Running
VS
Walking
Which is Better?
I had someone ask me a question about this just the other day, so I thought it might be helpful to put some information out there so that you can make an educated decision! There are benefits and downfalls to both, and what works for one person may not be the best option for another person. I can present you with the facts, and I hope each of you finds your reason to get up and get moving!
First of all, why is cardio even important in the first place?
Cardio training is important to make your heart stronger, and increase the endurance of your muscles. There are all kinds of exercises to train most muscles, but the heart gets forgotten. Having a stronger heart has obvious benefits as you get older, but even right now, when your heart is healthy and strong, you are able to take your other training to much higher levels, keep up with your kids, take the stairs, and just find that you have more energy to last through your whole day, no matter what it brings. There are so many different types of cardio training, but today I'm just focusing on walking and running.
I, personally, do both walking and running, depending on what time of day I'm working out and what kind of strength training I am going to be doing for the day. I also feel a lot of value walking when I have something on my mind that I need to work through, and running when I am angry or need to take out my frustration or feel like I need to "get away" for a few minutes. These are just a few of the non-scale benefits, which are also important to keep in mind.
Let me break each one of these down for you, to see the pros and cons as well as how to use each one to your advantage to reach your goals most efficiently.
Walking
Walking is a great place to start for beginners or people with some kind of physical restriction, such as recovering from a surgery, pregnancy, or joint pain to name a few examples. One benefit of walking for someone at ANY level, is that it is lower intensity, so of the calories burned, they are primarily fat calories. Walking is also easier on all your joints, since there is less impact on them than running. For someone trying to drop a lot of fat pounds, I do recommend walking. It can feel more empowering, and when done first thing in the morning (after drinking a bottle of water!) on a fasted metabolism, it will burn the most stored fat. This method will work for anyone, even those stubborn last 10 pounds that you've been trying to drop forever, when paired with a healthy, clean diet.
While you are burning mostly fat calories, though, you still are not burning as many total calories as when running. You also will look more toned since you are removing the fat layer over your existing muscles, and toning slightly, but walking doesn't build strong muscles (unless you are walking hills!). So I recommend doing the fat-burning walk in the morning, and pairing it with a strength training routine later in the day. The only thing about this option is that you need the time for two separate workouts. For some, it is SO worth it to make time to accomplish this!
Running
Running is a higher intensity exercise, so it burns more total calories than walking. The difference is that it is more of a mixture between fat calories and carb calories being burned, so you do NOT want to run on an empty stomach, as you will be burning calories taken from your existing muscle! This is known as muscle wasting, and only has negative effects. Done between 1-2 hours after a meal or after a small snack, running has many benefits. As I mentioned before, you can burn a significant amount of calories while running, and build strong, lean leg and glute muscles, as well as strong feet and ankle muscles, and strengthen ligaments in the knees and hips. Another benefit of running is that when done correctly, it can build a very strong core, pulling in the ab muscles, and in turn support the lower back. The biggest downside of running is the repetitive impact that is constantly put on the joints. You do have to be very strict with form when running to avoid injuries, and also have a base of fitness to get the full benefits. You can use running in so many ways depending on what your goals are. Some people desire long runs (5 or more miles), and some people just want to get a little cardio with their strength training. Either way, I do recommend strength training in addition to running to make sure to keep muscle balance, and stay strong to keep the risk of injury to a minimum.
So there you have the facts, and any other questions you may have, just comment or email me and I will do my best to answer! No matter what you decide, I hope that you find a way to get yourself moving more, because ANY movement is better than sitting and wishing for what you don't have. Get moving, and learn as you go! Good luck, and have fun ;)
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