Don't like this article ?

From beginners to professionals, on treadmills or in outdoors, runners are prone to meet one of the most daunting and annoying pains. The side stitch, or the transient abdominal pain as it is scientifically called is the culprit for many running workouts failures.

Long story short, a side stitch is an intense side ache that occurs while running. I believe every runner, amateur or professional, has encountered this kind of pain in his/ her beginning days. The bad part of stitches is that they cause crucial pain. The good thing about it is that you get to prevent them from happening.

This kind of pain is related to abdominal ligaments and muscles. It is caused either by a spasm of the diaphragm, the muscle that divides abdominal organs from the heart and lungs or by the connection between the liver and the diaphragm. What happens is that running favors pressure on the right side. This pressure is caused by the ligaments that connect the liver to the diaphragm. The liver tends to pull down the diaphragm, while the natural movement of the muscle is upwards. And this is where the pressure comes in.

One other factor that may get you a side stitch is drinking and eating prior to running. Drinking excessively before you run may lead to side stitches. Make sure you don’t dehydrate yourself. Drink as much as you need, just make sure you don’t overdo it before workout. On my workout days I start drinking early in the morning, so that I keep my body properly hydrated. Sports drinks are recommended. It’s the same with food. It’s important to eat light 3 hours before running and to not eat at all 1 hour before.

Now, you may be wondering what you can do in order to stay as far as you can from the stitch. It’s not that difficult, it just requires your close attention. First off, breathing. You must get the proper oxygen intake. Exercise belly breathing and practice it during your run.

Secondly, make sure you hydrate yourself as much as your body needs, without making any excess. Eat light prior to running. Energy boosters are great for fat-burning and they also ease digestion during running.

Thirdly, it’s highly important to stretch thoroughly before and after running. If you don’t, muscles will contract and give you cramps, such as side stitches.

Last but not least, don’t be a daredevil if you can’t handle it. It’s usually the case when runners get side stitches because they think they can run 2 times faster than the day before, but it’s almost never the case.

If you’re running and a stitch strikes you, try to control it by breathing. Take deep breaths and once in a while inhale and exhale forcibly. Exhale when your left foot strikes the ground. This usually lowers the tension on the right side.

If the pain gets worse, expands to the left side and to the shoulders, stop for a few seconds. Try to apply pressure on the right side of the abdomen. This way you’ll push the liver up so that the tension slowly fades. Then do some bending exercise. Touch your right foot with your left hand, and the other way around for a few times. Keep your knees straight. After this short pause you can resume running.

And don’t forget that if the pain doesn’t disappear after ending the workout, you should consult your physician. Heart related problems may also be a cause of left side pains.

Don't like this article ?

On 16th February 2011 Lance Armstrong confirmed his retirement from professional cycling. Since we review the treadmills produced under Livestrong brand and we really enjoy it, we decided to celebrate him with an infographic named : “10 Less Known Facts About Lance Armstrong” .

We hope you will like our work and we invite you to embed this on your site using this code :

Embed the infographic on your site:

<a href="http://www.runreviews.com/info/livestrong-treadmills-infographic.html"><img src="http://www.runreviews.com/info/livestrong.jpg" alt="livestrong-treadmills" width="400" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.runreviews.com/category/livestrong-treadmills/">Livestrong Treadmills</a>

*click to enlarge

Also,
In case you haven’t noticed yet, we also created an infographic for the Livestrong Treadmills we reviewed so far.

*click to enlarge

Livestrong Treadmills

Don't like this article ?

An athletic lifestyle adjusts the body and mind. Furthermore, daily exercise increases immunity and minimizes the risk of developing certain physical deficiencies and affections. Obviously, a professional runner will gain more strength than an amateur. Nevertheless, keep in mind that there is no need to train 3 times a day in order to turn your body into an irrefutable weapon against many diseases. You may just as well walk and nothing more.

And what better way of ensuring daily walks than having a walking surface right next you?

One of our problems nowadays is that we tend to underestimate accessible versions of what we may do in order to stay healthy and strong. Like walking. The positive effects of daily walking are amazing: it increases memory capacity, prevents affections such as Alzheimer’s, heart diseases and cancers.

