Whether you’re a father trying to get rid of your dad bod or a professional who slowly developing a big belly – running is the best dad bod exercise for you.

Runners, especially the newbies, often make the common mistake of pushing themselves too hard. They ramp up their training putting themselves in risk in their greed of losing weight faster, causing themselves injury. Here are five tips for you from some of the best fitness experts around the world to help you improve your running without burning more miles.

1.  The 10% Rule

Most professional trainers and runners recommend a 10% increase in the fitness regime. Reason? It’s easy, convenient, and approachable. Going too fast, too soon, can cause you to exhaust yourself too early in the process with a severe lack of motivation.

2. Start Slow

Speed and distance should go hand in hand. As you gain distance, increase your sleep gradually. If you’re a novice runner, we recommend starting conservatively. As we said earlier, your job at hand is to work your way up to this lifestyle and adapt to the new schedule.

3. Strength Training

Runners don’t necessarily need to get bulkier or ripped to increase their body strength. You can work on your lower body muscles to prepare yourself for long runs. Strength training twice a week can tailor your body to run farther and faster with ease. Remember to consider your priorities: The first exercise (resistance or cardio) you do is the one that you’ll benefit most from, so if your focus is running, lift after you’re done.

4. Working with Drills

Start with measuring the time it takes for you to complete a mile and then continuously maintain that for a week. The next step is to reduce the time for the same mile and see how far you can go. Remember, keep things manageable and don’t go pushing so hard that you don’t have the energy to wake up the next day. Want more information on running drills? Listen in to this Audible book.

5. Monitor the Heart Rate

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is an emerging fitness metric, and it’s one of the favorites for many professional runners. Rather than measuring beats per minute, HRV quantifies the variance between beats. While resting, a high HRV score is actually a good thing, as it indicates that your body is adjusting to changes in stressors and is ready to train.

Bottom Line

It’s ok to push yourself to be better than yesterday. However, you need to know your body limits. As a beginner runner, you need to prevent any injuries that might take place if you pushed yourself too much or went beyond your physical limits.

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