Tips For Jogging

Breathing Style For Jogging

The right way to breathe is mostly what feels comfortable to you at your pace. Some say that it’s best to inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth, but it’s very difficult to keep this going at a higher pace or higher mileage – your body soon needs a high intake of air and your nose is not capable to delivering such a high dosage, so at higher paces it’s best to breathe in with your nose and mouth in combination to allow for a maximum intake of oxygen.

Alternating Between Jogging And Brisk Walking

As a beginner, since your body is yet to adapt to the rigor of running, it’s best that you alternate 2 minutes jogging with 5 minutes of walking. You can steadily increase the number of minutes you jog and reduce the number of minutes you walk, so that in a couple of weeks you are doing 5 minutes of jogging and 1 minute of walking. By the fourth week your body should feel adapted to jogging so you can do a steady 20 minute jog without any break for walking (of course it’s important that you always start your jog with 5 minutes of walking for warm up, no matter how veteran you become at your running skills).

What Is The Best Time To Jog?

Not all of us have the liberty to pick and choose our work out times, and usually mornings seems like the safer bet because there are no guarantees what surprise appointments pop up for the evening. However, early morning is not the best time to exert your body because the muscles are cold and all the bodily functions are at their lowest efficiency, add to it the fact that your body has not eaten in the past 10 hours or so and hence has lower energy levels. If you are jogging early in the morning, it’s highly important that you spend at-least 15 minutes warming up your muscles (preferably by doing some slow walking and a few squats) and doing some basic stretches. An advantage of jogging in the morning is that your body’s metabolism gets hiked up for the day, ensuring that you burn calories more efficiently from your meals.

If you have the independence to choose your workout timings, the best time to jog would be towards between 5-7 pm. During this time your body temperature is at its highest, your muscles are warm, your body has higher energy levels (from your breakfast and lunch) and your lungs are functioning at a higher efficiency. You naturally feel more alert and aware, so it’s easy to motivate yourself at this time than early in the morning when your brain is sluggish. Since your muscles are far more supple at this time of the day, you can exert yourself towards higher intensities without running the risk of injury (as you would early in the morning).

Should I Eat Or Drink Before I Jog?

If you are jogging in the morning, just have a few ounces of water 30-45 minutes before the jog. Most people don’t feel hungry when they wake up, but if you do feel hungry you can have a light snack of fruits or fruit juice, an hour before jogging. It’s quite uncomfortable to jog with food digesting in your stomach, but since fruits usually just take 15 – 20 minutes to move out of the stomach they are the best food option prior to a jog.

It’s best to avoid drinking a lot of water just before the jog because it can lead to cramping. Always drink up 30 minutes prior to jogging. Also make sure you relieve your bladder, and bowels, just before you head out for the jog, there is nothing more uncomfortable than running on a filled bladder or an uncomfortable bowel.

Once you start running for more than 20 minutes, it’s best to have some water on the go. Carry a 500 ml plastic water bottle with you, and drink up a few ounces of water after the 20 minute interval. If you are running for 45 minutes or more you might have to consider drinking some sports drinks like Gatorade to compensate for the loss of minerals through sweat. Replenish your body with plenty of water after the jog (if it’s more than 45 minutes be sure to have a sports drink). Instead of gulping down a lot of water in one go (which might make you feel nauseated), make sure you drink at a slower pace over a period of 5 minutes.