According to Tom Craggs, a coaching consultant to some of UK’s biggest sports brands and charities, these are the five most common mistakes that runners make:

Going too fast

While it may seem like running faster is better, this is actually false. If you run too fast, then your body will demand a higher level of energy and will take it from the glycogen in your muscles, as reported by The Guardian. 

In reality, you want to be burning the stored fats in your body, which is a slower but steadier metabolic process. Don’t try to jump into running and immediately become a marathon runner.

What most people don’t know is that these athletes have conditioned their bodies to have enough stored fat to run the 42-kilometer distance of a marathon.

Read also: Running extends life expectancy, study finds

Doing too little

Most people tend to stick to what they’re comfortable with. For example, it may seem easy to just run a treadmill everyday at the same speed. However, as your body gets more and more used to it, it will reduce in effectiveness.

A regimen of exercise that includes interval training that helps the body adapt to different situations will be more helpful than just repeating one form of exercise over and over again

Finding a balance

The most common excuse that people have for not running is that they don’t have enough time. However, it does not take a lot of time to exercise properly. There is no form of healthy exercise that gains immediate results.

In most cases, building a consistent schedule of training every day and keeping a healthy diet will be more beneficial in the long run. As an example, it is important to get a good night’s sleep and allow your body to rest. Otherwise, your body will be more susceptible to injury and that will completely halt your training. 

Read also: Exercise even keeps your cells young: Study

Muscle overload

This has to do with the points listed above. When you do too much in one go, it will be more detrimental to your progress.

Your body does not always need high frequency exercise as it will cause your muscles to burn out and affect you later in your life as your body will be more susceptible to muscle tears. The body can only get fitter if it adapts to the regiment that you put it through over a period of time. 

Thinking short term

Thinking short term can be detrimental to any runner. Most people must only expect to see results within the first six months to a year of running. In the same train of thought, you should plan your run to every half a year to a year.

The only way to keep the conditioning that you have built up is to continue exercising and adapting your body to different levels of exercise. (ken/kes)