A few months ago i went and bought a pair of jogging shoes and decided to start losing all my extra lard (I'm 185cm and about 90-95kg(can't really tell since my scale is broken :P)) and i've been jogging semi regularly (i sometimes lose the motivation for a about a week and then pick it up again). Anyways, i decided to really go for it now during the summer since school is off. I've noticed that my leg muscles have gotten increasingly harder and bigger (although no apreciable increase in stamina), but also pretty stiff. I've lost quite a bit of flexibility since i began running. I've been stretching every time i go and run both before and after, but it doesn't seem to help.


Currently, i'm experiencing a dull aching pain in the back of my knee when i put weight on my right leg (it gets slightly better when i stretch though) and general muscle pain when i impact into something hard, as in when i run. At every pace i can feel slight muscle pain in the calves and shins as well as some in the upper legs. So i'm guessing i'm not doing my stretches right, or not enough of them , or maybe even too many. I've been doing a stretching program wherein i stretch each muscle for 20 seconds, before moving on to the next. I do two reps. First i warm up for a bit until i break a slight sweat and can feel myself getting warm. Then i start the stretching session with stretching the back of my legs (don't know what those muscles are called in english), doing each one for 20 seconds, then my thighs, and finally calves. Then i go back and do my second rep by repeating it all over again, back legs, thighs, calves. In total i get about 40 seconds of stretching on each muscle. Since i suck at explanations i'll just draw some funny stick cartoons of the stretches i do, as follows:

This is how i do the back legs, i lift my leg up and rest it onto some kind of platform infront of me, and then lean forwards until i can feel the back muscle stretching.

This is how i do my thighs, i bend the leg backwards and grab it by the ankle and then pull it back until i feel the thigh stretching.

And finally my calves. I press my toes at a 45 degree angle against a wall and lean on my foot until i feel the heel and calf stretching. Like i said, i do it 20 seconds on each muscle and do 2 reps. But my legs have gotten really stiff lately and i can't bend them as much as i used to, and then of course there's the impact pain when i run. Also, i never time my warmup, i just do some high intensity cycling on my exercise bike until i can feel my muscles getting warm, and then i do my stretches since i've been told that you should never stretch a cold muscle. I stretch both before and after my jogging round. SO what am i doing wrong exactly?

I can't help you but LOL those drawings are excellent!

I can't help you but LOL those drawings are excellent!


Fitrst of...brill pictures i lol :p .

i would suggest you stretch your legs more, take up yogor if your not very flexible or do a few good strectes before bed. as for the pain behind your knee, are you joggin Ie not running,cos joggin really does pund your legs, ice the back of you legs, and when you get in from a run, have a bath it will help you mucsles relax. when you run you hit the ground wil 2-3x your body weight, so take it easy( i no im really not the guy to say take it easy lol) if your having pain in your shins, you could be devolping shin spints, i had these and they are a bitch, cut the amount your running now in half, and half the intensity of your work outs while running, you can slowly increase the intensity and distance in about 2 weeks, if you do this you will avoid getting shin splints. the mucle your talking about is you hamstrings, and IMO i think your streching for to lond, i only strech for 8 seconds. i strech my hamstrings, by sitting on the floor and streching out grap my toes, i then grab stand on one legs and hold my leg behind me, and finaly i doe a few toe raises and rotate my ankles a few times, then i hit the road.

hope i helped. :tu: :gl:

fosse

Yes i jog, not run, because my school P.E. teacher said that to increase stamina and burn fat the emphasis should be on lenght of workout, not intensity. That's why i jog so that i can do it longer instead of sprint which will just tire me out too quickly. SHould i not jog and start running/sprinting instead?

Yes i jog, not run, because my school P.E. teacher said that to increase stamina and burn fat the emphasis should be on lenght of workout, not intensity. That's why i jog so that i can do it longer instead of sprint which will just tire me out too quickly. SHould i not jog and start running/sprinting instead?


instead of jogging i recomend that you, just pic up your speed a little, you should be runnig at a pace were you could hold a conversation but with difficulty, then if you get tierd hold back a bit, and slowly jog for a wwhile before u pick up again.
running can be really enjoyable, so do what feels right, you no your limits and how far you ca run, so just do what feels right, and remeber you should be sweating afterward lol.

Ok i'll try that. But what about stretching. I really think i am doing something wrong because sometimes when i stretch i feel pain in the muscle i stretch afterwards, but sometimes i don't. I don't know if it's because i stretch too hard or don't warm up properly or what. I could use some tips on how to properly warm up and stretch.

