That’s a good article and I think I agree with everything in it. But one thing that is overlooked is that there are so many running races available (probably over 100 for the remaining months of this year here in Taiwan- see below). And there’s no greater motivating factor than knowing that you have a race coming up. This really can’t be stressed enough. For many (maybe for most), exercise isn’t a way of life and it’s really a struggle to stay motivated. Registering for, say, a race every three months or so could very well work wonders for many people.
Hmmmm. Something I ran (ha, ha) across by accident. @Andrew0409, maybe, on the other hand, running is exactly the right thing to be doing.
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I’m not saying not to run/jog long distance, some people enjoy it and it’s not bad for you unless of course you over do it and run incorrectly. I think my point is, there are much better ways for conditioning. Especially for certain sports.
But wouldn’t hunters way back in the days walk more to track and sprint when they finally find an animal to catch up to it to attack it? You’re not going to out endure most animals, but in a short 10-15 second if you position yourself, you could catch it by surprise and attack it really fast. No way you’re going to win a 5k with like a deer.
Whenever I try swimming, I hear a pop in my shoulder when I stroke. I think it’s the rotation of my arm. You don’t have that movement when you’re weight lifting or doing pull ups.
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I agree that running isn’t the best workout. I stumbled across that and it reminded me of this discussion.
By the way (a link from that article): “Persistence hunting (sometimes called endurance hunting or cursorial hunting) is a hunting technique in which hunters, who may be slower than their prey over short distances, use a combination of running, walking,[1] and tracking to pursue prey until it is exhausted. Grey wolves, African wild dogs, spotted hyenas, lungless spiders,[citation needed] and humans are adapted to using this hunting strategy. A persistence hunter must be able to run a long distance over an extended period of time.”
I guess watching Indians in S America running really long distances is how the barefoot running movement got started.
Not trying to argue with you, just curious. Can a human really cover more ground than say a wolf in the long distance?
I don’t know. Wolves are famous for long distances and that persistence hunting technique. I guess those Indians run like 200k or more over a period of days wearing no shoes or a flat material type of shoe.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that swimming is bad for your shoulder and it could be the opposite. If you hold your arms out at your side and stick out your thumbs do they face your body? If so you have internally rotated shoulders, which is very common (mine are bad) due to things like working on a computer.
I read a few articles on persistence hunting a long time ago. 3 things I took away from it: 1. humans can outrun a horse. It’d be a turtle vs the hare type of race, but the human’s ability to sweat gives us a huge advantage over a horse for very very long distances.
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This is probably how humans hunted a long time ago. It’s pretty hard for humans to sneak up on things, and with some exceptions like Native America running buffalo off of cliffs, oftentimes there is nowhere to hide and large stretches of land, so persistence hunting was necessary.
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Women are better runners than men because their higher fat % takes less energy so they can run further.
As far as what’s best for losing weight: really depends on where you are starting. For very overweight people I think walking is best. Any type of high intensity cardio is likely to result in the person eating more and usually the biggest problem is their diet, even more so than a lack of exercise.
For an athlete who is already slim or in shape and is trying to drop from a low body fat % to an even lower body fat % then sprinting is often a good choice and there’s been quite a bit on HIIT having good results.
A few years back, I fell on my shoulder while playing hockey so I suspect that is the reason why my shoulder pops when I swim. Since then I’ve only swam infrequently. Anyway, I find swimming more boring than running that alone will prevent me from doing a triathlon 
And then drag the carcass back X amount of km’s to where you live using your strength. That will definitely condition you way more than running a 5km route.
Man, now we just go to the supermarket and buy meat in styrofoam trays wrapped in plastic and go back home to cook it. We are really out of touch with nature. That’s why people get out their cars to argue in game reserves and get eaten by tigers lol.
Very good advice. Tiring as hell (cardio wise it is quite intense) but effective.
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I certainly wouldn’t but some would! Persistence hunting – humans running antelope to death | alistair.pott
woah. Ran a kudu to death.
I really like how he pays his respects to the animal after it’s dead. And the process took eight hours! I’ll stick to my 5-8k runs, thank you!
If you want to burn more fat, and more easily. Put on more muscle. Having more muscle burns more calories and speeds up your metabolism. Don’t get caught up in the scale. I have so many people who struggle to lose fat, but they won’t workout in fear of getting bulky. But honestly some of them have zero strength and can’t even do a push up. Being bulky is the least of their worries. It might seem counterintuitive, but putting on more weight, can actually help you shave off body fat in the long run. The worse mistake is these fast diets that are catabolic to muscle and when they stop, they really mess with their metabolism. Being in a calorie deficit can also make you lose muscle, not just fat.
Only one thing: cut carbs.
If you intake less than 30 grams of carbohydrates per day, your body will need to burn fat in order to maintain a proper blood glucose level. Over time, you’ll lose weight from fat.
If you’re lazy, this should be easy to implement.
You can speed up the process by lifting weights, easily done with compound lifts that only require 20 minute workouts two or three times a week. If you want to work out or do strenuous activity, eat more carbs on workout days, especially post workout.
Once you’re getting close to a healthy weight, your insulin sensitivity should be higher, and you can start working in more healthy carbs like brown rice, oatmeal, yams. Fiber, cinnamon, and vinegar also help slow down the glycemic response from carbs.
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Getting great results on the hills with my weight loss (actually on one, sub 40 minute hill to be precise). I’m down about 2 minutes from 38 minutes to 36 minutes on this mountain. I think I can improve on that in the next month or so. Here’s a good related article:
And a word of warning from the article:
Eric Sternlicht, PhD, a professor of kinesiology at Chapman University, says that there’s a point of diminishing returns for most cyclists, when weight loss translates to lower power. “You need to ask, where’s my sweet spot? Where do I have my best power-to-weight ratio?” he says. If you notice power slipping as the scale ticks downward, it may be time to stop dieting.
I’m sure that’s true. You need muscles and some fat to burn if needed too. I think that to lose weight is good not just for going faster, but I wouldn’t get obsessed over it, I wouldn’t lose weight just for going faster on a bicycle. I mean, you go faster… so what? We tend to forget why we ride. To compete is a good way to get better, but nobody is going to give you a medal unless you are actually competing and you are super good (one of the three best riders in the competition). I see bicycle as something fun and healthy to do, as well as an awesome means of transportation. If you start to modify everything in your life for becoming a better rider… and you are not a professional rider, what’s the point?
I find people like this laughable:
Actually laughable is not the word. It’s more like I feel like to vomit, he looks like the mannequin of an anorexic junkie with aids:
I’m not sure if you are understanding what he is saying. As an athlete, 8-14%bf is about where you should be to compete for most athletes. Of course there are exceptions. I got to 6% and I can tell you I felt miserable, low energy, my strength went down and I couldn’t get stronger. Low endurance. Just did not feel good athletically. at 8-12% I feel much better and perform much better.
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I’m just saying that you need muscles and fat if you want to keep moving a bicycle for hours through roads with different degrees of slopeness.
And that I don’t give a shit about being in the optimum weight for a rider of my height. I want to have fun and be healthy, I’m not a professional athlete, nor most of the people here are 