wolf116 said:
I used to win all the long distance events in high school and I represented my state at one point, yes it's hard work, but it just makes you look like cr@p and weakens you. I didn't like being weak.
Depends what you mean by cr@p. If all you do is steady-state, slow jogging, like the article says, then yeah, not only will you look like cr@p but you'll waste a lot of time as well. But most runners I know incorporate hill work and speedwork into their training which really trims down body fat and (provided there was some muscle mass already there) gives the runner a really cut look.
I am not a bodybuilder! I do powerlifting, strength training and olympic lifting.
I've also competed in armature boxing events and trained MMA for 2 years.
Fair enough, but you've got to admit that with all these "how do I gain weight" threads, one would assume most guys here lift weights mostly for aesthetics.
Running is being phased out in professional fighting athletes because they have found it to be counterproductive. You will be surprised at the amount of MMA fighters who never run. Once I quit low intensity aerobic work I was surprised to find an improvement I my endurance.
You're probably right. That's because of the specificity principle - if you train to run slowly for long distances, that's exactly what your body will become good at doing. For MMA fighters where explosive speed is more important, I'd say HIIT is a much better way to go. I train triathlon, so endurance is a must.
Man was desigined to walk while hunting, sprint after the animal to catch it with a spear, then cart it home on his back. There is no use for jogging, it is harsh on the joints.
What you say makes sense, but Kim Hill, an anthropologist studying the Ache hunter-gatherers (who lead lives similar to those of our stone age ancestors), says that any man in the tribe would run a recreational runner or even a local competitor into the ground over middle to long distances. Independently, biomechanics studies have concluded that for the human body it is more economical to run than to walk; this suggests that our current bodies must have evolved from ancestors who did a lot of running, not just sprinting here and there.
About being harsh on the joints, please refer to
http://www.jaoa.org/cgi/content/full/106/6/342
This is a review on the literature/studies that attempt to link running to joint-related ailments, and the conclusion of the article is that moderate long-distance running (about 25mi/week) does NOT increase chances of osteoarthritis or any other joint ailments, and in fact may even have a protective effect against them.