Running could damage my knees and joints?

It will cause problems if you go about it the wrong way, that is by doing too much too soon. It
takes a long time, 2 to 3 years, to build up the impact resistance for high mileage training, i.e.
25-30 miles per week. But if you want to do 2 or 3 miles 4 or 5 times a week. There's little
likelihood of damaging anything.

First though, be sure to have good running shoes or cross trainers. By good I mean relatively new.
Less than 6 mos old and less than 500 miles on them. And by good I also mean a good fit, not snug
or pinching, but with a lot of toe room. The size should be 1/2 half size larger than your normal
shoes because the foot expands a bit on impact. Brand does NOT matter. Style does NOT matter. Only
the fit matters.

Jack Berkery, Latham, NY "The Common Sense Coach"

dolce <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Hi, I am rather heavy (kg. 75 x 1,65, female) but I would very much like to run for leisure and
for loosing weight. I read that running is not the best thing for those who are overweight, but I
cannot loose weight without running (tried with biking, skiing, diet, but loose just nothing).

Skiing? Gravity does most of the work. Unless you mean cross-country.

Cycling can be good exercise when done right.

The secret of weight loss is boosting your round-the-clock base metabolic rate. This is done by
stressing your body with very long or intense exercise.

There are 168 hours in a week. Those 4 that you spend exercising can "activate" some of the
remaining 164.

Quoted message said:

Running could damage my knees and ankles? Am I really too heavy for running?

Your footstrikes can only dissipate whatever energy you put into the jump, regardless of
your weight.

Reducing your weight without improving your running form won't reduce the impact because you will
jump higher.

The injuries will come when you become a fit, fast, high-mileage runner.

As a newbie, you can avoid them by building distance gradually and avoiding speedwork for a
few months.

Don't expect instant results with regard to weight loss. Just stick with it. You will become a very
fit, though somewhat heavy person first. Your fitness level will allow you to work out intensely and
long. Then you will see some dramatic changes in your body.

Patience and perseverence are the key.

"dolce" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi, I am rather heavy (kg. 75 x 1,65, female) but I would very much like to run for leisure and
for loosing weight. I read that running is not the best thing for those who are overweight, but I
cannot loose weight without running (tried with biking, skiing, diet, but loose just nothing).
Running could damage my knees and ankles? Am I really too heavy for running?

You can lose weight by eating less calories than you take in board. You don't need to run at all.
That being said, if you start with a good beginner's programme you will be able to run all you want
without damaging your knees etc - and without your ovaries dropping.

J

"dolce" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi, I am rather heavy (kg. 75 x 1,65, female) but I would very much like to run for leisure and
for loosing weight. I read that running is not the best thing for those who are overweight, but I
cannot loose weight without running (tried with biking, skiing, diet, but loose just nothing).
Running could damage my knees and ankles? Am I really too heavy for running?

Dolce:

I was 208 lbs (nearly 95k) when I started running a little less than a year ago, and I haven't
(knock on wood) had any lasting joint problems or other injuries. In fact, it's made a tremendous
improvement in the musculature of my lower back, which has almost completely eliminated the
persistant lower back pain that was one of the things prodding me toward exercise/weight loss in the
first place. I'm up to about 25 miles a week now. I've also lost nearly 20 lbs in the last 9 months
(no "dieting" or other weight loss initiatives during that time span).

It is not, as someone else pointed out, by itself a terribly fast way to loose weight, however. At
your weight, you would have to run nearly 35 miles to loose one pound of fat. When you're just
starting out, you may take you a month to put in that kind of mileage. It is, however, a great way
to get yourself feeling better physically, and if you stick with it through the initial months
(which, no matter how you handle it, may not be a whole lot of fun) you may find it is an activity
that you enjoy for its own intrinsic rewards and not just as a means to loose weight. And *that*, my
friend, is the key to making a permanent change in your body.

