Running Everyday?

[Gamingphreek]

I ran track last year in High School but was side lined for the year with shin splints (We were worried about stress fractures). I ran the 2 Mile event and would have been very competitive had that not happened (Dropped my time to around 12:30 when I pushed it). I started running again here in College, but then my knee gave out.

FINALLY, I bought some underarmor (Its cold at Virginia Tech), I'm taking Glucosamine tablets (Bad Joints), and I'm starting to run again.

I know when training for track I ran 6 days a week, every week. As of right now, I can just now start running at full speed again (Leg is completely healed). So I have been running ~2 miles on 5 days and ~3 miles 1 Day out of the week. Today I just got back from my long-run day and I wanted to make sure I am correct.

Is it a good idea for me to do this plan everyday (Perhaps Sundays off?)?

Also, I am going on a Ski Trip this winter (About 2 months from now) with a bunch of friends (Including one person in particular that I wouldn't mind impressing). I am slim with good muscle mass, but I dont have as much tone as I would like. What would be the best way for me to get better muscle tone (Of course more mass is fine too)?

Right now I made a very well balanced diet (Lots of fruit, eating breakfast, salads, sandwhichs, lots of water, I cut out all junk foods except for one day where I can have a slice or pizza or a Stromboli or something for Dinner).

Thanks,
-Kevin

(Oh and I heard you can exercise Abs everyday, but I have always heard that all muscles, regardless, should be worked out every other day)

 

[Pepsi90919]

you will die tomorrow

 

[bobdelt]

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
you will die now

 

[Gamingphreek]

Ok umm why? I run track, it isn't like this "running-thing" is new to me.

-Kevin

 

[wheresmybacon]

op: you ran track in high school. you know about training and nutrition. why are you asking atot for advice on running?

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: hungfarover
op: you ran track in high school. you know about training and nutrition. why are you asking atot for advice on running?

Just because I ran track doesn't mean that I am naieve enough to think that I know everything. There are people here that know FAR more than I do. I only know enough to get by, which is why I am asking you guys.

-Kevin

 

[alkemyst]

Depends alot on the surface and what else you are doing.

I'd say at least two days a week rest in any kind of physical activity is good.

If you are trying to gain mass, working abs everyday can slow your growth down...your body tends to repair those first since they protect your organs.

I usually run 3-4days a week on asphalt over 20-30mins and lift another 4-5 days a week.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Ok, I CAN run on a trail (I just gotta find it ). But as of right now I have been running on sidewalk.

I think I am going more for muscle tone than mass (I wouldn't object to more mass at the same time though).

So it would be best for me to exercise abs every other day? I generally do something me and my team mates dubbed "8 Minute abs". And pretty much we do a variety of ab workouts (Obliques, Lower, and Upper) for 8 minutes straight at 1 minute intervals.

The problem with me running for 20-30 minutes is i have a VERY slow twitch muscle. I can run FOREVER (Not to say I am slow, but certainly not a sprinter). After this run today, I was MOVING and about 5 mins after I stopped running I was fine and I feel like I can do it again. Should I increase my speed, or go for a longer distance? I try to keep it a pretty fast paced run, but since I am running all over Blacksburg city I dont push it too hard (Dont want to gas out a mile away from my dorm or anything, however unlikely that may be).

As for the lifting for tone over mass, I would guess I want to do lower weight, higher repitition? (For bi/tri-ceps I do 3 sets of 20 reps at 20 lbs, and then a pyramid set of push-ups. In my mind I think I need to get to the gym and gets some reps in on the bench (Unless there is a better way to work pecs)). Also, since I am running would it be a bad idea to use the elevated leg press and work out quads, hamstrings, and calves (ie: Should it be a one or the other type thing?)?

-Kevin

 

[Wapp]

If you are running so much on a ****** sidewalk you are going to jack your legs up. Fine a nice clay or rubber track to run on if you are going to run everyday. Until then give your body a rest at least twice a week.

 

[newmachineoverlord]

Originally posted by: Wapp
If you are running so much on a ****** sidewalk you are going to jack your legs up. Fine a nice clay or rubber track to run on if you are going to run everyday. Until then give your body a rest at least twice a week.

^^^^
Also, it's important to eat protein and carbohydrates within thirty minutes of exercise, so bring a sandwich or whey protein with you to the track to eat afterwards. So far nothing has bested chocolate milk in peer reviewed experiments.

