Is jogging overrated as a way to get in shape?

Wants and Needs wrote:

Superficial wrote:

Running is a great way to get fit, but most people want to look fit. Running just makes you look skinny.

True but despite their wants most people who do other exercise don't look fit either.

That's because 90% of looking "fit" is diet, and most people aren't that disciplined. And, in case you think I'm being critical, I don't look that fit either.

The trouble with jogging is that it doesn't place a lot of stress on your aerobic or anaerobic systems, or your muscles for that matter. Trudging along at 14 minutes a mile is not going to do much. You won't even have time to get much in the way of mileage. Most neighborhood joggers would improve enormously if they did strides, tempos, hill repeats, and intervals periodically, together with some weight training and cross training. Running high mileage will compensate for a lot of dietary sins so that you'll never see any fat 100 mile per week runners.

One of those training studies was using one group running 45 minutes per day easy, another group doing something like 2x5:00 of 20/10s (20 seconds hard, 10 seconds jog) twice per week. The 20/10 group saw dramatic improvements in anaerobic as well as aerobic ability, and even the latter was significantly better than the 45 minute group. Better still, of course, would be to combine the easy running with the fartleks, intervals, etc.

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keep trying

45 minutes of jogging isn't enough to really count as a long run and help aerobic fitness. It also isn't fast enough to boost anaerobic fitness. This is a recovery run. Its good for your heart and circulates blood to help recovery from other workouts.

So is it over rated? Is waking up early and taking a cold shower over rated? It depends on if it is needed. If you are building a base, or tapering, then easy recovery jogs fit perfectly. If you are using this as your sole form of exercise, yeah its over rated for general fitness. You might even do better with 90 minutes of walking instead, more time on feet.

To improve a jogging workout, warm up with skipping, add some mobility drills, and do strides after. If you also add some strafing shuffling and stretching, this adds to the benefits too.

Now say you jog 45 minutes over a winding trail with hills and rough terrain. Now you would be getting more of an agility and endurance workout. 45 minute of rolling hills on the road would be preferable to flat as well. Finally, skip some rope after. Practice shadow boxing. Not to be a boxer, to cross train your upper body, to balance out training your legs. Make the workout worthwhile.

One thing is for sure, jumping on a trampoline for 45 minutes is a more intense leg workout than jogging for 45 minutes, with less risk of knee injury.

Well what are you looking for? Being in shape or an athletic body? Not same thing

Realistically Speaking wrote:

Don't get me wrong, it's great as a sport but I feel like sprints and heavy lifting are better for losing weight fast and getting an athletic body. Most sports also do not involve sustained cardio but bursts of speed and strength.

For losing weight then yes distance running and diet are #1. Very little lean tissue gain. Sprints and heavy lifting won't help you lose too much weight nor gain cardio...which nearly every sport is.

The key here what is meant by "in shape"?

Are we talking about having a trim, muscular (ripped) athletic body, one where you can take your shirt off at the pool and not look like an embarrassment, or are we simply talking aerobic? I guess ideally it'd be combination of the two.

I know a lot of guys that run a lot but they look like a pile of garbage. There's no muscular definition, they have pot bellies and love handles- they're a mess BUT they can run over 20M without thinking about it much. It would really be hard to say they are not "in shape" but if you saw them at the beach you wouldn't think they did anything athletic- ever.

I think if I were simply trying to be "in shape" with no desire to do any races or improve my running my week would look like this:

Mon: 2M jog 10x steep hill at a hard effort, 1-2M jog cool down

Tue: Gym lifting shoulders bicep & triceps

Wed: track 2M warm up 800, 600, 400, 200 x2, 1M cool down

Th: Body weight day push ups, pull ups, squats and lunges

Fri- off

Sat: "long run" 6-10M max

Sun-yoga 45-60min