Oh I can now contribute to AO's collective goodness.
The advice given is alright but nobody has asked you some crucial questions:
1.)Do you have any previous injuries to the lower body?
2.)Do you suffer from asthma or any other breathing conditions?
3.)Does your family have a history of Hearth Disease, Heart Attack or stroke?
4.)Have you ever been diagnosed with heart palpatations or irregular heart beat?
5.)Any recent ankle, knee or hip injuries?
Those are the most important issues at hand before you start any kind of cardiovascular trianing/running/lower body intensive workout.
Next, we want to address your core strength. Your core (abdominals, lower back, hip flexors etc.) work as a BASE for your legs to push off of. If you have a weak core this will set you up for injury and cause lower back pain/problems.
You should first start out by having a good core training program involving stability ball work, lower back excercises along with your lower body strengthening program. Just telling someone to "run" is not sound advice. Sure you have to run to get better at it but if you already have a problem before you start running this will only make it worse.
Next we address your lower body strength, focusing on the hip, knee and ankle joints. Starting at the hip we are primarily focused on a group of muscles called the "hip flexors" (Illio-psoas group for the intellectuals). These muscles do just what the name implies, they flex the hip. Every time you move your leg forward (or UP) these muscles are most involved. Doing bicycle kicks while laying on your back is a good way to asses your strength. Do them slow and with purpose.
Next, the knee joint. Quite a fascinating joint. Two major groups of muscles activiate this joint - Quadriceps and Hamstrings groups. If you have a strength imbalace here, this can cause massive pain and hinder performance. As stated earlier, Lunges are ok but if you lack hip flexor strength you will injure yourself. Seated leg raises, standing squats with just a bar, lunges without weight (or holding onto two dumbells) are ways to get started. Shoot for 2 or 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps to begin (little to no weight at first until you get proper balance and form). Finally, we look at the ankle. An amazing set of 3 joints, we must take great care of this area. Again, we don't want a muscle imbalance so we must train the front and back. Standing Calf Raises are great for the Gastrocnemius (real name for the Calves), do them on the edge of a step for greater range of motion. If you can, sit on a chair and stack books or heavy objects on your legs, over your knee, for added weight. You want to make sure that you take great care of this area. Proper stretching of all of these areas is crucial to performance and injury prevention.
A good program would involve:
Lower Body weight training 3 times a week
Upper Body weight training either on the same days or in between.
Stretching with each session for minimum 15 minutes (stretch ankle & calves, hamstrings, quads, hip flexors, lower back, abdominals, upper body)
Running 3 or more times a week depending on your ability.
Stay hydrated and make sure to increase your carbohydrate intake accordingly. Complex Carbs provide lasting energy for runs as well as good fats and some protein.
The advice given is alright but nobody has asked you some crucial questions:
1.)Do you have any previous injuries to the lower body?
2.)Do you suffer from asthma or any other breathing conditions?
3.)Does your family have a history of Hearth Disease, Heart Attack or stroke?
4.)Have you ever been diagnosed with heart palpatations or irregular heart beat?
5.)Any recent ankle, knee or hip injuries?
Those are the most important issues at hand before you start any kind of cardiovascular trianing/running/lower body intensive workout.
Next, we want to address your core strength. Your core (abdominals, lower back, hip flexors etc.) work as a BASE for your legs to push off of. If you have a weak core this will set you up for injury and cause lower back pain/problems.
You should first start out by having a good core training program involving stability ball work, lower back excercises along with your lower body strengthening program. Just telling someone to "run" is not sound advice. Sure you have to run to get better at it but if you already have a problem before you start running this will only make it worse.
Next we address your lower body strength, focusing on the hip, knee and ankle joints. Starting at the hip we are primarily focused on a group of muscles called the "hip flexors" (Illio-psoas group for the intellectuals). These muscles do just what the name implies, they flex the hip. Every time you move your leg forward (or UP) these muscles are most involved. Doing bicycle kicks while laying on your back is a good way to asses your strength. Do them slow and with purpose.
Next, the knee joint. Quite a fascinating joint. Two major groups of muscles activiate this joint - Quadriceps and Hamstrings groups. If you have a strength imbalace here, this can cause massive pain and hinder performance. As stated earlier, Lunges are ok but if you lack hip flexor strength you will injure yourself. Seated leg raises, standing squats with just a bar, lunges without weight (or holding onto two dumbells) are ways to get started. Shoot for 2 or 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps to begin (little to no weight at first until you get proper balance and form). Finally, we look at the ankle. An amazing set of 3 joints, we must take great care of this area. Again, we don't want a muscle imbalance so we must train the front and back. Standing Calf Raises are great for the Gastrocnemius (real name for the Calves), do them on the edge of a step for greater range of motion. If you can, sit on a chair and stack books or heavy objects on your legs, over your knee, for added weight. You want to make sure that you take great care of this area. Proper stretching of all of these areas is crucial to performance and injury prevention.
A good program would involve:
Lower Body weight training 3 times a week
Upper Body weight training either on the same days or in between.
Stretching with each session for minimum 15 minutes (stretch ankle & calves, hamstrings, quads, hip flexors, lower back, abdominals, upper body)
Running 3 or more times a week depending on your ability.
Stay hydrated and make sure to increase your carbohydrate intake accordingly. Complex Carbs provide lasting energy for runs as well as good fats and some protein.
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