The keys to avoiding injury at this stage, are to start s l o w l y, set realistic goals, and wear
decent shoes. Start by planning to work out 3-4 days a week, max...don't run every day. Go out for
30 minutes, mixing running and walking at a ratio that takes some effort but doesn't leave you
gasping for breath. Gradually increase the amount of time you spend running and decrease the time
you spend walking. Do NOT worry about how fast or how far you are going! When you are able to run
for 30 minutes (with maybe one or two short walk rests) then you can think about increasing the
time/distance very gradually (never more than 10% a week, and 15% a month is probably a safer
guideline).

That being said, walking is also a great exercise for losing weight, and there is less possibility
of injury. The basic calculus is this: you burn the same number of calories walking a mile as you do
running a mile. A friend of mine recently lost about 45 lbs in a fairly short period of time through
a combination of relatively simple dietary changes and 25+ miles/week of walking. There are
advantages and disadvantages to each approach. On the one hand, you, like my friend, can build up to
25 miles a week of walking fairly quickly without injury. On the other hand, he also had to devote
10 hours a week to his exercise routine. I can do the same kind of mileage running in a little over
5 hours. I also feel like running has done more for my muscle mass than a similar amount of walking
would have.

Either way, it's important that you find an exercise that you like and than you can stick with--not
just for a few weeks or months, but for years.

Jack Berkery said:

It will cause problems if you go about it the wrong way, that is by doing too much too soon. It
takes a long time, 2 to 3 years, to build up the impact resistance for high mileage training, i.e.
25-30 miles per week. But if you want to do 2 or 3 miles 4 or 5 times a week. There's little
likelihood of damaging anything.

First though, be sure to have good running shoes or cross trainers. By good I mean relatively new.
Less than 6 mos old and less than 500 miles on them. And by good I also mean a good fit, not snug
or pinching, but with a lot of toe room. The size should be 1/2 half size larger than your normal
shoes because the foot expands a bit on impact. Brand does NOT matter. Style does NOT matter. Only
the fit matters.

Jack Berkery, Latham, NY "The Common Sense Coach"

Thank you a lot, Jack.

"Jack Berkery" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

It will cause problems if you go about it the wrong way, that is by doing too much too soon. It
takes a long time, 2 to 3 years, to build up the impact resistance for high mileage training, i.e.
25-30 miles per week.

That is ridiculously conservative. The adaptation can happen much faster than this.

High mileage starts somewhere around 40-50 per week.

It's the mileage that causes adaptation, not the mere passage of time. It *can* take that long if
you don't run enough.

Quoted message said:

But if you want to do 2 or 3 miles 4 or 5 times a week. There's little likelihood of damaging
anything.

Shorter distances are not necessarily safer, because they are run faster.

Quoted message said:

First though, be sure to have good running shoes or cross trainers.

No, not cross-trainers.

Quoted message said:

By good I mean relatively new.

"good" means more than this.

Quoted message said:

Less than 6 mos old and > less than 500 miles on them.

Just the mileage matters. Go ahead and buy a last year's model if you find a good deal that way. The
shoe materials do degrade with time, but over long periods. I would not hesitate to run in shoes
that were in a box for 5 years.

The 500 figure is extremely conservative. Some shoes are much more durable than others.

I ran 1500 miles on a pair of NB 854's.

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

but I cannot loose weight without running (tried with biking, skiing, diet, but loose just
nothing).

Incorrect. Depending on the amount of exertion running can burn more calories that
biking,skiing,whatever but no one exercise will make you lose weight when another won't. Consider
that although you may burn more calories running for say 30 minutes as opposed to cycling for 30
minutes, the chances are you can cycle for longer than you can run (at the moment). No need to go
full steam, just stay within your lactate threshold and not only will you be able to exercise for
longer you will burn a higher % of fat than carbohydrate.

Not being able to lose weight through dieting is also wrong I'm afraid. It's pretty simple
really...if the calories expended in one day is less that the calories consumed you will not lose
weight, if you burn more calories than you consume, you will lose weight...not rocket science.