These are only few of the diseases that medicine tries so hard to find a cure for when in fact the answer is right in front of any of us. What we should do is realize that many of the health problems we face on a daily basis are in our power. Having a treadmill right in your home or at work is just the answer you were looking for in order to keep your body strong and your mind healthy.

In a world where everything moves so fast, there is no time to commit to a consistent gym program. A frantic lifestyle brings down our workout routines which only harms our health. People of all ages try to build up an exercise program that will fit their daily schedule and still permit a daily workout session. The treadmill does just that.

It’s a misconception to think that in order to have a strong body you need to undertake serious workout actions. Actually, moderation is the key to workout success. Daily workout on the treadmill increases the strength of the bones, muscles and joints and makes them flexible and healthy.

It is a very efficient way of losing weight and building muscle mass. Walking or running on the treadmill helps you reduce body fat and lead to lean muscles. Equally important is the fact that the physical activity that the treadmill enables delays high blood pressure.

The treadmill is the perfect and accessible replacement for exercise bicycles or other machines specifically built for working out. If your spare time is limited or if you don’t have a park, a hill or other unpolluted running surface nearby do not hesitate to purchase the best available substitute.

Don't like this article ?

This article is a short review about two authors and their valuable contribution to city running guide books.They are Warwick Ford and Nola Ford, two runners with a wide experience running in different places and now running half-marathons and marathons. Read this article and you will understand better who they are and what accomplishments they deserve recognition for.

Our cities can be excellent places for running and on-foot exercise. However, to take full advantage of city running environments, there is much to know. Good local knowledge helps competitive athletes find stimulating training routes, helps recreational joggers or walkers motivate themselves to exercise more, and helps visitors or newcomers get outdoors quickly and confidently.

The Fun on Foot series of urban running guides satisfies the local knowledge need for city residents, visitors, and newcomers. This spring the series has been extended to four titles, with the release of a Philadelphia region guide to follow up the existing New York region and Boston region guides. The fourth book is the flagship Fun on Foot in America’s Cities, the guide for runners who are also frequent travelers. It describes the running environments and top routes in 14 major cities: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington.

These books have enthusiastic support from many prominent runners. “Fun on Foot is terrific!” said Bill Rodgers, 4-time winner of both the Boston and NYC marathons. “Fun on Foot is a rousing springboard for runners…,” said Lisa Ondieki, NYC Marathon winner and record holder for 9 years. “An excellent resource for recreational joggers to professional runners…,” said John Crews, male winner of the 2009 Philadelphia Marathon, referring to the new Philadelphia book.

The book series is the work of husband-and-wife team, Warwick Ford and Nola Ford, both runners and keen travelers. Warwick runs marathons and Nola half marathons (but she is aiming for her first marathon this year). It all started with Warwick’s former employment as a technology executive in a nationwide company, requiring him to travel frequently to many cities. He suffered from the problem of wanting to run but not knowing what routes were good and safe in a strange city. So he started taking copious notes about the places he ran in, with the idea of publishing it all some day to help others.

Nola, who always seeks new and motivating routes to run, joined in help produce Fun on Foot in America’s Cities. The more detailed books about the cities they know well followed on naturally.

The Fun on Foot books plus various maps and other runner information are available at the website www.funonfoot.com. The books are also available from major booksellers.

Book titles are as follows:

Fun on Foot in America’s Cities (2006)

Fun on Foot in New England (2007)

Fun on Foot in New York (2009)

Philadelphia Running and Walking: A Guide for Athletes and Fitness Seekers (2010)

This article is written in collaboration with Warwick Ford and Nola Ford (find out more about them on their personal website, www.funonfoot.com). We thank them for their precious help to publish this post and we hope it will be a great resource for all our city runners readers.

Don't like this article ?

A runner needs an adequate body structure for proper training and high performance. That is a fact. Also a fact is that the brain is equally important when talking about performance boost.

