BryantheRyan.com Challenging conventional wisdom about nutrition, fitness and overall health

Stop Running: If you know what’s good for you

*When I refer to running, I mean long distance jogging.

I used to be an avid runner. Running 10-15 miles per week was a normal routine for me for over 4 years. I ran to maintain a healthy weight. I did not particularly enjoy running. At times it was liberating and a great way to calm a stressful day, but other than that, it just took up a lot of my time and cost me a lot of money in running apparel.

There are three reasons why we run. First, to either lose weight or maintain a healthy weight. Second is that we believe running protects us from heart disease. These first two reasons are "set in stone" beliefs that the majority of the population hold to be true. However, just because a lot of people believe it does not make it true. The third reason why we run is to relieve stress.

Running for pleasure is a great way to cool down and relax. I often go on 3-4 mile runs to unwind. I never run with the goal of losing weight or protecting myself from heart disease. Running is a very inefficient way of losing weight and protecting from heart disease and can actually be detrimental to our health.

First lets look at why someone would choose running as a means to lose weight:

• In order to lose weight we can either go on a diet, work out or do both.

• Not eating certain foods is harder to do than hopping on the treadmill, so we choose to run.

• When we run, we burn calories.

However, the amount of calories that are expended while running is quite small. For example, if I were to run at an 8 minute/mile pace (moderate) for an hour I would burn around 700 calories. We now need to deduct the amount of calories our bodies would be burning if we sat around and did nothing. Weighing 145lbs I burn close to 70 calories. After my hour long run, I burned roughly 630 calories.

Note: The rate at which calories burn differs greatly from person to person. No method of predicting calorie expenditure accurately and universally is available.  Stop relying on the calorie counter on the elliptical and tread mill machines. Judge your workout by fatigue, not on how many calories you apparently burned.

Running for an hour sucks. Which is why most people never run for that long. Going for a 30 minute run at an 8 minute/mile pace would burn me close to 350 calories.

Lets compare 350 calories to some common food choices: 1 piece of cheese Pizza Hut Pizza has 275 calories, 1/2 a cup of corn (without butter) is close to 350 calories and 1 baked potato (without anything on it) has 255 calories. All of these calorie predictions came from freedieting.com food calorie counter.

When comparing my run to the foods that most of us eat on a daily basis, the calorie expenditure is minimal. This is why the food we eat is far superior in losing weight than relying on exercise alone to drop pounds. Poor nutrition caused us to gain weight, which is why it is the most effectively way to us lose it.

Lets also not forget that their are 3500 calories in 1 pound of human fat. If I were to run for an hour, I would use 1/5 of a pound of fat for energy. Also, "cardio" sparks an increase in hunger. Those calories that I just burned off will be packed back on in my post-run food binge.

Not only is running an extremely inefficient way to burn calories, it also puts runners at risk to sustain running injuries such as Runner's Knee. Runner's Knee is a loose term that encompasses injuries to the knee, feet and thighs. The number one cause of runner's knee is overuse. When we run, we put an enormous amount of stress on our knees, shins, and thighs. This is especially true if we continuously run on hard concrete.

We know that running is an inefficient way to burn calories. And we now know that when we run, we put our feet and leg joints at risk for injury. So what are other reasons why we run?

We would like to believe that running protects us from heart disease. A new study done on 102 marathoners reveals information that could prove otherwise.

I found this study on Dr. Kurt M. Harris's blog Palionu.com. A team of scientists from the Department of Cardiology at the West Hessen Heart Center in Essen, Germany collected 102 marathoners. They had to have run 5 marathons in the last 3 years. They also had no known signs of  heart disease and diabetes. Ages ranged from 50-72 and the average weekly mileage of the group was 35 miles. A control group (group to measure the marathoners against) of 102 was also chosen. They also showed no known signs of heart disease or diabetes and had no history of vigorous exercise.

*All subjects were given a cardiac MRI with an LGE imaging test. LGE imaging shows "irreversible loss of tissue" in the heart and is strongly linked to heart attacks. A cardiac MRI with LGE imaging is one of the best tests available for viewing risks of heart disease.

Of the 102 runners, 12 of them showed LGE damage in their hearts. While only 4 of the couch potatoes showed the same LGE signs.

In a 22 month follow up, 3 of the 12 runners with LGE had a significant cardiac event. None died. However, of the 4 people who had LGE that did not run, none had a cardiac event.

This study reinforces my belief that nutrition is more important than exercise. I believe this to be true for heart health, weight loss and overall health. Those who think that exercise alone can save them from weight gain and disease are sadly mistaken.

- Side note: Dr. Kurt Harris also noted that Alberto Salazar, a world class marathoner who ran over 30 miles a week at a 7:30 mile pace, had his heart stop beating because of a 80% blockage in his right coronary artery. Somebody had to use a defibrillator to start his heart again. He was 48.

Let me clear some things up. I am not promoting being lazy and not exercising. I am also not bashing running as a stress reliever or escape. I am telling you that if you run to lose weight or to decrease your risk for heart disease,  then you are wasting your time.

Your time would be much better spent improving the food that you eat and weight lifting.  I will elaborate more on weight lifting in my next post, as I do not want to overwhelm my readers.

A little taste of whats to come: Arthur Jones, inventor of the Nautilus Strength Training Machines and promoter of High Intensity Strength Training had this to say about running in a 1970's TV appearance:

"That is to say, that running is a very poor, a very dangerous, a very slow, a very inefficient, a very nonproductive method for eventually producing a very limited, low order of cardiovascular benefit. Any, ANY, result that can be produced by any amount of running can be duplicated and surpassed by the proper use of weight lifting for cardiovascular benefits."

If you agree, disagree or even want to yell at me please do so in the comments section!