Jeff Galloway's Blog

Affirming the Benefits of Exercise

2013-02-06T13:02:06-05:00

When you're tentative about your motivation to get out the door for a run, it often helps to read (possibly out loud) the following list of benefits you receive after running:

Your attitude is better after every run.
Stress is released, often completely dissolved.
Natural body chemicals called endorphins relax the body, reducing or eliminating muscle aches and pains.
Your spirit is engaged, leaving you with feelings of accomplishment, confidence and strength.
Body and mind are connected, giving you the confidence that comes with being a more "complete" person.
Your right brain is engaged, energizing your creative and imaginative resources.
You're learning connections to hidden inner resources which kick in whenever you're under stress.

What benefits do you focus on when you need some motivation to get out there?

Reduce Stride, Reduce Pain

2013-01-03T11:22:46-05:00

By fine-tuning the way you move your feet and legs, you can gain more control over how you feel during and after a walk or a run. An efficient stride can promote blood flow to back, neck, joints and feet. In most cases, small adjustments leave one feeling so much better. But back and hip pain is often caused by a stride that is too long.

A gentle stride of the foot and leg will feel smooth and natural. Walking or running within the natural range of motion for each, allows the muscles, tendons and joints to work together as a team. Gentle movement also stimulates the production of endorphins which boost attitude as they reduce aches and pains.

The most common pain-producing mistake, when beginning or when increasing the pace of a walk or run, is using a stride that exceeds your natural range of motion. The extra forward reach of the leg aggravates the hamstring (the muscle on the back side of the upper leg) and the tendon complex behind your knee. This “overstride” also stresses the shin muscle on the front of your leg.

A stride that is only half an inch too long (or longer) can also aggravate the back and hips. Each extended step increases the twist, or torque, of hips and spine. Even a few minutes of this can result in soreness the next day. But when the overstride continues for an hour of hiking, running, or powerwalking, pain may linger for days or weeks.

Many runners and walkers who don't overstride on the street or sidewalk will do so on a treadmill. When using a “tread” for the first time, or after a long layoff, it's best to slow the pace down and use a shorter stride than usual. Remember, you should control the speed of this machine.

At the end of a workout, it's easy to overstride. In the rush to get the workout done, it's very tempting to reach out with the lower leg. It may take a little management of the ego to slow down during the last 5 minutes so that you'll maintain a smooth motion. Practice shortening the stride at the end of all of your runs or walks to get into the habit.

When you're not sure about your length of stride, shorten it. Since all of the significant leg motion problems I've seen in coaching walkers and runners are the result of a long stride, I suggest being sensitive to tightness in the hamstring, hips or shins. A simple reduction of stride length can keep things from aching.

Take walk breaks or shuffle breaks. A major source of injury is the constant use of muscles, tendons, joints, etc. in the same way. By reducing the intensity and specific motion early and often in the exercise, you can avoid the problems. Runners should insert a one minute gentle walk break after running for 1-4 minutes. Walkers experience the same benefit when they use a “shuffle” of 30 seconds, every 3-4 minutes, from the beginning of the workout. The shuffle is performed by reducing stride length and effort down to “baby steps” for half a minute.

Why Diets Don't Work

2012-12-18T10:00:00-05:00

Almost everyone goes through periods of inactivity. Blame it on the weather (hot or cold), vacation, job, family—there are interruptions in our fitness. As we know too well, the surplus is deposited as “potential energy” around the thighs or mid section. Sadly, most never use these reserve energy areas, which expand until you've had enough, and promise to diet or exercise.

When researching Running and Fat Burning for Women with my wife Barbara, we discovered than most of those who decide to lose weight believe that exercise sounds like work, and choose calorie restriction. Those who can focus well and handle deprivation can lose 5-15 pounds in a few weeks. Without exercise, this is a temporary loss. Research shows that almost all of the weight lost on strict diets is regained within the next 12 months. A significant percentage of these cases actually gain back more than they lost during that period. Here are some of the reasons why.

Weight loss doesn't mean fat loss.

On many of the low carb diets, for example, the lower amount on the scale is primarily due to body fluid reduction. The stored form of carbohydrate is called glycogen, which is used as fuel when running and other exertive exercise. This is also a reserve fuel source for the brain which is monitored constantly. When you starve yourself of carbohydrate, glycogen storage is reduced to a level that triggers a starvation reflex. Brain circuits remember. But for every gram of glycogen lost, there are 4 grams of water which also disappear. A 150 pound person can lose 5-10 pounds in 2 weeks. But as soon as carbohydrate is consumed again, the glycogen and water are reloaded and the weight goes up and up...and up. Low carb diets also tend to promote the consumption of fat, which is directly deposited on the body. It is common for those on this diet to add to their fat stores, but they don't know this is happening because the water weight is being lost. When carbohydrate consumption has resumed, the scales regularly provide a shock: more than before the diet started.

The Set Point

Our human ancestors who survived periods of famine and prolonged sickness had more fat on their bodies. This genetic survival storage brain circuit programs us to add a little additional fat storage every year or two. We can temporarily reduce the amount of fat on our bodies through diets, but the internal mechanism remembers.

Starvation reflex

When we deprive ourselves of food, particularly food that we love, we initiate the “binge” response countdown. At some point in the future when the banned food is around and one is alone, there's a great tendency to eat large quantities due to psychological deprivation. When the total calorie consumption is extremely low, it is possible to burn off fat, while some essential nutrients are not ingested in adequate amounts. If you're trying to lose the “spare tire”, food deprivation is counterproductive. An appetite rebound is triggered over weeks or months after resuming normal eating, which leads to a total fat percentage that is higher than before the restrictive diet.

Gentle exercise with dietary change can help lower fat level

Aerobic exercise (walking, easy jogging, cycling, swimming, etc.) burns fat when the effort level is low enough. If you are not huffing and puffing, and you can keep moving for more than 45 minutes, you are in the fat burning zone. Exercise is the furnace that can burn fat off, and it produces many metabolic changes to keep it off.