Healthy Hills

     Everybody is at least a little bit concerned with their own body, whether you admit it or not. As a runner, you may or may not have picked up running for this very reason. Maybe you want to lose weight, gain muscle, or improve your mental health. Whatever the reason is, you probably want to have a hot looking body for this coming summer.

     "Skinny" is used both positively and negatively in today's society. It is seen as both a goal and an avoidance. You hear songs on the radio about how the guys like "thick" girls instead of skinny ones, and you see fitness posts and models nowadays that are skinny, and often every girl wants to be like them. What happened to just being healthy? 

     So no, this post is not for those of you looking to simply become skinny, but rather for you if you're looking to become more healthy. Whether it bothers you that you will gain weight due to muscle gain and fat loss is up to you, but make your goal to be healthy, not unhealthily too large or too skinny. If you're happy in your own skin, than you're better off that most of the people in America.

     The first tip I can give you that I have noticed large results from is running hills. As a runner I can tell you from personal experience that I have a love-hate relationship with hills. God blessed with me long legs, however, and I don't mind hills all too much during races when it comes to passing a few people. Nevertheless, I still have a burning flame within me that absolutely hates what the hill asks of you when you are actually running up it. 

     Depending on how steep the hill is, you will feel your workout in different muscles. The steeper the hill, the more it targets. Finding a hill that requires you to literally lift your legs higher than your own knee cap will get you nearly full body results. My personal favorite hill (the one that assisted me in realizing my heart failure-see later post) targets not only my calves, but my thighs, hips, and abs. In fact, the more I work on it, the more I feel in my abs and less in my legs and my muscles begin to get stronger.

    Take caution in your stretching as you scale these monstrous hills, as your hip flexors tend to take quite the beating. If you rarely run in the first place, and then decide to simply start even the slightest incline, you will notice a aching pain in your hips (the front, where it seems your leg connects to your torso) and have somebody help stretch out your hip flexors.

    No runner really likes hills, but the results help you to like them a little more with a determined attitude and consistent practice. With the physical toll, the mental reward is much more rewarding. (493)