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Jogging Tips for Beginners

Bidisha Mukherjee
If you are planning to lose some weight and improve the overall fitness of your body, you need not head towards a gym to do some hard work there. You can easily yield the best possible result with the help of jogging. Here, we have shared with you some jogging tips for beginners.
Today, our sedentary lifestyle is making us physically inactive. The simplest way to stay active in everyday life is to include a jogging program in the daily schedule. As the impact of this form of aerobic exercise is very low, it can be done by anyone.
It has a strengthening effect on the cardiovascular system of the body. It is one of the effective ways of getting rid of extra fat from the body. Apart from that, jogging in fresh air in the mornings helps a lot in coping up with the stress of everyday life in a better manner.

Basic Elements for First-time Joggers

Clothes

You must wear right kind of clothes for jogging. Loose fitting clothes will be the most comfortable while running. The fabric of the clothes that you wear should keep you dry at the same time help in maintaining normal perspiration. Cotton clothes are better avoided as they tend to become wet and heavy with sweat.
It is always advisable to wear non-cotton clothes. In cold weather conditions, do not wear too many clothes to keep yourself warm. At the start, it may feel nice and warm but after jogging for sometime the heat will cause a lot of discomfort.

Shoes

Selecting the right pair of shoes is important as ill-fitted shoes can badly injure the feet. Shoes should not be bigger than the actual size of the feet. Variety of shoes are available in the market like cushioned shoes, performance training shoes, racing shoes.
You should choose the one that makes your feet comfortable. Every person has different running styles and the shoe which you are using for jogging should be suitable for your running style. Discard your worn out shoes on time.
The longevity of jogging shoes depends on several factors like the shape of the feet, body weight, the surface on which you are running, etc. On an average, running shoes should be used for 400-500 miles. After that, it should be changed.

Tips

The ideal time for jogging is early in the morning. At that time, the atmosphere is full of fresh oxygen. While running, your oxygen intake increases and it will be helpful in burning off extra calories from the body. Therefore, if you wish to obtain maximum benefits from jogging, you have to make it a habit to get up early in the morning.
Most outdoor places are suitable for jogging. A track inside a garden full of trees is the most preferred place to jog as you get plenty of fresh oxygen here in the morning. Beach areas is also a good place for jogging. Never jog in an indoor track, or a closed room, as there is lack of fresh oxygen in such confined areas.
Jogging should be done on an empty stomach. Try not to eat any food before you go out for your morning jog. Instead, drink some water. It must be noted that drinking too much water will make it difficult for you to run. Hence, limit yourself to just 2-3 glasses of water before starting out.
Prior to jogging, proper warm up of the body is a must. For this, you can do some skipping, jumping, sit-ups, etc. for 5-10 minutes. Stretching exercises also add a lot of flexibility to stiff body muscles. Warm ups energize the body and prevent any type of injury to the muscles.
As a beginner, the most vital jogging tips for you is that you should start jogging slowly. Do not push yourself too hard or else you may get exhausted very easily and injure yourself.
For the first few days, try to jog for about a kilometer only and not more than that. At this stage, you should not cover more than 2-3 miles per week. Gradually, as your body gets used to the schedule, you can increase the pace and the distance covered.
While jogging, your heart beats fast and a large amount of oxygen enters the bloodstream. This increases the rate of metabolism of your body and more calories are used up. Calories burned in the process becomes apparent in the form of perspiration.
In other words, the more you perspire, the more body fat is getting destroyed. That does not mean that you should assume that if you run faster, you will be able to burn maximum calories. Rather, you should run at a speed that you are comfortable with.
Jogging can be a bit tiring at times, for beginners. The moment you feel tired, stop jogging for a while and sit down. Carry some citrus fruit juices along with you. Drinking fruit juices will make you feel better after some time.
Do not rest for too long, lest your body cools down and becomes stiff. If you need to take a break before you have completed your schedule, make sure it is a short one, and you must complete your schedule before cooling down.
Since your body muscles are not used to getting stretched so much, you should cool down the muscles for 5 minutes at the end of your jogging schedule.
The cooling process is done in a similar manner as the warming up. It helps to ease off the stretched muscles and let them regain their original shape. Another benefit of cooling down is that the muscles can flush out its unwanted lactic acid.
Thus you can see that running exercise is easy to perform and does not require supervision of an instructor. It can reduce the risk of several major health problems. If you start your day with jogging, you will get a fit and flexible body that will boost up your confidence and you will feel good about yourself.