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Decided to start running over 40. Gutsy move. Here are some running tips that will help with running for beginners over 40.
For women, this can be challenging however if you follow these steps you will be able to progress quickly.
For starters, I would tell you not to invest in too many gears, but only in a very good cushioned running shoe.
Other than a good pair of running shoes, you will not need any other gear right now.
Also, in the below plan I’ve included the exact weekly steps and precautions that you need to take, to be successful with this endeavor.
Let this be your fittest year ever.
How to start jogging at 40?
Before we jump into the actual plan, let’s check out some precautions that you need to take.
Precautions
When you are starting to jog or jog again after the age of 40 you should take some additional precautions.
Your body is not as young as it used to be in your 20 s.
Your recovery time from an injury also has increased now.
Also, the rate at which you can ramp up is lesser.
I’ve listed down some common challenges that you will face and their solutions:
1) Injury prevention
When your body starts to age, it gives you some unique challenges to tackle.
Collagen from your joints, tendons, and other bodily tissues starts to deplete. This process actually starts once you hit 30.
At this point, you will start losing 1% of your body tissue every year.
The effect is more prominent as you approach your 40. Your joints and bones become stiff and become more prone to injury.
Precautions:
The sad truth is, you cannot stop your body from losing collagen. However, you can do something about it.
You can try to compensate for it with your diet and supplements.
Here is some easy source of collage rich food are:
- Bone broth – This is like eating cooked collagen. It helps to replace your collagen loss.
- Dark leafy greens like Spinach and Kale – Provides antioxidant. These antioxidants prevent your collagen from breaking down.
- Red vegetables like Beetroot, Tomatoes, Red pepper – Have lycopene. This helps to boost collagen production.
- Orange vegetables like Carrots, Sweet potato – They are rich in Vitamin A and helps restore the collagen damage.
- Fish or Fish Oil – They are rich in Omega 3 helps you fight the collagen damage.
- Garlic – Has lipoic acid and taurine. Both of them help to rebuild collagen.
Also, do not ramp up your jogging too quickly. Take it as slow as you need to.
At this current stage of your life, your body is less forgiving and will start complaining sooner than you think.
Another thing is, consult your physician before starting off with a jogging program and also consult him/her as and when needed.
2) Dealing with menopause
If you are a woman, you will have to deal with more challenges when you hit 40.
Anytime now, menopause may hit you. You will be moody, at times depressed/sad.
Also, you may have to deal with hot flushes.
Menopause causes a lot of hormonal changes in your body. This creates havoc internally.
Your moodiness, depression, hot flushes are the outer manifestation of this havoc.
Precautions: To deal with your bodily changes here are some precautions:
- Consume more food rich in Calcium and Vitamin D – Vitamin D helps in Calcium absorption in your body. This helps to make your bones strong. Foods that are rich in calcium are dairy-based like milk, yogurt, cheese. However, if you are lactose intolerant, you can always include more leafy greens in your diet. Vitamin D is manufactured by your body directly when you are out in the sunlight. However, with age, this process slows down. So include more fish, eggs, cod liver oil, and Vitamin D supplements in your food.
- Eat lots of Vegetable and fruits – This will strengthen your bones
- Avoid stimulants – This includes coffee, alcohol, or other sugary and spicy foods.
- Exercise regularly – You have started jogging anyway.
- Eat more Phytoestrogen – These are plant compounds that mimic the effect of estrogen in your body. They will help you to balance the hormones. Some of the sources of Phytoestrogen are soybeans, soy products, tofu, flax seeds, linseeds, sesame seeds, and beans.
3) Some additional precautions
Along with the above precautions, you need to take care of the below as well.
- Do a proper warm-up and cool down before and after jogging respectively.
- Stretch before and after your jog.
- Don’t overstride.
- Don’t compare your performance with others.
Prerequisites
Before you start pounding the pavements you must have these prerequisites in place.
Without these, you won’t be able to go much further.
Get a thorough checkup done
The first step to success in anything in life is to understand where you currently stand, what you can and cannot do, and your action plan.
This is true with jogging and running.
