I have been driving along Mounts Bay Road in the late afternoon seeing a lot of people jogging along the beautiful Swan River in Perth. Well it’s been bugging me a little recently. Then I read the local paper, Western Suburbs, that reported that the annual Perth running event “City to Surf” is going to have a full marathon event this year. Hmmm… it’s bugging me a little more now.
Why do People want to do a Marathon (42km)?
Mind you it’s 42km run or jog. Top level marathoners do it just over 2 hours and averge Joe runner like me do it about under 5 hours. Yeah… I did a 21km half-marathon and 2 full-marathons several years back. I was influenced by friends to do distance running who are alot better runners than me. They just love it but I just hated it. It’s just bloody long and boring foe me. I did it because I thought I was going to look so much better and flatter in my tummy. At that time, I had to cut back on my strength training because I was training more than 10 hours a week to prepare for the full marathons. No way you can finish the marathon without proper training, otherwise you’re looking for alot pain and cramps running the marathon on race day.
Marathon is Aerobics.
Marathon is classified as a form of aerobics exercise meaning it’s low in intensity in terms of exertion requiring oxygen supply to the muscles. Otherwise it’s not possible to last the distance. Imagine doing sprints all the way for 42km… it’s not possible.
Research study done in University of New South Wales, Australia published in International Journal of Obesity found that Steady State Exercise does not help lose Tummy Fat
So what has this study got to do with marathon? Marathon is mainly steady-state exercise (it’s aerobic). I was doing marathon because I want to lose more abdominal fat. Another study done University of Virginia found the same thing. Steady-state exercise did not have an effect on reducing abdominal fats ( or tummy fat). For me, I did the marathon for aesthetic reasons not because I love it. It’s alot of time involved. In fact, I would not do it in the first place if I know it does not helped me get a flatter tummy and better tone. I lost a lot of tone from the endurance training and I felt that my tummy was not flatter.
So What’s the Point here?
Do the marathon if you love running.
If your main purpose is to lose tummy fat, don’t waste your effort and time doing training for marathon. You find yourself having less time, high chances of getting bad knees and whole lot of other funny injuries.
P.S. I know some of you disagree with me, please feel free to comment.
P.S.S I am not anti-marathon or anti-aerobics. I just want to let you know what I went through.
P.S.S.S Steady-state exercise has it’s place in health and fitness but I go into that later.
P.S.S.S.S. Know what you want and train for that. If you want to finish a marathon, train for a marathon. If you want to lose tummy fat, avoid doing too much aerobics. Still do some. I not an extremist I must tell you. Quite a few research found steady-state exercises after more than 10 weeks do not reduce abdominal fat.
P.S.S.S.S.S. According to World Health Organisation and National & Medical research council, a waistline greater than 94cm for men and 80cm for women increases the risk of developing chronic diseases. If you have a big waistline, aerobics may not necessary help. You can download your Waist Measurement Fact Sheet **HERE**
P.S.S.S.S.S.S. I am part of the team of 90 independent personal trainers in Australia involved in the 100 Days Great Australian Waistline Challenge.
P.S.S.S.S.S.S.S. Part 2 coming… it will be about how you can banish your tummy with the right type of exercises.
Train Hard Eat Well Look Good
TC
Spread the Words
Very well written post however, I would recommend that you turn the No Follow off in your comment section.
Keep up the good work.