibly helpful. You'll begin your exercise session by walking until your muscles are warm. Then pick up the pace, going into an easy run and jogging along until you feel like it's getting too hard to be pleasurable. Time how long you can run at that easy pace and still enjoy it. Don't be discouraged if it's as little as 30 seconds. Now use your stopwatch to walk for double the time you ran. Alternate running and walking in this manner, always walking double the length of your run time. As you enjoy subsequent run/walking workouts, you'll want to change your ratios such that you walk and run equal amounts, and later run double what you walk, working towards running without any walking breaks at all.

Use a heart rate monitor to become a runner. A heart rate monitor is one of the best tools for easing your way into running. Determine what your fat burning heart rate zone is, and then start out walking. Once you are warm, run until you are well into your fat burning zone. Once you hit heart rate numbers in the upper part of your range, slow down and walk for a while, just until your heart rate reaches the bottom of your fat burning zone. Run again until your heart peaks near the top of your fat burning zone, at which point you should walk again. Eventually you'll work you way up to running and staying in your fat burning zone for an entire workout.

These two methods take time, but they work.