The reason why legs are heavy when running

The Verywell Fit page points to a number of causes of pain and heaviness in the legs when running, including improper training methods, inappropriate clothing or inadequate supplements. However, these problems all have solutions.

Exercises bring many benefits such as maintaining muscle mass, helping runners run faster. However, excessive exercise, abuse of lower body movement is the cause of the legs becoming heavy.

Athletes should adjust the duration and intensity of muscle exercises to suit each time. For example, when there are no races, runners can increase their muscle training schedule. At peak times when tournaments are close together, athletes should reduce the number of training sessions to 1-2 sessions per week. This allows the lower body to rest, maintaining the strength needed for running.

Experts say that performing a relaxation movement after running relaxes the muscles, making the legs lighter in the next run. Ignoring stretching can make muscles tense and sore. To avoid this situation, runners try to spend 10 minutes after each training session to practice pulling the leg muscles in place. In addition to relaxing the legs, athletes should also stretch other parts such as the quadriceps (front thigh muscles), hamstrings, glutes, hips and back.

Continuous running with incorrect posture will put pressure on the body, especially the lower part, leading to a feeling of fatigue and heaviness in the legs. Two metrics runners need to keep in mind to keep a proper running form are the time to land and the height of the bounce in the air between each run.

For correct running posture, athletes should keep both of these numbers low. Long contact with the ground is like a brake, causing the runner to slow down and use more force to bounce. Meanwhile, bouncing too much wastes energy, putting extra pressure on your feet every time you land.

For new runners, implementing these two metrics simultaneously can be difficult. One trick is to increase the number of steps and do not jump too high, lift your feet up as quickly as possible after hitting the ground.

Another reason why your legs feel heavy is running too hard. Experts recommend that a lot of practice does not necessarily help progress, but also risks leading to physical injury, creating mental pressure, affecting performance. When running at high intensity, the muscles, especially in the legs, fall into a state of "tension". The pressure builds up so much that this part becomes heavy, numb, and loses feeling.

Besides the feeling of heaviness in the legs, some signs of overtraining are muscle aches, mental fatigue, headaches, irritability, frequent injuries, minor illnesses... The advice is to spend a lot of time. Rest, reduce intensity.

Wearing the wrong size, shoes can hurt your feet, creating a feeling of sluggishness. To choose a suitable pair of shoes, runners should go directly to the store, try on each size, choose each material. In addition, shoes will wear down over time and level of practice. According to experts, athletes should change their shoes every 500-600 km.

Unscientific eating can make athletes gain weight or make the body lack nutrients, increasing the state of "exhausted legs". Verywell Fit said, gaining from 2-5 kg ​​of weight is enough to make the legs stagnate. If you want to lose weight, athletes change their eating habits such as eating when hungry and stopping when full, not eating less healthy foods, calculating daily portions...

The lack of nutrients in the body is the cause of ineffective exercise. In addition to eating foods containing starch, unsaturated fat, protein ... sports players should add fruits such as bananas, sweet potatoes, buckwheat, oats, milk ... to supplement carbohydrates ( carbs). Carbs in processed, high-sugar foods are often not beneficial and are considered a cause of obesity. However, when this nutrient is present in whole foods, rich in fiber has a good effect, providing energy for runners.

When you run, your body uses both carbs and fat to fuel your muscles. Carbs are stored in the muscles as glycogen. If runners cut carbs in their portions, the body can't store as much glycogen, resulting in a lack of energy for the leg muscles.

In addition to carbohydrates, athletes should take iron supplements. This mineral participates in the formation of red blood cells, helps transport oxygen to the muscles, is abundant in the liver, heart, beef, soybeans, cereals ... If iron deficiency, the body will have difficulty in the process. metabolism, runners will feel fatigue, pain and heaviness in the legs when running. According to experts, vegetarians and women are in a higher risk of iron deficiency. So, in addition to food, this group can take iron supplements if needed.

In addition to cramps, lack of water makes legs tired. When not rehydrated in time, circulating blood becomes thicker, which means the body works harder to pump blood. Therefore, the movement process is also sluggish and inefficient.

When exercising, athletes should wear a belt or backpack with water, choose the right drink... If exercising for less than an hour, athletes should drink filtered water, while jogging for longer, should drink electrolytes.

Meanwhile, sleep is important not only for exercise but also for work performance and the ability to focus. Not getting enough sleep is the cause of fatigue. Athletes sleep 7-9 hours a night, in some cases needing 10 hours to function optimally. To increase the quality of sleep, runners should consider changing their living habits in a healthy direction, staying away from electronic devices at least 30 minutes before bed, not using alcohol or caffeine in the evening, scheduling morning workout...