Exercise is medicine, and running scientifically won’t hurt your knees.
During the National Day, there was a news in the sports circle that attracted the attention of all parties, that is, Academician Li Jian ‘an, a well-known expert in rehabilitation medicine in China, an international academician of the National Medical College of the United States and director of the Rehabilitation Medicine Center of the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, successfully completed seven challenges in seven days during the National Day.
The 69-year-old academician proved people’s adaptability and endurance potential with practical actions. Netizens have also commented on this, praising Academician Li Jian ‘an’s amazing physical quality and extraordinary perseverance. At the same time, there are also some doubts: Is such a huge amount of exercise really harmless to the body?
Recently, at the 6th China Changzhou International Sports Rehabilitation Conference, Academician Li Jian ‘an made a main report, in which he also mentioned his personal marathon experience and understanding of marathon.
Behind the "7 days and 7 horses", you should also know these things.
A pair of running shoes
Let him experience the benefits of sports.
The benefits of exercise to organs, bones, brain and other tissues and organs must be well known, and before 2015, Academician Li’s cognition of the benefits of exercise was mainly at the theoretical level.
Academician Li’s running career began on January 6, 2016, because from 2013 to 2015, his physical condition went from bad to worse, he often caught a cold, and it was a serious viral infection, and his immunity decreased significantly. At this time, a friend who often runs gave him a pair of running shoes, so he naturally started running.
On September 22, 2016, in the morning run, he accidentally fell and landed on the outside of his right foot. After examination, the fracture of the base of the fifth metatarsal was found.
Fully aware of his physical condition and solid medical knowledge, Academician Li has a bold idea: promoting rehabilitation through exercise.
So, he began the self-experiment of active rehabilitation:
Twelve days after the fracture, he climbed the Purple Mountain.
Eighteen days after his fracture, he limped for 10 kilometers in Xuzhou.
On the 70th day after the fracture, he took part in the Nanjing Half Marathon.
On December 11th, 2016, the 80th day after the fracture, he completed the first "all-horse race" in Guangzhou Marathon in 5 hours and 54 minutes. At this point, his right foot has basically recovered.
Just after the horse race in 2016, Academician Li lost 14 kilograms, and also lost some health problems related to weight, such as hyperlipidemia, osteoporosis and fatty liver. His current bone density is equivalent to that in his 40 s. Especially since the day of running, I have never caught a cold and never got sick. Taking part in sports personally made him feel the benefits of sports.
"Exercise is medicine"
There are many benefits to health.
Because of the multiple benefits of exercise to health, we often say that "exercise is a good medicine". But at the meeting, Academician Li said that he called it "exercise is medicine" because all medicines have side effects, and exercise is no exception. If you don’t have a comprehensive understanding of your physical condition and lack a scientific and reasonable exercise program, you are likely to get hurt in sports.
For example, sudden high-intensity exercise in a short period of time will reduce our own immunity, especially high-intensity exercise for more than 90 minutes, which is also known as the "window-opening theory" of decreased immunity after exercise.
Generally, 2-3 hours after high-intensity and long-term exercise, the innate immune system of the body begins to enter a busy working state, which will lead to the decline of the immune system’s resistance to external antigens.
Therefore, it is easier to be attacked by viruses, bacteria and fungi at this time, and this process may last until 24 hours after exercise. Therefore, we should pay attention to controlling the intensity of exercise, step by step, and pay attention to the recovery after exercise.
Many people will say that running hurts their knees when they mention running.
Academician Li said: You think too much! Reasonable exercise will not only wear joints, but also make joints stronger and more durable, and reduce the incidence of arthritis. Only 3.5% of fitness runners suffer from hip and knee arthritis, while those who are sedentary have an arthritis rate of 10.5%. It is not running that hurts the knee, but running incorrectly will hurt the knee.
Academician Li has hardly caused any pain in the competition in recent years, and his physical function has not decreased due to excessive exercise, which shows that the amount of exercise is within the controllable range.
