Running Yourself To Death

Posted: January 12th, 2010 | Author: Dr. Bill | No Comments »

Yesterday I mentioned that I was going to talk about running, as a form of exercise, and why I don’t like it. I see people of various sizes, shapes, and stripes running at almost all times of the day and night, when I venture outside my bunker, here on the island. As an orthopaedic surgeon, I got to see the results of what consistant distance running does to the body, and it ain’t pretty. 

Almost every joint in the body takes a beating from running, and over time, that beating made many people candidates for the knee and hip work that I did for over two decades, and when I was finished rebuilding or replacing…it was time for another specialist to take over. Long distance running, whether you’re doing it outside, or inside on a treadmill, is not a good idea.

There are one or two forms of running that will do you a lot of good.

Both involve sprinting. Running short distances, as fast as you can, is very beneficial to your body.

You can run regular sprints, or you can do hill sprints. If you haven’t done sprinting before, I would suggest the regular sprints first. Hill sprinting is for those who have done some exercise before. The incline puts more strain on the heart.

For beginners, you can start with 40 yards. You sprint 40 yards as fast as you can…then rest for one minute…then repeat the exercise 6-8 times…resting one minute in between.

At the intermediate level you can start at 60 yards…and do the same thing.

If you’re in really good shape…you can use 100 yards.

That’s all you have to do, and the benefits of this far outweigh running the pavement, or the treadmill, for hours. But be sure you have good supportive shoes, to absorb the shock.

Long distance running doesn’t just beat up your bones and joints…it overheats your organs, particularly your liver and kidneys, and this is not something you want to do on a regular basis. It also, believe it or not, makes your heart and lungs smaller, which isn’t good in any circumstance–you’ll lack reserve capacity and that can be trouble.

We can learn a lot by watching animals in the wild here. Animals never run to be running, and when they do run, it is always a sprint. They sprint to catch prey, or to get away from predators: lots of speed, for a short interval.

There are a lot of advocates of running, including some doctors, who are just plain wrong on this issue. Sprinting will actually develop reserve lung and heart capacity — allowing them to deliver large volumes of oxygenated blood to the heart, very rapidly, which has all kinds of benefits, like preventing ischemia (oxygen starvation of heart muscle) and improving your chances, in the event of a heart attack. And it has none of the drawbacks of long distance running.

You want to be healthy…be a sprinter.

And be sure to take my Powerhouse Omega Formula twice a day, every day.

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