Build your endurance with walking/jogging intervals

Moving from walking to jogging is an intuitive and natural step. Yet it can easily get overlooked.

By missing this step, you could easily wear yourself out, or even sustain a minor injury, by firing off on all cylinders, rather than building from a base of an established stable pace because you jumped right into the jogging aspect before you were ready.

Perhaps, and possibly even worse, is that without employing the proper techniques we're about to describe, you could very well convince yourself that jogging just isn’t for you.

So we have put together an easy to follow outline of how to use the walking to jogging method.

It's fit for almost everyone, at any fitness level, and almost every age.

Getting into the groove

Maybe you used to be an avid jogger and took a break to focus on other things such as playing music, making art, or taking all those vacations you’ve worked so hard to earn in your retirement.

Or maybe you've never jogged at all and want to learn how to start!

Using the walking/jogging method can help everyone, from beginners to veteran joggers, as it is proven to improve overall endurance on both ends.

Adding jogs to walks helps beginners get into the groove of adopting and even enjoying a quickened pace.

Adding walking intervals into your already established jogging or running routine can help increase your endurance levels. It can also add distance, or time to your best record because it actually helps relieve stress on stress points in your knees and ankles, decreasing your risk of injury.

So, whatever your reasons, walking/jogging intervals are a great way for you to increase your stamina by building up to longer distances at your own pace.

Learning how to jog isn’t a complicated task, and it starts like much of life: with baby steps.

What you need:

• A watch.

• A pair of running shoes.

• Determination! (And a water bottle)

That’s it!

How to start?

1. Get your stretch on! Do a few warm up stretches such as: lunges, standing spinal twists, and a forward folds - to get the blood moving.

2. Go for a walk! Do this for a week and you will have activated the same muscle groups that jogging does, thereby preparing your body for a bit more steam ahead…

3. Set a time/distance goal. Start small. I recommend sticking to just 15-minutes, or about 1km, of walking/jogging, at first. Then begin adding 5 minutes, or approximately half-a-kilometer, to your routine until you meet your ultimate goal. With that in mind, remember that a marathon is 42km (26.2 miles) in length, and 4 to 5 hours is a good average time for high level runners. So unless you're preparing to run a marathon, choose a time limit or distance goal that makes sense for you.

4. Just do it! Get outside! Or, on your treadmill… and go for it!

5. Time yourself. Start with a 5 minute walk to warm yourself up, then move to 1 minute or so of jogging, and go back and forth between walking and jogging at your own pace until you've met your time or distance goal.

6. Pace yourself! Walking too slowly won’t elevate your heart rate enough to move easily between jogging and back, so keep a brisk pace and pump those arms so it’s easy to move between forms!

7. Go easy on yourself! Build your way to longer distances and blocks of time slowly and don't be too hard on yourself. Just keep trying.

8. Build on your success. Work towards increasing the amount of time you jog for while reducing your walking time. Before you know it, you’ll be jogging the whole time!

To learn more about How to stay fit at any age, check out our blog for fun, informative tips on everything from fitness to nutrition for Ageless Golfers just like you.

What is a serving?

Living a healthy lifestyle doesn’t have to be complicated. You don’t have to commit hours or weeks to researching nutrition, and you don’t have to cut out “bad foods”. With a basic understanding of a few key nutritional concepts, you can change your habits with minimal effort.

If your goal is to lose fat or weight, check out our Ageless Fat Loss Program — it’s designed to help you form healthy eating habits based on tried-and-true calorie budgeting.

The meal guide in our Vacation Flex program offers a more self-guided approach, and teaches you how to break down food types into new categories that will allow you to mix and match essential food groups to create a delicious, healthy meal, without having to count calories.

In that guide, we use the word “serving” in the Food Mapping section.

Typically, the word “serving” simply refers to a subjective quantity of food suitable for being served to one person.

So then, what is a serving size, really?

According to the Canadian Government, a serving size is not necessarily the suggested quantity of food you should eat, but a common household measure that is typically served to a person based on their age and gender.

Common household measures include:

• a fraction of a food such as 1/4 pizza (90 g)

• number of pieces such as 4 crackers (20 g)

• cups, teaspoons or tablespoons (3/4 cup of yogurt [175 g] or 1 tablespoon of peanut butter [15 g])

When written on a package, a serving size serves to tell you the quantity of food used to calculate the numbers in its nutrition facts table.

By checking a packaged product's serving size, you can:

• understand what nutrients are in it, and how many

• compare nutritional information between similar food products

• determine your own portion of serving amounts that you actually need

But what if it’s not in a package?

How to use your hand to estimate a serving size

We found a great guide that teaches you how to use your hand to estimate Canada's Food Guide serving sizes and compare them to the food portions you eat.

Here's an approximation of what the Canada Food Guide servings look like using an average adult sized hand:

Vegetables and Fruit

• Fresh, frozen or canned vegetables: 1/2 cup (125 mL) = 1/2 fist

• Fresh, frozen or canned fruit: 1/2 cup (125 mL) = 1/2 fist

• Leafy vegetables: 1cup (250 mL) = 1 fist

• Dried fruit: 1/4 cup (60 mL) = Cupped hand

• Whole fruit: 1 fruit = 1 fist

• 100% fruit juice: 1/2 cup (125 mL) = 1/2 fist

Canada's Food Guide recommends 7 to 10 servings of Vegetables and Fruit a day to an average adult. *These would fall under both high density and low density carbs in our Vacation Flex Meal Guide.