Am I qualified to give this advice...no. Do I talk from experience...yes, 8 years ago I lost 100
pounds and now I run 4 times per week for pleasure and cycle competitively with success.

--
Mark (MSA) This post is packaged by intellectual weight, not volume. Some settling of contents may
have occurred during transmission

"Kaz Kylheku" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

High mileage starts somewhere around 40-50 per week.

You aren't thinking like a beginner or a heavyweight. Remember the original poster was asking
this as a female just starting out at a weight of about 75kg (165lbs). Certainly not obese but
not sylphlike either. Advice should be dispensed in a manner which is appropriate for the
target audience.

I am 105kg (230 lbs) and have been running on average just over 1000 miles per year for about 30
years. Perhaps only one or two weeks of those 30 years have been in excess of 50 miles. As a
heavyweight I do indeed view anything over 25 miles per week as high mileage. On that base I can go
as far as a half-marathon in a race. But we weren't talking about racing or competition, just
starting out.

Quoted message said:

Shorter distances are not necessarily safer, because they are run faster.

Not for a beginner. We are not speaking to a competitive runner. When starting out, for at least the
first 3 to 6 months, a casual runner does not generally have any pace variation. There is only a
steady training pace which will improve as their fitness improves.

Quoted message said:

No, not cross-trainers.

Sure, for anyone doing less than about 20 miles per week, cross trainers are OK to run in. I
run a few miles in them from time to time and I no beginner, but I wouldn't do a 10 or 12 mile
run in them.

Quoted message said:

I ran 1500 miles on a pair of NB 854's.

You're lucky then to have very good bio-mechanics. I have never been able to get beyond the 500 to
maybe 600 miles per pair since the 1970s. It didn't matter what brand or model. I'm being very
conservative on that because telling a beginner to go 1500 miles on one pair just begs for an
injury. Maybe some day they will discover they have good mechanics too and be able to get more from
the shoes, but 500 is closer to typical than 1500 and above all, safer.

I've coached a lot of women who were starting from nothing. Some as heavy as 200 pounds at the
start. I aided one from the very first mile in her life to a half-marathon in less than a year.
Moving along conservatively did the trick.

Jack Berkery, Latham, NY "The Common Sense Coach"

In article said:

"Kaz Kylheku" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

High mileage starts somewhere around 40-50 per week.

You aren't thinking like a beginner or a heavyweight. Remember the original poster was asking this
as a female just starting out at a weight of about 75kg (165lbs). Certainly not obese but not
sylphlike either. Advice should be dispensed in a manner which is appropriate for the target
audience.

I am 105kg (230 lbs) and have been running on average just over 1000 miles per year for about 30
years. Perhaps only one or two weeks of those 30 years have been in excess of 50 miles. As a
heavyweight I do indeed view anything over 25 miles per week as high mileage. On that base I can
go as far as a half-marathon in a race. But we weren't talking about racing or competition, just
starting out.

This is good advice.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Shorter distances are not necessarily safer, because they are run faster.

Not for a beginner. We are not speaking to a competitive runner. When starting out, for at least
the first 3 to 6 months, a casual runner does not generally have any pace variation.

I don't agree with this. What happens is that experienced runners are more likely to drop into their
proper training pace whether they're doing a 12 miler or a 5 miler. Beginners don't always know
better, and push themselves close to the limits of their capacity (your 10k race pace feels quite
easy if you're only running 2 miles)

Quoted message said:

There is only a steady training pace which will improve as their fitness improves.

Getting them to run at that pace is the hard part (-;

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

No, not cross-trainers.

Sure, for anyone doing less than about 20 miles per week, cross trainers are OK to run in.

I agreed with you when you said that 25 miles is high milage for a heavy beginner. So I feel obliged
to disagree with you now when you say that the same biomechanically ungifted, heavy, injury prone
runner should run 80% of "high milage" without proper running shoes.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I ran 1500 miles on a pair of NB 854's.

