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Comment by lgxz | Hacker News Reader

So running is better than walking?

Walking is good. Walking faster is better. Walking even slightly faster? Slightly better. Running? Running is right out. However, walking EVEN faster than slightly faster? Guess what: even better.

Only if you can keep on doing it until you are old. A lot of people wear out their hips and knees before they can reap the benefits. Light exercise in the form of walking rather than running is a bit more sustainable and something you can keep on doing as long as you stay healthy. Cycling is similarly beneficial.

This is wrong. Running actually builds up the knees. Only walking is a good way to break down your knees as you get older. My father was trained from a young age to fear running. He had shot knees by his mid forties. I've been running since I was a teenager. No issues (I'm in my 40s).

https://www.oxfordortho.sg/articles/why-running-is-actually-...

Thank you for this. Running competitively definitely beats up your tendons and what not but after 30 years of running 70 (then) to 20 (now) up have had like 5 days my knees were achey. I will say not everyone has ideal biomechanics and our sedentary lifestyles also impact injuries while running.

Running with proper form might help your knees (and it provably doesn't hurt them). The actual science your source is drawing from will tell you that it's not conclusive that running improves knee health [1]. Running with poor form will definitely damage them. Walking (2.5mph, briskly) will not hurt your knees and is considered overall one of the best exercises you can do [2]. Walking and running (with proper form) both will improve knee pain.

1. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18550323/ 2. https://health.gov/sites/default/files/2019-09/Physical_Acti...

Brisk walking is it. I can see how that works out the body and could be put into practice in the day to day life. Running is great if you can do it correctly and have the time to put into it. The way I see walking is the minimum needed for us to function and can be applied daily even for the busy. I guess this is saying that brisk walking may be even more favorable for the body...

No, walking faster is better than walking.

Yes but it's a balance because running is high impact so if you overdo it you risk injury. Ideally you should be getting some exercise every day but you can't run every day without injuring yourself, it just doesn't work. The recovery days aren't optional if you want to not permanently damage your knees.

Not for me, since I cannot decouple my breathing from my running.

I always fall into a two-steps–breathe-in/two-steps-breathe-out rhythm. It comes out to be a very unnatural and uncomfortable breathing sequence.

(Also I cannot decouple music beats from my steps, so listening to music is out, as well)

Hm, I wonder if there is a term for this. I too like to try and keep in a pattern, and it never works out and often feels very unnatural when speeding up or slowing down a run.

That's interesting. I've read that one of the reasons that bipeds are more efficient runners than quadrupeds is because our breathing is decoupled from our stride. Quadrupeds' lungs are anchored within their chest cavity at the top and bottom, so as they stretch and contract their bodies, they are forced to inhale and exhale correspondingly with each stride. It sounds like you don't enjoy the same benefit as the rest of us bipeds.

That being said, when I do try to maintain a regular breathing pattern when running, I usually also do two-in, two-out. Feels pretty good to me.

Haha, I had no problem breathing out of sync with my stride but God did I sync my steps with pavement patterns :D.

Not so fast there, pal.

That depends of your weight and testosteron level because the body fights the inflammation by producing cortisol.

I run but luckily for me my running is probably on pace with a lot of people's fast walking.

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