It is fair to infer that a trained body and an untrained brain won’t lead to desired results. And the easiest way to get to their meeting point is by consuming sports drinks, which is something every runner should already know.

Sports drinks are designed for rehydration and filling the supplies of electrolytes, carbohydrates and other nutrients that beggar during workout. Electrolytes are crucial for a runner as they conduct proper rehydration that inevitably occurs during training. Carbohydrates join in by offering effective maintenance of the body and by increasing performance. These two elements are sine-qua-non when it comes down to winning.

Scientists have discovered that it is not necessary for the runner to swallow the drink, but it can also be spat out. The connection between the brain and the sports drink basically resides in the receptors fund in the mouth that are activated by the components of the sports drinks, this way accessing the brain and easing workout. It is a principle that every endurance athlete uses to refill glycogen resources.

When it comes to brain activity, it kind of disgruntles the working muscles. And sport drinks are the ones that enable the connection between brain and mouth receptors. All other organs that many runners consider essential for their workout, such as the heart or the lungs, are not that important when compared to the brain. The brain is the one that actually controls a runner’s victory or failure.

The explanation is that there are certain receivers in the mouth that take up natural sugars and connect them to the brain, this way helping the body throughout workout. For a long time scientists thought that what sport drinks actually do is strengthen the muscles, when in fact they strengthen the brain. Sports drinks are also very important for body hydration, but beware! In order for this to happen, the drink must be swallowed.

This is only one of many sports examples of facts that were thought to be categorical, until further notice. My advice is to focus on several sources of information if what you are looking for is to become a professional runner.

Don't like this article ?

In these times of life on speed it gets strangely difficult to fully notice personal assets. The daily tumult makes us pay attention to anything but ourselves, and sometimes it would definitely make a difference. I’ll say “body fat” and I think I rest my case. Why, you wonder? It’s easy: don’t lose your body fat, use it!

The term “fat burning” is often referred to as weight loss. Other connotations are decrease in body fat and increases in lean body mass, and of course, each and every one of them is an advantage. What it actually refers to is the process of oxidizing/ burning fat, this way using it as power fuel. Elite runners build their workouts on the principle of fat burning, especially when the carbohydrates level lowers.

The first explanation for this process is that fat not only resides in the adipose tissue but also in the muscles. At the debut of training, fatty acids are activated this way moving from the adipose tissue towards the muscle. Runners have more of intramuscular fat and they use it as energy source for their training. Still, fatty acids are not independent. Among other elements, their transport relies on the blood supply that enables the process.

Fat oxidation is a complex process that is influenced by a series of factors. Firstly and the most important, the intensity of your training directly influences the process of fat burning. What happens is that carbohydrate oxidation increases with exercise intensity, while the rate of fat oxidation only increases initially but decreases at higher intensities. Your conclusion is correct: it is not always indicated to train at low intensities in order to oxidize fat, although for a long time it was thought this was the case.

Another essential factor is diet. Carbohydrates repress fat oxidation, therefore a diet low in carbohydrate will lead to high fat oxidation levels. Since the input of carbohydrates right before exercise inhibits fat oxidation, it became common for endurance athletes to skip breakfast before the morning workout. This way, the fat-oxidative ability of the muscle is stimulated.

Duration of exercise is also a key factor. When workout progresses, oxidation increases proportionally. Fat oxidation can reach high values, such as 1 gram per minute during intense training, but it is quintessential to avoid carbohydrates intake right before exercise.

Mode of exercise is equally important. The way you exercise has a clear effect on fat oxidation. Fat oxidation has been proved to be higher during walking and running, unlike cycling, although this is a yet unjustified process.

This article is signed by Miki, writer for RunReviews.

Don't like this article ?

For runners, there is nothing worse than getting injured. Actually, getting injured is the easy part. What follows, isn’t. It may take weeks for the injury to heal, and let’s just say 3 days of recess is too long, when talking about athletes.

This is the reason why experts have come up with greatly efficient strategies meant to prevent some of the injuries that a runner is prone to experience. Most common injuries are those in the foot area. There is no doubt that the feet are most affected by your daily runs. They bear the heavy burden of your running which makes it clear that any irregularity going on with your feet will be translated into your performance.