You're lucky then to have very good bio-mechanics.

That, and those shoes are built like tanks. I wouldn't run 1500 miles even with tanks though.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi pegasus.rutgers.edu~elflordOpen ↗

"dolce" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi, I am rather heavy (kg. 75 x 1,65, female) but I would very much like to run for leisure and
for loosing weight. I read that running is not the best thing for those who are overweight, but I
cannot loose weight without running (tried with biking, skiing, diet, but loose just nothing).
Running could damage my knees and ankles? Am I really too heavy for running?

Though Jack's advice is good in general, people vary widely in their tolerance.

Running on unpaved surfaces might be less punishing for the joints.

Even dribbling a soccer ball around an empty grass field a few times a week would help running and
also prepare the joints.

If you do get joint pains, back off right away before they become a problem.

dolce <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Hi, I am rather heavy (kg. 75 x 1,65, female)

Oink oink!

but I would very much

Quoted message said:

like to run for leisure and for loosing weight. I read that running is not the best thing for
those who are overweight, but I cannot loose weight without running (tried with biking, skiing,
diet, but loose just nothing). Running could damage my knees and ankles? Am I really too heavy for
running?

I tried telling these troglodytes that nothing but running is effective for weight loss because of
the incresed body metabolism, but they are mostly semi-retarded, or gay, and it just doesn't sink
in. Running will NOT damage your knees or ankles as long as yopu have the proper shoes.

"Jack Berkery" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

It will cause problems if you go about it the wrong way, that is by doing too much too soon. It
takes a long time, 2 to 3 years, to build up the impact resistance for high mileage training, i.e.
25-30 miles per week. But if you want to do 2 or 3 miles 4 or 5 times a week. There's little
likelihood of damaging anything.

That is not true. When I first started, 2 or 3 miles 4 or 5 times a week resulted in swollen knees.
I was 192 lbs at that time. Now, my knees are fine, but I am at 142 lbs now. I suppose if someone
exercises good sense and rests at the first sign of swelling, he/she may be fine.

You don't need 25-30 miles per week to lose weight. I lost 50 lbs with weekly mileage less than 15
miles. My weekly weight loss was about 1.5 lbs. I found that I need to watch my diet carefully.
Decreasing refined carbs is crucial to success. I suggest that the original poster do some reading
on the latest findings in nutrition.

Quoted message said:

First though, be sure to have good running shoes or cross trainers. By good I mean relatively new.
Less than 6 mos old and less than 500 miles on them. And by good I also mean a good fit, not snug
or pinching, but with a lot of toe room. The size should be 1/2 half size larger than your normal
shoes because the foot expands a bit on impact. Brand does NOT matter. Style does NOT matter. Only
the fit matters.

That is so wrong. You may be right if you were dealing with a selection of reputable brands, but
your statement is not true in general. I have cheap shoes that fit fine but will invariably result
in knee pain after each run. However, I have found a pair of cheap shoes that work fine for me. It
is the Spalding Anton for $24 from Target. Other cheap shoes kill my knees.

Quoted message said:

Jack Berkery, Latham, NY "The Common Sense Coach"

Hmm, you are not showing much common sense ....

Quoted message said:

You don't need 25-30 miles per week to lose weight. I lost 50 lbs with weekly mileage less than 15
miles. My weekly weight loss was about 1.5 lbs.

I suspect the body is realtively inefficient metabolically the first several years of running and
you can lose weight easily. My easy-loss period lasted about five years. No I have to run at least
60 miles to keep weight off without calorie restriction. I figure my metabolism is about twice as
efficient running now as when I started several decades ago.

First of all, running is the OPPOSITE of leisure. Secondly, if you're surprised that jogging can
damage your knees, you'll be blown away at this little ditty............ Smoking can damage your
lungs. Oh, and Santa isn't real either. Sorry.