Jogging Routine for Beginners

Modern lifestyle has made us lazy and physically inactive. Nearly all of us know the various effects of living a sedentary lifestyle, of which obesity and weight related problems are some of the worst consequences. To reduce such cases, it is not mandatory that you enroll in a gym and do strenuous exercises. An easy, yet practical solution is running and jogging for some time every day. Understanding jogging routine for beginners will make it a lot easier in terms of staying fit and avoiding adverse effects.

Jogging Routine Basics

Jogging is an easy way to stay healthy and reap the benefits of aerobic exercises, while reducing the stress effects of running. Nevertheless, following correct jogging schedule for beginners is imperative for getting optimal health benefits. From the very start, running at a fast pace is not recommended. It will cause soreness of muscles, upper leg pain and many other symptoms. People who run fast in the first few days are already aware about these consequences. Following are some useful jogging techniques for beginners.

Walking Before Jogging
If you are planning to jog for the first time, then consider a walking exercise at least for 2 consecutive weeks before you switch on to jogging. The exercise routine should be such that each walk lasts for 30-35 minutes, and 4 days walking in a week is suggested. In between, you can take a day off to rest your leg muscles. Similar to moderate exercise, this walking routine is best for optimum fitness.

Walk More and Jog Less
Following two weeks of walking exercise, it is now time to add some pace to walking. To warm up, you can walk for the first 10 minutes. Then, jog for 3 minutes and walk for 1 minute; repeat this jogging and walking exercise for 12 minutes. After this jogging routine, let your body cool down by walking for 10 minutes. Follow this strategy for two weeks, before you move on to proper jogging.

Jog More and Walk Less
In the next weeks, the jogging routine for beginners is concentrated on jogging more and walking less. In the starting, walk and warm up for 5 minutes; then follow 5 minutes jogging and 1 minute walking for another 18 minutes. After this, walk for 10 minutes and complete the jogging routine. This plan has to be followed for two consecutive weeks. Be patient and follow jogging tips for beginners properly.

All About Jogging More
After 6 weeks, you are now ready to walk for 10 minutes, jog for 15 minutes and then complete with 10 minutes walking. Follow this for 2 weeks and then increase the jogging time. In the next two weeks, you can consider walking for 5 minutes, jogging for 20 minutes and can finish off by walking for 10 minutes. The final step is to start with 5 minutes walk, followed by 30 minutes jogging and finish with 5 minutes walk.

Suggested Jogging Speed
There is no set jogging speed for beginners as such, and you will find varied speed recommendations in different data. The only requirement is that you should feel comfortable while jogging within the chosen pace. If you have a heart rate monitor, jogging within the speed 50-70 percent heart rate is considered ideal. If it goes higher than 70 percent, reduce pace and wait till it goes below 50 percent before you increase your pace. Likewise, maintain the speed within the said range.

While following the above jogging tips, it is important to take one day break in between, so as to help your tissues rest and repair. Also, do not skip the warming up and warming down walks to reduce tissue damage. As per physical fitness experts, going by correct jogging routine for beginners will make an individual fit for fast pace running (about 3 miles per hour) within a few months time.