Tips for running again after confinement

At last we can go out to perform physical activity on the street starting this weekend and we want to help you do it consistently and prioritizing your health, so we leave you some tips to put the plan into action.

In this article we tell you how there can be confinement affected our body

What must be considered?

Before going into the tips, we are going to discuss the aspects that you should take into account when evaluating your physical condition to start with the return to the running race:

Loss of muscle mass.

It is possible that during this time of confinement you have lost muscle mass and therefore your joints may be less stable and your weaker muscles.

Increased body weight.

The decrease in energy expenditure due to confinement may have become a increase in your body weight.

This also negatively impacts all impact activities like running.

Sedentary lifestyle.

Surely you have not escaped passing long hours sitting or lying during confinement.

Your body may have received certain doses of physical activity but has also been idle for a long time, so you cannot start as if this period had not existed.

The tape has not saved you.

If you are one of those lucky ones that you have been able to do treadmill workouts or in your gardenYou should also maintain precautions since there are several aspects that differ from the tape to the street.

For example, you have not made changes of direction or direction and you have not run in favor of pending.

For you to have more details of the biomechanical and physiological differences we leave you this image:

Steps to follow, depends on the situation you are in

 Taking into account the aspects that we have mentioned previously, we are going to propose 3 situations and their steps to carry out depending on where you are:

1. You have not been physically active during confinement.

It is the most unfavorable situation from the point of view of health, since 2 months of inactivation has very negative effects on your body.

In this case we suggest that you start very progressively in terms of time with walks.

2. You have been physically active but have not run.

This situation is quite favorable for your health and will make you start from a base, however you cannot start with high intensities either.

Walking will not be difficult for you, even if you do it at a happy pace. If you already ran before and want to return to it, we recommend starting with alternative intervals of walking and running, gradually increasing the total volume.

An example for your first day could be: 10 times 1 ′ walking and 1 ′ jogging.

3. You have run on treadmill during confinement.

If you have been able to carry out running training on treadmill, you should mainly take into account aspects such as adaptation to the terrain and a new stimulus.

As in the previous point we recommend a progressive adaptation. On your first day, you can do a 10-15 minute block or segment the same running time with walking intervals (5 times 3 ′ jogging and 2 ′ walking).

Regardless of our advice, individualization and personal assessment is an aspect that corresponds to the professions of physical activity and sport, so if your purpose is to carry out a training plan suitable for you, our recommendation is that you put yourself in their hands.

References

Van Hooren B, Fuller JT, Buckley JD, Miller JR, Sewell K, Rao G, Barton C, Bishop C, Willy RW. Is Motorized Treadmill Running Biomechanically Comparable to Overground Running? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Cross-Over Studies. Sports Med. 2020; 50 (4): 785-813.

Laura García Cervantes