Have you taken up running yet? Well here are five more reasons you still may want to start running from health.com:
- Running incinerates calories. For a 140-pound woman, an hour of walking at 4 mph burns 420 calories, while running at 5.2 miles an hour ups the burn to more than 750. Increase your speed to 6 mph, and you’ll blitz almost 100 more.
- Running tones every muscle in your lower body, including the glutes, quads, calves, and hips. “It especially leans out your glutes,” says Jenny Hadfield, who has signed on as Health’s "Girls on the Move Running Club" coach (find out more about her at jennyhadfield.com). Your core and upper body get a decent workout, too.
- Running is super-efficient. “To keep you in a healthy cardiovascular range, a 20-minute run on days when you’re time-crunched is more than sufficient,” Hadfield says. “You can run to do an errand or around the park while your child has soccer practice.”
- Running requires minimal equipment. No gym membership or extensive gear necessary. Just lace up a pair of shoes, throw on a sports bra (buying tips), and head out the door.
- Running helps prevent age-related weight gain. And it may prolong your life. Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California studied 41,582 female runners in 2005 and found that the more a woman ran, regardless of her age, the smaller her waist, hip, and chest circumferences.
Read Related: 5 Things five reasons to take up running
Yay for running!!