“You wouldn't believe what happened when I ran every day…” A few months ago, I was just following my friends' lives and travels on social media, and the countless reels that popped up. There was one. I can't wait to find out what happened to the content creator (terrible concentration), but I went ahead and realized that when I stopped everything else about exercise and just focused on running, I decided to find out what happens.
“You wouldn't believe what happened when I ran every day…” A few months ago, I was just following my friends' lives and travels on social media, and the countless reels that popped up. There was one. I can't wait to find out what happened to the content creator (terrible concentration), but I went ahead and realized that when I stopped everything else about exercise and just focused on running, I decided to find out what happens.
I signed up for a 10k race and had just over two months to prepare for it when I found that reel. While the algorithms on these social media apps are intrusive and pervasive, our work on Running Reels has resulted in ads for the running training app Run Dot. The offer of two months of free training, which would normally have cost close to $100, was appealing. It was an easy decision and the timing couldn't have been better.
Hello! You are reading a premium article! Subscribe now to read more.
Subscribe now
Premium benefits
35+ Premium daily articles
specially selected Newsletter every day
access to Print version for ages 15+ daily articles
Subscriber-only webinars by expert journalists
E-Papers, Archives, Selection Wall Street Journal and Economist articles
Access to subscriber-only benefits: Infographics I Podcast
Well-researched to unlock 35+
daily premium articles
Access to global insights
100+ exclusive articles from
international publications
Free access
3 or more investment-based apps
trendlin
Get 1 month of GuruQ plan for just Rs.
finology
Get one month of Finology subscription free.
small case
20% off all small cases
Newsletter exclusive to 5+ subscribers
specially selected by experts
Free access to e-paper and
WhatsApp updates
I signed up for a 10k race and had just over two months to prepare for it when I found that reel. While the algorithms on these social media apps are intrusive and pervasive, our work on Running Reels has resulted in ads for the running training app Run Dot. The offer of two months of free training, which would normally have cost close to $100, was appealing. It was an easy decision and the timing couldn't have been better.
So I began a social media inspired running experiment in mid-February that ended at the TCS World 10k Bangalore in late April. I had experimented with 100 push-ups a day last year and knew from experience that what most “fit” influencers say should be taken with a bit of a grain of salt. Murli Pillai is a Pune-based ultrarunner who has competed in several marathons and ultramarathons, including the challenging Comrades Ultra in South Africa, where she wore a hat. When he first started running, he started by running every day for several months. In his early years, running hundreds of meters was difficult, so sticking with it despite the difficulties helped him progress. Over time, he moved from 1 kilometer to 5 kilometers to 10 kilometers, and still continued to run every day, until one fine day his body gave out.
Running every day without letting my body recover definitely improved my endurance and stamina, but it also caused major injuries. Since then, he hasn't run every day, even when training for the grueling Comrades Ultra. From Pillai's experience and my own, running daily was out of the question while testing the push-up claims.
That's where Run Dot's structured training program came in handy. I did his runs five times a week. Three of those were easy runs of 25-30 minutes, and two of them he was long runs of 55-65 minutes. The long session had multiple interval training modules such as Shuttle, Fartlek, Threshold Repeats, and Intervals. The minimum distance traveled during the long session was 9km, and the maximum distance was just under 12km. The average distance during the easy run was 3.5km. During this period, I didn't do any strength training or even bodyweight training. So what happens if you do nothing but run and do nothing else for nearly 75 days?
Where did the muscles go?First, following and trusting a structured training program will make you a faster and more efficient runner. Improves stamina. You can run the benchmark distance in a shorter time or for a longer time. Aerobic exercise, such as running, has a positive effect on your heart health, and you'll see your resting heart rate start to drop over time. This means that the heart has to work much less to do its job of pumping blood to every part of the body.
By the end of the first week, I was already feeling better than in the first long session when I started the program. I was able to survive the heat until the third week. By the sixth day, I no longer cared about the heat, humidity, or hangover, and I was able to finish the run no matter what.
My running ability was put to the test on race day and I was able to come very close to my fastest 10km time. I believed that systematic training and regular running would make me a better runner. That's exactly what happened.
But what about the rest? After I stopped exercising, I started losing muscle mass. So much so that when I returned to the gym, my trainer asked me, “How did you burn those muscles?” My strength was significantly reduced and I noticed this when I tried weightlifting. I can no longer do squats, bench presses, military presses, clean weights, deadlifts, etc. that I used to be able to do without breaking a sweat. My stamina improved and bodyweight training became easier, but lifting training was difficult. I also had a hard time doing the number of pull-ups I was used to doing. All of this, including muscle mass, can be quickly regained with proper training. But what surprised me the most was that I started gaining fat around my stomach. By the end of the experiment, I found love handles where there were no love handles.
The biggest lesson I learned from this is that running alone is not enough to stay fit and healthy. Unless your fitness routine includes multiple forms of exercise such as cardio, strength training, plyometrics, and stretching, you're going to be lacking in one area or another. The secret is balance, but it's not just about running or doing push-ups every day. No, you wouldn't believe what happens when some “fit” fluencers go for a run every day. Because it won't happen to you or me.
Shrenik Avlani is a writer, editor, and co-author of the functional fitness book, The Shivfit Way.