What Jogging Really Does to Your Body

Dear Health Conscious Reader,

If you’re thinking about taking up jogging to get in shape, I urge you to listen to this amazing story first…

A few weeks ago I watched this story on ESPN. Robert Kraft – known to his fans as “Raven” – has jogged 8 miles on Miami Beach every day for the last 34 years. On March 29, 2009, he hit an epic milestone. 100,000 miles of jogging.

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Now that’s dedication! It was a great story. Except…

At just 58 years old, Raven is nearly crippled. He has:

  • Back pain
  • Knee pain
  • Foot pain
  • Neck pain
  • Degenerative discs
  • Sciatica
  • Arthritis

During the segment he admitted to barely being able to get out of bed in the morning. And just walking out of his room is a herculean task.

This is not unique to Raven either. Injury and intense pain is common among long distance runners.

In fact, just look at some of the article titles on the Runner’s World website. It seems like every other one is a tip on how to deal with jogging-related injuries:

  • “No More Sore Shins”
  • “Get Over It: Foot Pain”
  • “My Knee Aches”
  • My favorite is “Painful Thoughts: When your body pleads with you to stop, your mind can keep you going”

Let me be clear. Jogging is a good way to destroy your body. Raven’s story and the writers at Runner’s World show exactly what’s in store for anyone who runs long distances frequently.

Jogging is the exact opposite type of exercise I prescribe to patients who come to my clinic looking to get into phenomenal shape. And most of them are very surprised to hear that you can burn fat and pack on muscle without brutally long workouts or hours in the gym.

If you have your heart set on running, why not try short sprints instead? Brief sprints increase your lung volume, strengthens your heart, and gets you in great shape. Try out this PACE® workout and you’ll see results in just minutes a day.

Warm-Up

Set 1

Set 2

Set 3

Exertion

Recovery

Exertion

Recovery

Exertion

Recovery

5 min (Stretching)

20-meter
sprint

2–4
min

40-meter
sprint

2–4
min

50-meter
sprint

3–5
min


Set 4

Set 5

Exertion

Recovery

Exertion

Recovery

60-meter
sprint

3–5
min

100-meter
sprint

*

Treat this workout as a framework. Tailor each set to your level of conditioning – add or drop a set as you see fit. You should be panting at the end of each exertion period, but you should not be exhausted throughout the workout.

The key to PACE is short duration exercises that get progressively harder. As you gradually increase the intensity, your body will respond.

So hang up your jogging shoes and learn more about PACE. Your body will thank you.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD

  1. Bernard et al. “L-carnitine supplementation and physical exercise restore age-associated decline…” 2008. The Journals of Gerontolology A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences. 63(10):1027-33.
  2. Hooshmand et al. “Dietary L-carnitine supplementation improves bone mineral density by suppressing bone turnover in aged ovariectomized rats.” 2008. Phytomedicine. 15(8):595-601.