More is not Better, Better is Better

I have heard of people, some of whom are my friends, who do not usually exercise regularly, tell me that they want to spend the next few months (can't remember exactly how many but it is between 3-6) training for the next marathon.

I always wonder what the heck these people are up into. I mean they don't normally do intense physical exercise and they think that they can take a few months to complete a marathon.

Why?

Are they aware of the potential damage they are exposing their joints (and other systems) to?

Why aren't they into regular exercise at the first place?

Is it for bragging rights? "Hey guys, i have completed a marathon".

Is this some kind of "lose 10kg in six months" type of program?

Is it some kind of "get six pack abs in eight weeks" type of program?

Whereby you start as a sedentary person, do a little bit of training and in a few months time become a hero?

Just like the people who go for the abovementioned programs, it is unlikely that these people are really interested in fitness and physical health. After they completed the marathon, a few months down the road, ask them again what training are they into.

I don't want you to be a blind follower. There are good reasons to run a marathon, but if your reasons are these below, i'll give you other suggestions to meet your goals.

1) Long distance running is the best way to burn fat. Also called Long Slow Distance (LSD) cardio.

Well, you can say that it burns the most amount of fat DURING the activity. But do you know the maintenance of life itself burns more calories than all your physical activites combines. This is called the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). The minimum amount of calories needed to survive. After the activity ceases, the rate of fat burning also returns to baseline.

Compare this with High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). Recent researches have shown the benefits of HIIT over LSD. Namely elevated metabolism over as much as 38 hours post-workout.

Even if HIIT show the same results as LSD, why do you want to spend hours instead of just minutes for training? More is not better, better is better. Every body wants to save time. But when it comes to exercise, it seems counterintuitive to want to spend more time for the same effect.

2) Running is a good exercise.

Any exercise can be a good exercise, if done correctly. I mean the movement of the exercise. The execution of the technique. But majority of people do not run properly.

If you are running with thick soled "running shoes", chances are you are running improperly.

If you are landing on the heels, you ARE running improperly.

If you have poor posture habits, if you do no prehab and rehab (or don't even know what the heck are these),  chances are you are running improperly.

Now this is the reason why i do not use running much in my training. With my long list of injuries, and without a running coach, there is just too much of a chance of improper technique.

And with improper technique, every rep you do, every step you take, is going to add microtrauma to your body. And if you do no prehab and rehab, it accumulates until someday you realise that you have incurred some overuse injury from running. Btw this also applies to any other form of activity.

And please do not believe those advices on "how to choose running shoes for your feet type". The more cushion the shoe has, the more "control" the shoe has, it means the less your stabilizers work, leaving them weaker than the prime movers. The best shoes are no shoes. I have mentioned some good shoes before so i won't mention them again. Just look for cheap uncushioned shoes, thin flat flexible soles.

3) LSD is the best way to improve work capacity.

This could be the biggest hoax out there in the fitness industry. For decades doctors and the medical industry have been telling us to do "30 minutes of moderate intensity cardio 3 times a week".

But look at what the fittest (in terms of work capacity) people in the world do: manual labourers. Is it long sustained low effort of the same activity? Or is it heavy duty work, done many times, interspersed with rest periods?

The heart is already an endurance machine. The best endurance muscle that is. It never needs to stop to rest, until that final day. Why does it need more endurance work?

I am not saying that HIIT is the only way, but that LSD is just one of the ways. Indeed to be truly an all rounder in fitness, all training modality from the shortest burst, to the longest sustained activity must be trained. Just that we can't train all at the same time. And we have limited time. So we have to prioritise our training. And HIIT (or more specifically strength training) is what most people lack in and should prioritise, not LSD.

In closing, i just want to mention that HIIT benefits you more than LSD, not just in terms of the endurance sense and associated things with endurance. But the very fact that HIIT is high intensity means that you build strength (and power) at the same time you build work capacity and endurance. Isn't that killing two birds with one stone? Everybody knows that to be able to run a marathon, you need to do intervals for training. See, even the marathoners know the benefits of intervals.

Ok, now, try this HIIT workout, not just for the extreme fat burning, but also for the cool bodyweight exercises it consist of. When you can do Level 4 at 20 rounds in 20 minutes, you would have more strength, work capacity and better movement quality than your peers. Guaranteed.