The first and then most important of the rules is to wear the most appropriate running shoes. With this one checked, you will free yourself from the possibility of many injuries. Also, increased mileage, the chosen running surface, running too much on the balls of your feet or just a faulty bone structure may lead to some injuries that may subsequent lead to a time of rest.

The knees of runners are something many people talk about, even non-runners. Indeed, there is a lot of pressure on your knees and it may inevitable to develop some sort of sensibility or pain. What is also good to know is that, although hard to miss, these pains are easy to treat, if action is taken in due time. Generally speaking, it is highly recommended for sports in general to get their physical problems fixed as quickly as possible.

For instance, when dealing with pain around and behind the kneecap, the easiest thing to do is ice your knees immediately after running. This will relieve the pain. Also, you can take an anti-inflammatory such as ibuprofen after running. Keep in mind though that it’s only after running that you can take this pill and only after eating. When talking about pain on the outside of your knee, patience is what you need. A first recommendation is to rest and put ice on the painful area. You may want to reduce your mileage for a while, to give your body the proper time to rest.

In order to reduce the risk of developing Achilles Tendinitis or Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome you should strengthen the calf area, especially if you enjoy tracking. Also, not increasing your weekly mileage with more than 10% is a must.

It is amazing how medicine has evolved and what is even greater about it is that ordinary people can take advantage of it. Being a professional runner for 6 years sure proved it to me.

This article is signed by Miki, writer for RunReviews.

Don't like this article ?

There is one certain aspect of an athlete’s life that connects all runners out there: they all want to become faster, higher and stronger. From ancient times till nowadays, these three words sum up everything a professional runner is about. As time goes by, training becomes harder and efforts grow tougher. And for this reason, many runners betake chemical substances to enhance strength and body endurance.

The use of drugs among runners is no longer a mystery. It’s been happening ever since sports were born and it is presently an acknowledged and intense topic. Along with the evolution of science, medicine met an impressive flourishing. And a fact is that the advances of medicine are amazing. Due to the medical innovations, performance-enhancing drugs are even more intensely used, up to the impression of mass use.

Doping or the use of drugs is seen by notable organizations as unethical and unhealthy, which are both true. Firstly, there is the inequity between athletes and secondly, these drugs are extremely powerful and threatening for the body and mind. History of sports is marked by athletes who won the competitions due to use of Benzedrine, Anabolic Steroids, Erythropoietin, THG, Human Growth Hormone (HGH) or some other artificial stamina and endurance booster. The year of 1904 reverberates the success of Thomas J. Hicks who won the Olympic marathon after his coach compromised his health by giving him strychnine. Also memorable are the “convicts of the road”, as they remained in the collective memory. The Tour de France from 1924 raised some waves due to the investigation of reporter Albert Londres to whom athletes confirmed the use of drugs.

When it comes down to runners, a fact is that they are the immediate beneficiaries of drug use, making running the most probable drug use sport. Track and road running are probably the most uplifting sports I can think of. More muscle fibers equal victory and steroids facilitate that. A fair example is Ben Johnson in 1988, when more red blood cells led the distance runner towards winning. It is fair to say that running is not a technical sport, but it is demanding and any professional runner trains and breathes and eats for success. This makes it obvious that running is basically about endurance and stamina which drugs do enhance and improve. Running is not a dirty sport, but it is the most likely to have more drug-users than any other.

Drug use remains unethical and extremely unhealthy. But a truth is that taking drugs will improve abilities and deliver immediate payoff. It is not an excuse, but it is the main reason why many runners find it hard to resist.

This article is signed by Miki, writer for RunReviews.

Don't like this article ?

A runner’s performance is influenced by both outer and inner factors that can lead to either failure or success. Of course, maintaining a continuous successful performance is quite difficult and it takes serious endeavors in order to be permanently at the top.

