This Running Program for Beginners Is All You Need to Get Started Now
Running can be a challenge to get into, but it doesn’t have to be intimidating. With a running program for beginners, you can ease yourself into a workout that offers a number of health benefits, including improving your cardiovascular fitness, strengthening your muscles, and building strong bones. Thankfully, we have just the program to help beginners get started. If you have tried running but struggle to complete one mile without gasping for air, it might be time to try again with the following tips.
Fitness instructor and model, Nina Agdal, created “Nina’s Run Club” to help beginners start running. Agdal was also once a beginner trying to run, but now that she has practiced and perfected her runs, she shares them with others in her fitness app.
“There is nothing worse than starting to run and not being able to, so I wanted to turn running into a positive experience,” says Agdal.
Agdal knows that everyone has to start somewhere, so she created her running program from her own experience. She publishes routines that are built for beginners with breaks built into the workouts. Her running workouts are all about “giving your body and your breath the time it needs,” says Agdal.
Running is a great form of cardio that has many benefits for your body, as well as positive effects on your mind. Not only can running help you lose weight and keep it off, but it can lower levels of stress and depression.
“Runners say you get a runner’s high…[and] there really is something so mental about running,” says Agdal. “I feel such clarity after I’ve gone on a run and gotten my cardio in.”
However, to reach that mental clarity, you need to start running first. When you get on the treadmill or step outside for your first run, remember, just like with any new exercise program, you have to ease into it and work your way up to being able to handle longer runs.
Interval training is a great tool to use when you first begin running. Intervals are designed to get your body used to running at higher speeds, followed by a lower-intensity recovery period before repeating the process again. This recovery period is crucial in giving your body and breath a break.
“Dividing [your run] up, giving yourself breaks, using little segments, and thinking about it as baby steps to you building something bigger is what I would tell you to focus on [when starting],” says Agdal.
Agdal is a big believer in using intervals as a way to make running easier — and even to make the time go by faster.
“Everything [in the app] has a lot of changes because especially when you are beginning to run and building up that power, switching it up a ton can really distract [you] from what you’re doing,” says Agdal.
The last and most important thing that Adgal recommends when starting to run is having a proper pair of running shoes.
“A big thing that people tend to forget is that we want to take care of our feet, our knees, our joints, and our bodies because you know, we only have one of them,” says Agdal. “So I would highly recommend you go to a running specialist store and decide on what shoe is the best for you.”
Once you have completed a run, Agdal says you will feel an incredible difference when you look at yourself in the mirror.
“Everything just seems lighter, you feel stronger, you feel better, you feel [like] you look better. Most importantly, it’s the mental switch we all experience after doing a workout,” Agdal says.
If you have tried running in the past, but fail to stick with it, sign up for Nina Adgal’s app to gain access to her many running workouts that are ideal for beginners.
“Nina’s Run Club” is designed for beginner to advanced athletes and includes:
30-Minute Treadmill run
30-Minute Outdoors run
30-Minute Incline WALK (Treadmill)
5 Miles Outdoors (Lots of Intervals)
45-Minute Treadmill Routine