Jogging
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jogging is a form of trotting or running at a slow or leisurely pace. The main intention is to increase fitness without stress rather than competition.
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[edit] Definition
The definition of jogging as compared with running is not standard. Dr. George Sheehan, a running expert, is quoted to have said "the difference between a jogger and a runner is an entry blank".[1] Others are usually more specific, defining jogging as running slower than 6mph (10 minute per mile pace).[2]
A jogger is also a derogatory term for competitive runner who lack speeds, endurance, form etc.
[edit] History
The term to jog/jogging as a form of exercise originated in England in the mid seventeenth century. This usage became common throughout the empire and in his 1884 novel 'My Run Home' the Australian author Rolf Boldrewood wrote 'your bedroom curtains were still drawn as I passed on my morning jog'.
In the United States jogging was also called "roadwork" when athletes in training such as boxers, customarily ran several miles each day as part of their conditioning. In New Zealand during the 1960s or 1970s the word "roadwork" was mostly supplanted by the word "jogging", promoted by the coach Arthur Lydiard, and this form of running became quite popular among many people at that time. Bill Bowerman, after jogging with Lydiard in New Zealand, brought the concept of jogging as exercise to the United States in 1962. Bowerman published the book Jogging in 1966, and later updated the book for a 1967 republication. Bowerman established jogging programs for men and women of all ages. The popularity of these programs helped to spread the concept of jogging as an exercise for everyone throughout the United States.[3]
[edit] Exercise
Jogging is a "high-impact" exercise that places strain on the body, notably the joints of the knee. This is actually one of the basic reasons for doing the exercise, as the impact drives growth processes in the areas of the body stressed by that impact. It is no more harmful than other forms of impact activities like jumping or skipping though, albeit with one leg.
Some people drop jogging in order to take up "lower-impact" exercises such as stair climbing, swimming or cycling.
Jogging is often used by serious runners as a means of active recovery during interval training. The runner who may just have completed a fast 400 metre repetition at a sub-5-minute mile pace, may drop to an 8-minute mile pace for a recovery lap. The jog might be carried out in much poorer, looser form whose purpose is to "shake out" the body and maintain circulation to eliminate from the muscles metabolic waste products produced during the bout of hard work.
Like other types of aerobic exercise, jogging is an excellent means of improving cardiovascular health, bone density and physical fitness.
[edit] Jogging as a sport
Because jogging isn't a well-defined term and doesn't aim at achieving any specifically identifiable goal, jogging cannot be classified as a competitive sport. There isn't any clear set of rules by which competitors could be disqualified for cheating by transitioning from jogging to running, other than the general observation that they are running with too good a form, and trying to win by moving too quickly.
[edit] Poor form
Jogging is also characterized by what might unkindly be termed 'poor form'. Joggers, or runners who are jogging, sometimes demonstrate a hunched posture, carry their arms too high, and leap excessively high into the air and land heavily on the heel.[citation needed] Such form wastes energy and exacerbates the impact of the exercise. An elite long-distance runner can move three times as fast as a jogger, yet experience much less impact due to a smooth form that minimizes vertical motion, and which doesn't exhibit the heavy rear-foot landing during the footstrike.
[edit] Books
- The Complete Book of Running (Hardcover) by James Fixx, Random House; 1st edition (September 12, 1977) ISBN 0-394-41159-5
- Jim Fixx's Second Book of Running (Hardcover) by James Fixx, Random House; 1st ed edition (March 12, 1980) ISBN 0-394-50898-X
- Jogging by William J. Bowerman and W.E. Harris, with James M. Shea; New York, Grosset & Dunlap [1967]LCCN 67016154
[edit] References
- ^ Running Quotes, Sayings about Runners, Jogging Quotations
- ^ BBC SPORT | Health & Fitness | Are you running properly?
- ^ Bowerman, William J., W.E. Harris, and James M. Shea, Jogging. Grosset & Dunlap; New York, New York, 1967.
