Running

Though running is the most basic activity a human can do, it’s only around 1970s when the activity of running is fully seen as a sport and exercise.

Nevertheless, right now running has eclipsed all forms of major sports in prevalence and became the most popular forms of exercise due to the fact that virtually everyone can do it. It requires no special training and equipment can sometimes be compromised. Most of all, it is shown to be one of the most effective work out and would require nothing of sort in preparation. Millions of people worldwide engage in running for health and fitness, for recreation and training, or as competitive sport.

There are several incidents that propelled running to its present stance, but many see the first inspiration came mostly from the 1968 American physician Kenneth Cooper and his book called Aerobics (1968). In his book, Dr. Kenneth Cooper had demonstrated how the activity of running could help develop a healthy cardiovascular system. The book further demonstrated how repeated running can have an overall effect on the physical well being by cumulative reaping of health gains whenever one engages in running.

Other believers of the sport see American Frank Shorter the harbinger of running into the modern times. His remarkable achievement in a 1972 Olympics marathon that earned him gold medal had preceded a major surge of interest in running. There are other runners as well, that could be argued as inspiration to running growth. Outside United States there are a number of Ethiopians including Abebe Bikila, who was the first black to earn an Olympic gold medal in 1960. Abebe Bikila was only the forerunner of a nation that produced a good number of excellent runners, including runners such as Haile Gebrselassie, Willie Mtolo, Moses Kiptanui, and Fatuma Roba. Then earlier still, there is the eccentric long distance runner Emil Zátopek, a Czech athlete who dominated the running scene during the 1952 Olympic games.

Whoever should hold credit to the inspiration of running to the 20th century, running did became a successful exercise and sport regimen just after the American runner Frank Shorter’s win on the 1972 Olympics marathon. As the media sensationalized him, running as an effective sport consequentially was also laid bare right under the public scrutiny. Afterwards, many did engage in running not only as a standalone sport but also as recreation and exercise.

Running is very basic and such that it didn’t require much time to mature. Now the popularity of running has leveled off but still the pursuers of the sport or exercise eclipse all other known sports.

The Science Of Running

Running has shown to be able to burn an approximate of 50 calories per hour, but that is dependent of the stress involve, the nature of the run, and the gait. For a basic activity that requires virtually nothing, it burns a high degree of calories while also working out the runner’s cardiac muscles for better flexibility and suppleness. It also hastens the blood flow, hereby hastening other functions as well, e.g. hastening the process of toxin elimination.

Though running is very easy to do, the motion is a complex and coordinated set of processes that involves the most part of the human body. The most discernible aspect is the lower body motion, the execution of the sequence of strides, which is alternated by the two legs. In brief, the process can be divided into three rough segments: support, drive and recovery.

On the unseen aspects, running is found to change the body. One is the shutting off of some aspects in preparation for a violent activity. Most of the digestive process is halted to accommodate the need for energy in the muscles. The muscles are primed in preparation for the work, and blood is pumped in quantity on the muscles to support the action.