You may be able to jog, but is it good for you?
Will your cardiovascular health permit you jogging?
Do you have any special feet condition?
Before you go anywhere near jogging you need to get all your health-related questions answered first.
The only person qualified to clear all your doubts is your physician.
So, before starting a running program, please visit your physician.
Get all your questions answered. Here is a list of running FAQs that will get your thinking juices flowing.
Acquire the essentials
Running is not a gear-intensive sport.
Sure you have head about fancy gadgets, compression sleeves, wireless headphones and so much more.
Runners are crazy about their gadgets.
But trust me you don’t need those. At least not in this phase of jogging.
What you need then?
Only a good pair of running shoes.
I’ve put in a lot of effort to find running shoes for different foot needs.
Feel free to browse this website to get an idea of what you need and how to purchase the best pair for your feet.
If you are a woman, another additional thing that you need is a good sports bra
That’s it.
The rest is icing over the cake.
Sure, you can get an expensive fitness band or a heart rate monitor, but why spend at the start.
Get into the habit of running.
Once, you have run for at least 3 months continuously as per your training plan, then think of acquiring a new gadget.
Mental preparation
“Your body will not go somewhere you mind won’t – Unknown”
This is especially true for fitness and exercise.
If your mind doesn’t want to work out, then you have a very slim chance of success.
So preparing your mind is the most important.
Visualize you’re running a couple of times in a day.
Think how good you feel about it.
The smell of the fresh air, the cool breeze against your skin, the beautiful sight of sunrise.
The better you can make your mind feel, the more it will be keen to go out of that door.
Another problem you may face is that you feel shy to go out of the door.
You have never run in your life, now suddenly, you are jogging and that too at the age of 40.
What will people think?
They will look down on me…
If this, if that…and so on…
But these are only your thoughts, nobody is actually thinking anything anyway…
If still, you are not comfortable, check out this guide to deal with your running anxiety.
The plan
Below I’ll give you an 8-week beginner plan which will be easy for you to follow and will not be harsh on your body.
If you are not a beginner and starting after a long time say a couple of years, then also it is a good plan to follow.
You don’t want to start off with advanced stuff only to understand that your body has changed and you get depressed about it.
“Slow but steady wins the race – Unknown”
And here your only competitor is you…
So let’s start…
I’ll assume that you are starting your workout on a Monday. Feel free to start the workout, anytime during the week.
Week 1
Monday
Warm-Up: Walk for 5 min
(Jog for 30 sec, Walk for 90 secs) X 8
Cool Down: Walk for 5 min
Tuesday
Walk at your own pace for 30 min
Wednesday
Warm-Up: Walk for 5 min
(Jog for 30 sec, Walk for 90 secs) X 8
Cool Down: Walk for 5 min
Thursday
Walk at your own pace for 30 min
Friday
Warm-Up: Walk for 5 min
(Jog for 30 sec, Walk for 90 secs) X 8
Cool Down: Walk for 5 min
Saturday
Rest
Sunday
Rest
Week 2
Monday
Warm-Up: Walk for 5 min
(Jog for 60 sec, Walk for 90 secs) X 6
Cool Down: Walk for 5 min
Tuesday
Walk at your own pace for 30 min
Wednesday
Warm-Up: Walk for 5 min
(Jog for 60 sec, Walk for 90 secs) X 6
Cool Down: Walk for 5 min
Thursday