Grain Products:

• Bread = 1 slice = Size of hand

• Pasta 1/2 cup (125 mL) = 1/2 fist

• Bagel: half a small bagel = 1 whole hand

• Rice: 1/2 cup (125 mL) = 1/2 fist

• Cold Cereal: 30g = 1 fist

Canada's Food Guide recommends 6 to 8 servings of Grain Products a day depending on your age and gender. *These would fall under high density carbs in our Vacation Flex Meal Guide.

Milk and Alternatives:

• Milk or fortified soy beverage: 1 cup (250 mL ) = 1 fist

• Yogurt: 3/4 cup ( 175 mL ) = 1 fist

• Cheese: 1⁄21 oz ( 50 g ) = 2 thumbs

Canada's Food Guide recommends 2 to 3 servings of Milk and Alternatives a day to an average adult. *These would fall under both proteins and fats in our Vacation Flex Meal Guide.

Meat and and Alternatives:

• Meat and Poultry: 21⁄2 oz (75g)= Palm of hand

• Nuts and seeds: 1/4 cup (60 mL)= Cupped hand

• Fish: 1⁄22 oz (75g)= Palm of hand

• Peanut butter: 2 tbsp (30 mL)= 2 thumbs

• Legumes: 3/4 cup (175 mL)= 1 fist

Canada's Food Guide recommends 2 to 3 servings of Meat and and Alternatives a day to an average adult. *These would fall under both proteins and fats in our Vacation Flex Meal Guide.

Fats:

• Margarine or butter: 1 tsp (5mL) = 1 thumb tip

• Oil: 1 tsp (5mL) = 1 thumb tip

• Mayonnaise: 1 tsp (5mL) = 1 thumb tip

Canada's Food Guide recommends 2 to 3 tbsp of unsaturated fat each day to an average adult, and limiting the total amount of fat you eat. *These would fall under fats in our Vacation Flex Meal Guide.

Check out our Vacation Flex Meal Guide for more ideas on how to build your own perfect meal plan without having to count calories.

The pros and cons of daily caffeine usage

Do you drink coffee every morning? If so, do you find that if you don’t have a cup first thing, that you feel grumpy, or down right irritable until you do?

You’re not alone.

"It's common for regular coffee drinkers to be cranky before their morning cup of joe,” Healthline explains. “Caffeine only lasts in the system for around 5 hours, so withdrawal-like symptoms like irritability can occur after a night's rest.”

So, while it wakes us up in a sense, the effects of caffeine are only temporary.

Now consider this, I have a friend who has never had caffeine a day in his life and he wakes up every morning happier than the early bird who caught the worm.

This is likely because he never grew a dependency for it.

"Amid myths and controversy about whether caffeine is good or bad for us, evidence suggests that moderate coffee consumption can bring both benefits and risks.” Medical News Today says.

For most healthy adults in the United States, the FDA has recognized 400 milligrams as a generally safe daily amount of caffeine. That's about two 8-ounce cups of coffee.

"However, there is wide variation in both how sensitive people are to the effects of caffeine and how fast they metabolize it,” it says.

In Canada, the total concentration of caffeine allowed in energy drinks is maxed out at 400 mg per litre.

"The typical energy drink, 250-500mL, contains between 80 – 180 mg of caffeine," according to Energy Drink Canada. "All energy drinks sold in Canada must fall within these parameters."

Here’s a quick list of the pros and cons of caffeine usage, followed by a few foods in which it's produced:

Consuming a limited amount of caffeine per day can contribute to the following possible health benefits (pros), and negative side affects (cons):

1. Pro: Weight loss

• Caffeine is a well known appetite suppressant which can help you limit your food intake.

• It also stimulates thermogenesis, an activation in the body that burns calories by generating heat from processing food in the system.

2. Pro: Alertness

• Research shows that a small dose of caffeine will increase attention and alertness, while a much larger dose may actually improve memory and reasoning.

• The Journal of Neuroscience explains that “caffeine, the most widely used psychoactive compound, is an adenosine receptor antagonist. It promotes wakefulness by blocking adenosine A2A receptors (A2ARs) in the brain, but the specific neurons on which caffeine acts to produce arousal have not been identified."

3. Pro: Physical performance

• Though official results remain inconclusive, it's believed that caffeine can increase both endurance performance and capacity in athletes, while also reducing the perception of exertion.

4. Pro: Mental performance

• As mentioned above, caffeine stimulates adenosine receptors in the brain, as well as contains polyphenol antioxidants which not only improves brain function, but also helps digestion, blood sugar levels, and is believed to assist in protecting against blood clots, heart disease and cancer!

5. Cons: Here are some of the risks associated with caffeine consumption:

• stomach upset, diarrhea, and nausea

• quick or uneven heartbeat

• nervousness or anxiety

• high blood pressure

• jitters and shakes

• muscle tremors

• dependency

• dehydration

• headaches

• poor sleep

• heartburn

• dizziness

• irritability

Where can you find it?

Caffeine occurs naturally in the leaves, seeds, or fruit of more than 60 plant species, but for regular every day North Americans, you can find it in:

• coffee

• tea

• cacao

• yerba mate

Interesting fact: Did you know that Caffeine in plants acts as a natural pesticide? It paralyzes and kills insects that attempt to feed on them. Now put that in your cup and drink it!