Ok i'll try that. But what about stretching. I really think i am doing something wrong because sometimes when i stretch i feel pain in the muscle i stretch afterwards, but sometimes i don't. I don't know if it's because i stretch too hard or don't warm up properly or what. I could use some tips on how to properly warm up and stretch.


wowow you sed you do sets!!!!!! of streches.. nonno. just stech each mucle till you feel a slight warm feeling then start jogging slowly, streching is important, but you dnt have to over do it good luck my friend

You lost me there fosse. Igor get the heart going a little like a 3 or 5 min slow walk and then stretch your hamstrings, thighs, calfs. 10 seconds on each bodypart twice should be find. It depends on how stiff you are and never bounced or stretch to hard.

Those stretchs are pretty good but there are different varations do a google search and i'm sure you can find some examples. I don't particualary like that calf strecth but that's just me. I usually lean up against a wall and have one foot/leg behind me extended with my foot flat. Google it i'm sure you'll find something.

Ok, now i'm confused. First fosse says i'm not supposed to do reps on my stretches, and only do them ONCE on each muscle, and now you're saying i should do it twice on each muscle, canada? Also, a 5 minute walk is definitely not gonna get me warmed up. How exactly do i know when i'm properly warmed up so i don't injure myself while stretching? I mean i'm obviously doing something wrong since i've lost tons of flexibility and my legs are REALLY stiff, and the've even started hurting now. I'm really worried here.


When i first started running i had to stop since i had really crappy shoes that didn't have any shock absorption which caused my legs to hurt like fuck the day after. Then i went and bought my fancy €120 running shoes, and that worked for a few months. I could run without any pain the next day. And now i'm experiencing the same thing i did before i got the shoes. My legs are starting to hurt and they're really stiff which must mean i'm not doing something right with my stretching since if you stretch properly you won't get stiff at all. After all, that's the whole point of stretching, right? I won't be able to get in shape at all if this keeps up since i can't run regularly if i have to take several days off all the time because my legs hurt. I hope someone can help because i really want to get in shape, but it just seems that no matter what i do it won't work. I have this exercise bike that i used for regularly every 2 days for several months without skipping it a single time. I didn't lose a single gram of weight. So then i started running, and that's actually helped. I've lost a bit of weight since i began but now my legs are hurting so unless i figure out how to keep running regularly without my legs hurting i'll never be able to lose my weight.

Ok, now i'm confused. First fosse says i'm not supposed to do reps on my stretches, and only do them ONCE on each muscle, and now you're saying i should do it twice on each muscle, canada? Also, a 5 minute walk is definitely not gonna get me warmed up. How exactly do i know when i'm properly warmed up so i don't injure myself while stretching? I mean i'm obviously doing something wrong since i've lost tons of flexibility and my legs are REALLY stiff, and the've even started hurting now. I'm really worried here.


When i first started running i had to stop since i had really crappy shoes that didn't have any shock absorption which caused my legs to hurt like fuck the day after. Then i went and bought my fancy €120 running shoes, and that worked for a few months. I could run without any pain the next day. And now i'm experiencing the same thing i did before i got the shoes. My legs are starting to hurt and they're really stiff which must mean i'm not doing something right with my stretching since if you stretch properly you won't get stiff at all. After all, that's the whole point of stretching, right? I won't be able to get in shape at all if this keeps up since i can't run regularly if i have to take several days off all the time because my legs hurt. I hope someone can help because i really want to get in shape, but it just seems that no matter what i do it won't work. I have this exercise bike that i used for regularly every 2 days for several months without skipping it a single time. I didn't lose a single gram of weight. So then i started running, and that's actually helped. I've lost a bit of weight since i began but now my legs are hurting so unless i figure out how to keep running regularly without my legs hurting i'll never be able to lose my weight.

Stretching your right quad for a count of 10 then your left for 10 and then repeat is in no way going to be bad. I stretch a lot and i just started yoga. You just need to warm up your muscles a little before you stretch them.

I'm not a doctor dude but i know that you need to listen to your body. You can find many low impact excercises for cardio. I would never do jogging because i have big legs and had knee surgrey 5 years ago. Its just too much impact. I can use a Elliptical machine whenever i want with no ill affects.

See a doc.

Best of Luck.

Reading over your post again i think the main reason your not losing weight is your diet. You can easily get in shape with weight training and a really good diet.

i suggest you try what work for you, i personaly dont have to strech tht much a quick warm up and im off, to be on the safe side, i slowly increase my speed when running, rather than from slow running to faster run, i do it slowly, a lot of marathon runners pull there hamstrings because they have been running slow for ages, and then suddenly sprint off....tear!!! that would suck. liek you sed it wont be your shoes because they have lots of miles in them.
just try what works for you, and running should be complicated, light strech run warm down, rlax simple. i personaly still think your joggin is screwing you up, i say pick up the pace.

good luck keep us posted