Walk at your own pace for 30 min
Friday
Warm-Up: Walk for 5 min
(Jog for 60 sec, Walk for 90 secs) X 6
Cool Down: Walk for 5 min
Saturday
Rest
Sunday
Rest
Week 3
Monday
Warm-Up: Walk for 5 min
(Jog for 90 sec, Walk for 2 min) X 6
Cool Down: Walk for 5 min
Tuesday
Walk at your own pace for 30 min
Wednesday
Warm-Up: Walk for 5 min
(Jog for 90 sec, Walk for 2 min) X 6
Cool Down: Walk for 5 min
Thursday
Walk at your own pace for 30 min
Friday
Warm-Up: Walk for 5 min
(Jog for 90 sec, Walk for 2 min) X 6
Cool Down: Walk for 5 min
Saturday
Rest
Sunday
Rest
Week 4
Monday
Warm-Up: Walk for 5 min
(Jog for 2 min, Walk for 1 min) X 6
Cool Down: Walk for 5 min
Tuesday
Walk at your own pace for 30 min
Wednesday
Warm-Up: Walk for 5 min
(Jog for 2 min, Walk for 1 min) X 6
Cool Down: Walk for 5 min
Thursday
Walk at your own pace for 30 min
Friday
Warm-Up: Walk for 5 min
(Jog for 2 min, Walk for 1 min) X 6
Cool Down: Walk for 5 min
Saturday
Rest
Sunday
Rest
Week 5
Monday
Warm-Up: Walk for 5 min
(Jog for 2 min, Walk for 1 min) X 6
Cool Down: Walk for 5 min
Tuesday
Walk at your own pace for 30 min
Wednesday
Warm-Up: Walk for 5 min
(Jog for 2 min, Walk for 1 min) X 6
Cool Down: Walk for 5 min
Thursday
Walk at your own pace for 30 min
Friday
Warm-Up: Walk for 5 min
(Jog for 2 min, Walk for 1 min) X 6
Cool Down: Walk for 5 min
Saturday
Walk for 30 min
Sunday
Rest
Week 6
Monday
Warm-Up: Walk for 5 min
(Jog for 2.5 min, Walk for 30 sec) X 6
Cool Down: Walk for 5 min
Tuesday
Walk at your own pace for 30 min
Wednesday
Warm-Up: Walk for 5 min
(Jog for 2.5 min, Walk for 30 sec) X 6
Cool Down: Walk for 5 min
Thursday
Walk at your own pace for 30 min
Friday
Warm-Up: Walk for 5 min
(Jog for 2.5 min, Walk for 30 sec) X 6
Cool Down: Walk for 5 min
Saturday
Walk for 30 min
Sunday
Rest
Week 7
Monday
Warm-Up: Walk for 5 min
(Jog for 3 min, Walk for 30 sec) X 6
Cool Down: Walk for 5 min
Tuesday
Walk at your own pace for 30 min
Wednesday
Warm-Up: Walk for 5 min
(Jog for 3 min, Walk for 30 sec) X 6
Cool Down: Walk for 5 min
Thursday
Walk at your own pace for 30 min
Friday
Warm-Up: Walk for 5 min
(Jog for 3 min, Walk for 30 sec) X 6
Cool Down: Walk for 5 min
Saturday
Walk for 30 min
Sunday
Rest
Week 8
Monday
Warm-Up: Walk for 5 min
(Jog for 3.5 min, Walk for 30 sec) X 6
Cool Down: Walk for 5 min
Tuesday
Walk at your own pace for 30 min
Wednesday
Warm-Up: Walk for 5 min
(Jog for 3.5 min, Walk for 30 sec) X 6
Cool Down: Walk for 5 min
Thursday
Walk at your own pace for 30 min
Friday
Warm-Up: Walk for 5 min
(Jog for 3.5 min, Walk for 30 sec) X 6
Cool Down: Walk for 5 min
Saturday
Walk for 30 min
Sunday
Rest
Keep increasing your running interval by 30 seconds each week.
Once you can run for 30 min comfortably, start working on your strength.
You can include Yoga, Body Weight Training, etc.
It will help you to tone down and become more athletic.
Conclusion
It is much better to start jogging at 40 than to not start at all.
Sure you will face some challenges, but those are manageable.
Also, at the end of your effort, you will have a much better and healthier life.
I hope, you got all the required information for “How to start jogging at 40?”.
So go ahead and start pounding away. A new you is waiting for you on the other side of your journey.
Madhusree Basu
Author, Admin
Blogger and a fitness enthusiast. She loves running and Yoga and everything in between. She started running to manage her weight and to eat to her heart’s content. A true foodie at heart she shares whatever knowledge she has gained throughout the years about weight management and fitness.