Academician Li also hopes that more people can understand the mechanism of human movement, master scientific sports knowledge, find a suitable exercise program, truly turn "sports are medicine" into "sports are good doctors" and enjoy the health and fun that sports bring us.
"7 days and 7 horses"
Three key words for finishing the game
Throughout Academician Li Jian ‘an’s experience in horse racing since 2016, he completed one full horse and two half horses in 2016, two full horses and eight half horses in 2017, 13 full horses and nine half horses in 2018, 14 full horses and four half horses in 2019, and 10 full horses and seven half horses in seven days in 2020.
These horse racing experiences also reflect the key points mentioned by Academician Li at the meeting: individualization, step by step, perseverance, and upholding these three key words to create a personal health curve in a wise way.
The first thing is to make a suitable exercise program, because everyone’s exercise ability and exercise experience are different. At the same time, pay attention to the recovery after exercise, such as stretching, massage, hydrotherapy and other ways to relax and recover after running, and cooperate with nutritional supplements. Carbohydrate, protein and branched-chain amino acids are all nutritional elements that need to be supplemented after long-distance running.
Rome was not built in a day. From Academician Li’s horse racing experience, we can also see the gradual progress of his exercise and his perseverance in the past five years. Most runners are amateurs, without systematic training, and often the amount of training can’t keep up with the intensity of the competition.
Although academician Li’s record of 7 days and 7 horses is really enviable, we can’t easily follow suit. In addition to comprehensive and systematic training, we need to have a precise grasp of our own recovery and pace design. I believe that Academician Li has also made a perfect plan for his pace during the seven-day challenge.
Academician Li Jian ‘an hopes to share the knowledge of rehabilitation medicine and sports experience accumulated in the marathon with more people, so that more runners and ordinary people can run scientifically and enjoy the health and happiness brought by sports.
His plan is: "When I first started running, I felt satisfied with running a marathon in my life. Now it seems that there is no pressure to run 100 marathons. My goal now is to run a hearty one when I am 100 years old!"
Beginners of running had better start from walking.
For beginners who have just started to participate in running, it is forbidden to run at high intensity at the beginning. The training plan is best to start from walking, gradually transition to the combination of walking and running, and finally transition to running. When a junior runner prepares for running training, he must first master the following skills:
Step 1 walk briskly
Walking briskly is an entry-level sport for running, which can also be understood as walking fast. When walking briskly, you should hold your head up, chest up and abdomen in, and speed up the pace, instead of increasing the stride. Your arms bend at 90 degrees and swing naturally with your body.
Step 2: Timing
When running, we should grasp each training time by ourselves. For example, a training plan is: ① walk for 5 minutes to warm up; ② run for 2 minutes+walk for 2 minutes; cycle for 25 minutes; ③ walk for the last 5 minutes to relax. If there is a timer with reminding function during training, set the time in advance, and we can be reminded to switch training modes when it is time.
3. Heart rate monitoring
Some runners may see the training effect by weighing themselves. In fact, the heart rate during running is an important indicator to measure the intensity of exercise. Therefore, we should pay attention to our own heart rate changes during running, and it is best to control the novice’s rate in the running center at 50%-80% of the reserve heart rate.
4. Cross-training
At the beginning of running, it is best to add some other exercise methods, such as cycling and swimming, so that on the one hand, it can alleviate the impact of simple running on the legs, on the other hand, it can also enhance the strength of the legs.
Academician Li also gave four suggestions to the racers:
Do what you can, don’t exceed your ability.
2. Do a good job of warm-up, especially after the finish line, which is prone to problems. Walk for at least 5-10 minutes after the race, and don’t stop.
3. Adhere to the principle of gradual progress and perseverance, strengthen daily exercise, and don’t rush to participate in the competition.
4. Make sure you feel good about yourself. If you feel flustered, chest tightness, headache, shortness of breath and poor walking stability, you should slow down or even stop the game immediately.
Comprehensive report by China News Service and CCTV in Yangzi Evening News