Nevertheless, the key aspect to becoming a successful runner is to closely watch the pros and cons of your present training. Injuries are a permanent threat to every runner but there are several assets that, if correctly used, can prevent them and lead to fruitful workouts. The number one advantage of the human body is what is called biomechanics. But careful, it can make you both win and lose.

Every body has its own biomechanics which makes it hard for a clear set of workout rules to be institutionalized. Still, several minor recommendations can be associated to all runners.

The first thing to do is to analyze your body once in a while. You can either ask someone to do it for you or you can choose to train in front of a mirror, which can be done either at the gym or right in your home, if you have your own treadmill. If you feel a deficit of stamina or a decrease of body endurance, it is recommended to find a coach and improve your abilities. Still, there are a few tips you may want to take into account. They will release tension and improve your performance.

Firstly and the most important of them all, you should pay attention to landing. For many years, professionals have argued about the heel-first landing. Now, experts plead for landing on the lower part of the ball of the foot (the part where the toes join with the rest of the foot).

Secondly, try not to overstride. You should try to avoid reaching for the next stride and just keep running tall with a low knee lift.

Thirdly, keep in mind to be aware of your running posture. It is highly important to be conscious of your position. The key is to look straight ahead, not up and not down. Relax and just keep your eyes on your route, at least 10 feet ahead. Tiredness may take over and determine a wrong position for shoulders and head. If so, take a break, have some water and then continue training.

Relaxation is very important while running, which is why you should keep your hands relaxed and loosen the wrists. Also, legs should move naturally. Let the leg go forward naturally, and also the motion of the knees should follow a natural course.

Try to avoid investing unnecessary energy. Focus on keeping your body in a relaxed form and a tall position. This way, you are heading towards a great pay off.

This article is signed by Miki, writer for RunReviews.

Don't like this article ?

There are many pleasures in life for people to enjoy, although it is easier to only see the empty half of the glass. Well, I don’t personally agree with this, but I do acknowledge it as true. It is also true that people can become vicious, thus focusing on what is both enjoyable and harmful- such as smoking.

Smoking is a tough one. The addiction is, well no different than others and equally hard to give up. Still, if you are on your way of becoming a runner, you should definitely ask yourself “Will I run or will I smoke?”

If you are heading to starting the life of a runner, you should know that it all comes down to this: healthy lungs. Doubtlessly, every aspect of a runner’s life is essential and must be carefully taken care of, but at the end of the day it’s your lungs that count. The effects of smoking are multiple and they double when runners are involved. And let me tell you, one cigarette is too many.

Firstly, let’s talk oxygen. One of the primary effects of smoking is that the absorption of the oxygen by the blood becomes highly faulted. The reason is the increased level of carbon monoxide that arrests the release of oxygen into the cells. In time, the parts that require high levels of oxygen, such as the heart or other muscles, start to weaken this way leading to decreased endurance of the body and low performance.

Secondly, smoking determines airway resistance. The lungs gradually start decaying making it very hard for the runner to keep up. It is also true that there are several elite runners that manage to both run and win marathons and smoke at the end. But if they can do it, doesn’t mean that everybody can. They have a serious training history and they managed to adapt smoking to working out. Not to forget though, they are exceptions.

Thirdly, body endurance is seriously affected by smoking. With every cigarette you smoke, the oxygen intake is reduced. Statistically, smoking reduces the oxygen intake with 10% which is very difficult for the body to bear.

To these, the lack of energy adds up. Also, the motivation to continue or to take up running is seriously damaged. I should I know, I have been there. And because I am an ex-smoking runner, I am able to point out some suggestions that may help you plead for the healthy way of running. First, keep in mind to drink many fluids. It is a key suggestion for runners in general, but equally important for those who want to give up smoking. Build up a plan: start training, buy yourself the proper running gear, sign up for a race as soon as possible and above them all do not procrastinate. Procrastination will only make it harder to start running and quit smoking. Also, if you are the writing type, start a blog. Express yourself either way suits you best.

It is not easy to give up vicious habits. But it is essential to live healthily and become a notable runner. And for that, all sacrifices are worth it.

This article is signed by Miki, writer for RunReviews.