Distance is better for you than speed, but do mostly short runs with one long run per week. Increase the distance of the long run gradually, but keep the others under five miles.

 

[Fingolfin269]

I'm just glad you now get to protect this house.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: newmachineoverlord

Originally posted by: Wapp
If you are running so much on a ****** sidewalk you are going to jack your legs up. Fine a nice clay or rubber track to run on if you are going to run everyday. Until then give your body a rest at least twice a week.

^^^^
Also, it's important to eat protein and carbohydrates within thirty minutes of exercise, so bring a sandwich or whey protein with you to the track to eat afterwards. So far nothing has bested chocolate milk in peer reviewed experiments.

Distance is better for you than speed, but do mostly short runs with one long run per week. Increase the distance of the long run gradually, but keep the others under five miles.

Ok thank you guys so much!! As far as protein goes, would a peanut butter sandwhich be a bad idea (ie: Too many, Calories, or Total Fat)?

As far as the track goes, is a cross country trail good enough?

-Kevin

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
I'm just glad you now get to protect this house.

Ummm what do you mean?

 

[Dualist]

You don't have to do it every day of the week, about 2 days a week seems to be adequate. Because you don't want to overexert yourself.

 

[destrekor]

i run 3 days a week for Army ROTC... ranges from roughly 2 miles to 5 miles (no idea how much actually, but for the distance we have ran, that could be right).. every now and then a lite day where its little running, just a few sprints indoors and other stuff... it changes up a LOT, which is a good thing. however, it sucks because we stick to pavement to run on.

 

[snoopdoug1]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
I'm just glad you now get to protect this house.

Ummm what do you mean?

I laughed at both of these reponses WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE!

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: Duality210
You don't have to do it every day of the week, about 2 days a week seems to be adequate. Because you don't want to overexert yourself.

But im training. I want to try to run track in college. I want to get better muscle tone for a bunch of reasons (Ski Trip with friends etc...).

We 6 days out of the week in track, going down to 2 isn't an option especially since I want to make as much progress as possible in 2 months, I want to push my limits and get better.

-Kevin

 

[Bateluer]

Hmm, I've been running twice a day, 6 days a week, for at least 30min per session. Sometimes I'll push it to 45 or 60min though. My shins have been toughened up by it, as have my feet. You should see the callouses I've got on my heels and balls of my feet.

If you eat a good nutritious diet, which it looks like you are already doing, that will definitely help trim the fat. I'd run more than just two days a week, if your shins can take it. At least 4, such as M, W, F, S. Twice a week doesn't get you much benefit.

Oh, drink lots of water too, for obvious reasons.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: Bateluer
Hmm, I've been running twice a day, 6 days a week, for at least 30min per session. Sometimes I'll push it to 45 or 60min though. My shins have been toughened up by it, as have my feet. You should see the callouses I've got on my heels and balls of my feet.

If you eat a good nutritious diet, which it looks like you are already doing, that will definitely help trim the fat. I'd run more than just two days a week, if your shins can take it. At least 4, such as M, W, F, S. Twice a week doesn't get you much benefit.

Oh, drink lots of water too, for obvious reasons.

Oh you mistook what I wrote. I run 6 days a week, I was saying, in response to Duality, that 2 days a week isn't nearly enough for me.

Ok so Ill run 6 days a week with one run being longer than the others and then I can take Sunday off (Church and what not).

Now is it a bad idea for me to work out quads, hamstrings, and calves in addition to my running?

Is there anyway I can work out pecs with just a dumbell in my room, it is significantly easier doing it that way as opposed to walking over to the gym. But if the gym is the best place to get this done, then Ill do it.

-Kevin

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek

Now is it a bad idea for me to work out quads, hamstrings, and calves in addition to my running?

Is there anyway I can work out pecs with just a dumbell in my room, it is significantly easier doing it that way as opposed to walking over to the gym. But if the gym is the best place to get this done, then Ill do it.

-Kevin

You could work out the various muscles in your legs through weightlifting exercises, but you wouldn't be giving your body enough time to repair the muscles before ran/lifted again and damaged them. Better to run, IMO, it strengthens most muscles in the legs while toning them and burning fat.

If you have two dumbells and some sort of bench, you can do a benchpress with the two dumbells. Its actually preferable to benchpress with two dumbells so that your weaker side isn't being compensated by the stronger side. If you bench has an adjustable height, you could also do incline/decline chest presses, which work the lower and upper chest muscles.

