Q&A: Is Running Good For Fat Loss?

Is running good for fat loss? That is the topic of tonight's, uh, video, and it's a question that came in to me this morning from one of my clients. Now, running, as I'm sure you've all seen, is something that a lot of people will use to try and reach their fat loss goals, and that's because obviously it is an effective method for helping to kind of lose weight or burn fat it will be beneficial for most people. But there are some things that we need to consider before we just decide, all right, well, I'm overweight, I want to lose some weight, so therefore I should go running. Because quite often it's not actually the best choice, not in terms of short-term result nor long-term, but also in the respect that it can lead to other problems, muscular imbalances, dysfunctions, etc., in the body. Based on the state that we may currently be in, and then be thinking, right, I'm gonna go out and run due to the various sort of impact forces and things that it puts through the body. So we have to be mindful of that before we just jump off the couch and go into it, especially if we still have a, a diet that's maybe devoid of adequate nutrition for optimal recovery, and if we're not actually engaging in enough time trying to recover, as in good sleep and rest and recovery and so on. If those things aren't nailed down, we maybe don't want to leap straight into something like running, which of course is hundreds if not thousands of repeated repetitions of the same movement pattern, because that can lead to muscular imbalances, it can lead to repetitive strain injuries and so on. And if we're not bringing in good adequate nutrition nor resting enough, then any breakdown, inflammation, etc., that might be caused by the running could then become additional detriment to our health and so on. So we need to consider that before we just go, okay, I'm overweight, I want to lose weight, I'm going to run. Now, ways that we can build ourselves up to be able to run and it not be too much of a problem, if a problem at all, is to make sure that we are actually strong enough to run. Now, what happens over time for many of us if we are overweight is we've been too sedentary for too long in most cases. And we haven't done things like running or even general exercise and so on. We may have done some walking, maybe attempted an odd bit of jogging or running here and there, but it's obviously not something we do frequently, so therefore it's not something our body is necessarily prepped for or ready for. So what we would want to do before we just go, right, I'm going to run, if that's something you've got on your radar, radar, or thinking that's something you might want to do, first we want to make sure our nutrition is locked down, or at least significantly improved. Then we might go, okay, well, in order to make sure that I can run well and my body functions well, let me do some resistance-based exercise first. So we would do some things like some squats, some lunges, twisting movements, pushing, pulling, and so on, and bending in, in terms of like deadlifts and things like that, because we want to improve our body's ability to move in all directions and all planes of movement. So we would use various different types of movements and different exercises to build good general overall strength. And then of course, once our body feels better, functions better, is stronger, and potentially even lighter, then we might go, okay, well, now I'm going to introduce some running into the mix. Now, that's not to say don't get out, don't get out and do some physical activity along the lines of running, like you might do walking or fast-paced walking and or power walking and, and things like that in the build-up before you get into a full run, um, because those are all things that are going to help with your general gait or that sort of movement pattern. And then of course, over time, as your body gets stronger, you can ramp up the speed, ramp up the intensity, the duration, etc., so that you can run for longer without it being a detriment to the body. So in simple terms, yes, running can help you lose weight, and it can be effective for fat loss. We just don't necessarily want to roll straight into it if we've not done any activity or anything consistent for an extended period of time. So we might want to get stronger first. We might want to make sure that our exercise is on point— not our exercise, sorry, our nutrition is on point alongside that exercise we might be doing to get stronger and maintain strength. And then once we have kind of reached a good stable platform where you can run, what I would actually recommend you do is that you mix up your sort of general jogging, long steady duration type work with sprints. Because sprints are not only effective at burning fat, they're also very effective at maintaining and building muscle. And of course, over time, creating explosive speed and strength in people, which again is great for boosting metabolism, but it will also improve your body's ability to perform athletically. which is always something that is of benefit. Now, when I say perform athletically, don't necessarily think, oh, I'm now training to be like an athlete. That's not what I want. I just want general weight loss and to be healthy. What I'm saying is, if we can give our body more athletic attributes, as in we can function better, move better, change in direction better, things like that, and handle— excuse me— and handle greater loads, then this is going to improve our overall daily living. Our everyday tasks, activities, and things that we have to do, whether it's our job, profession, playing with our kids, clearing out the shed, or building a wall, or whatever it might be, any physical activity you choose to partake in will be much easier for your body to adapt to if you have a good strength base, a good foundational base that can support those, those new tasks and activities. So then if we add something like sprints on, which is quite a high-intensity exercise, that will give us a greater adaptive capacity so that we can handle greater loads for doing more of those types of things. And of course, over time, we can also manipulate our resistance training that we were doing— the types of squats, the types of lunges, and twisting, pulling, pushing, and so on, and the speed and tempos at which we're using. We can advance all that as we need to, but in the beginning, we're just looking to build a good foundational base so that we can introduce running without it being a detriment to the body. Because many of us, as I mentioned, we've sat around for a while and not only have we maybe lost strength and gained weight, we also quite often develop muscular imbalances, often because we're sitting too long, or maybe our job is sedentary and we're sat at a desk all day. So we can end up with the rounded shoulders, we can end up with a flat low back or tight hip flexors, which gives us an excessive curve in the back and so on. Like, there are lots of postural imbalances that we can develop as a result of being sedentary. And then if we try to run or do lots of repetitive activities in this body that's currently unbalanced or dysfunctional, well, that can lead to, as I mentioned earlier, increased risk of repetitive strain injuries or muscle pulls and strains and so on. And we, we end up with what we call excessive joint wear and tear. Which of course isn't good because then we've got ongoing aches, pains, niggles, inflammation, and so on, which then just makes us feel even more like shit and then makes it even harder for us to lose the weight that we're trying to lose. So essentially, yes, you can run, but you want to make sure that you're taking good care of yourself at the same time so that the running isn't a detriment to you. So that's what I've got for you guys tonight. If you have any questions on this or you want me to go a bit deeper into it or give you something a bit more specific that you might be wanting, in relation to this topic, drop us a comment below, and I will get that answered for you as soon as I can. And if not, I look forward to chatting with you all in my next video. Take it easy, people.