Pushups are a decent poor man's solution as well, but they're more targetted to a single area of the chest than the exercises you could do with a proper bench and weights. Although, you can move your arms around to more that target slightly. Keeping your elbows in close to your body during a pushup, for instance, using more tricep muscles than chest muscles.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek

Now is it a bad idea for me to work out quads, hamstrings, and calves in addition to my running?

Is there anyway I can work out pecs with just a dumbell in my room, it is significantly easier doing it that way as opposed to walking over to the gym. But if the gym is the best place to get this done, then Ill do it.

-Kevin

You could work out the various muscles in your legs through weightlifting exercises, but you wouldn't be giving your body enough time to repair the muscles before ran/lifted again and damaged them. Better to run, IMO, it strengthens most muscles in the legs while toning them and burning fat.

If you have two dumbells and some sort of bench, you can do a benchpress with the two dumbells. Its actually preferable to benchpress with two dumbells so that your weaker side isn't being compensated by the stronger side. If you bench has an adjustable height, you could also do incline/decline chest presses, which work the lower and upper chest muscles.

Pushups are a decent poor man's solution as well, but they're more targetted to a single area of the chest than the exercises you could do with a proper bench and weights. Although, you can move your arms around to more that target slightly. Keeping your elbows in close to your body during a pushup, for instance, using more tricep muscles than chest muscles.

Excellent. Ok well I'm probably going to buy 2x new dumbells because the one i have is really old, its only 20lbs.

I dont have a bench in my dorm but i think i can improvise. Ill do push-ups also (I typically do a pyramid set starting at 10-11 pushups so it works out to be quite a bit, plus i do these things in between each set of pushups (put hands in the air and "raise up"...it looks kind of weird but my old coach thought it up and it actually works)).

So Ill keep on this diet. Ill run 6 days out of the week (1 long 5 short). And then Ill alternate days (1 day being back and abs, the other being, Bi/Triceps, pecs, deltoids etc...)

Hopefully the result will be noticeable in ~1.5-2 montsh time.

-Kevin

 

[Randum]

I was a swimmer my whole life, tried running everyday, and I heard its not good to run EVERYday but maybe every other?

For a nice changeup, I run and bike everyother day, and just bike everyday, (lift every other as well)

That keeps it fairly fresh.

 

[purbeast0]

i've said it once, and i'll say it again ...

you will NOT gain muscle mass and lose fat at the same time. those are 2 extreme opposites. you gain mass by having calorie overload and you lose fat by having a calorie deficit. it's just not possible. do one then the other.

and why are you so worried about being cut and having ripped abs when you are going to be on a ski trip, in the middle of winter, when it's below freezing outside?

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: Randum
I was a swimmer my whole life, tried running everyday, and I heard its not good to run EVERYday but maybe every other?

Bah, the human body is a highly evolved running machine. Humans are better endurance runners than most other animals on the planet.

Running every day does put some wear on your knees, but proper shoes and running on dirt trails or rubberized tracks minimize that.

You could substitute a day or two of running with a bike ride, but you'd have to bike a lot longer to burn the same amount of fat/calories. Swimming is good to do as well, and will build upper body strength, but you need access to a pool or body of water, which can be costly.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
i've said it once, and i'll say it again ...

you will NOT gain muscle mass and lose fat at the same time. those are 2 extreme opposites. you gain mass by having calorie overload and you lose fat by having a calorie deficit. it's just not possible. do one then the other.

and why are you so worried about being cut and having ripped abs when you are going to be on a ski trip, in the middle of winter, when it's below freezing outside?

Not so concerned about being cut to that extent. Just enough that when everyone is chilling inside the cabin after skiing and stuff or when I'm hanging out with her some other time she could notice. (She is "talking" with this guy who (In my mind) is a little more muscular than I am....ya know a man's competitive side is coming out )

But thats beside the point. I really just want to make the Spring Track Team, and start this exercise going. I have said I was going to do something like this for a while and now, at College, I have the chance to make it happen.

Unfortunately I dont have a bike. There are multiple indoor swimming pools here at VT but I would rather not swim (I did swim team all through high school and after a while swimming just gets old).

These are the shoes that I run in. I overpronate when I run, I didn't just randomly choose these shoes. I have had them for about a year now, but only in limited use (Out with injury).

-Kevin