I've found it helps to actually not overdo it.

When I started running again and was fairly out of shape, I did this 10 minute thing. The second or third day I felt great, figured I'd run longer. Next day I was so beat that I didn't go out at all. And 10 minutes every day is better than 20 minutes and then nothing at all.

I think that in the beginning regularity is paramount. This helps build the habit, which is the kind of "discipline" that actually helps you get out there, as opposed to "will power to force yourself to move", which may fail for random reasons (feeling under the weather, being randomly tired, wanting to finish just this one thing, etc).

Why? I run every other day for longer distances (10k or so) and imagine that the benefits of running for 10k are greater than 5k twice. I notice that my heart rate tends to be higher toward the end of a longer run - presumably because my muscles are more fatigued. Pushing to fatigue (but not so much as to lose running form) seems to be the best way to get muscles to adapt.

So I stand by what I've said: I think that in the beginning it's very important to establish a habit, and for that, running every day a little is better that running once a lot, and then never running again for a long time (because the "habit" didn't stick). I've also found that running every day works better for establishing the habit than "once a week" or whatever, since it's easier to be tempted to shuffle the day around and in the end not do anything.

I think that if you're considering whether you should run 5k every day or 10k every other day, you probably don't have an issue with actually getting out there, in which case this is a whole other debate, and I have nothing to add to it seeing how I'd have a hard time running a 10k.

Also, if you've got some other motivation source (say you absolutely want to run a marathon, or whatever) and you don't need a "hack" or to "trick yourself into liking running", this debate doesn't really concern you since it's about a problem you don't have.

There are also pros and cons of shorter and longer distances. Ideally you are running faster on shorter runs and a bit slower on longer runs. Getting in HITs occasionally will improve your long speed and help prevent injury. It is also a great thing to do on days you only have 10 minutes.

You can also ask “Why?” about this assumption.

I personally view cardio as just a means to improve my cardiovascular system, not muscles. So I just do boring steady-state (where I can easily rap out a song or sing Bob Dylan's lyrics).

If I want increased mitochondria and the size of the muscle cells, then nothing beats an even more efficient method of strength training. Just 5 minutes of work (1 minute per set) of lifting a heavy weight for 5 times. But even here there's concept of RPE where you don't accumulate as much fatigue as you might think.

I first did strength training and my resting heart beat dropped from 75 to 60 after about 8 months. After that I started doing steady-state cardio of 30 minutes on rest days and it's now at 55 after 3 years.

You can easily take a 5km run and increase the effectiveness: go faster.

Fitness runners always fixate on distance. No speed, power or agility training.

I am not saying there is a need for speed, power, agility training as well, but I think it is achieving different things than long, slower runs.

It’s the same way I managed to start exercising, with extremely low-effort, easy and short exercises. I now do app-selected exercises that challenge me, but I never before was able to stick to those, doing "too easy" exercises was what helped me manage to actually get into a routine.

Much of the health benefit from running is also available from briskly walking a couple of miles on a regular basis. Higher intensity training builds cardiovascular capacity, but the health benefits happen at intensity levels that don't really do that.

https://www.active.com/health/articles/why-too-much-running-...

You should see the anorexic-looking treadmill runners at my gym who have no muscle type IIB. I bet they already have cardiomyopathies / hypertrophies and will regret their extremist, extremely-unwise lifestyles when their joints need to be replaced in 20 years.

But it takes more than 10 minutes to run 10 minutes. You might want to change clothes, get to a suitable place for running, run, get back, take a shower, change clothes again, get back up to speed with whatever you left in the middle of, etc…

EDIT: I agree that some folks may live in places where you just can't go for a run outside of your house. Different situation for sure.

Finley chopping an onion shouldn’t take long. You just need a very sharp chefs knife and the right technique.

Cut the top off, then peel, then cut in half, then cut in fine slices, keeping the bottom intact to hold the onion together, then do one cut across the middle horizontally keeping the bottom intact. Then cut back towards the bottom making fine dice. The real trick is holding the base of the blade rather than just the handle to make the knife more rigid and your cut more precise and using the knuckle on your non dominant hand as a guide, after a while you should be able to cut sequentially without looking because your off hand should all be behind your knuckle of your index finger. Shouldn’t take more than a minute with sufficient practice.

But we have the same problem again: chopping an onion for one minute takes more than one minute. I probably need to spend a few minutes clearing some space, because my kitchen is small and tends to be in less than perfect order. Do I have a clean chopping board to use? No, then I need to clean one. Is my preferred knife for chopping onions clean? Same thing. What about the onions, what type of onion was I supposed to use, and how many? Better check the recipe again. Then I need to check the onions I have, pick which ones to use, do they look ok or did they start to spoil? And sometimes they’re just terribly hard to peel. Then after I’m done I need to collect all the little peels and other leftover bits and put them in the composter - which is getting full so I should probably change it.

Add this up, consider that I needed to chop more than one onion and that my technique is less than perfect, and it easily takes 5–10 minutes.

When I was a teenager I used to walk/run marathon distances every other day with the same proviso, and the rule that i'd always go further tomorrow (round the next corner, wherever) but didn't need to run or beat a time - I could simply walk it if I wasn't feeling too good.

It was wonderful - I remember going past a shop that sold old jukeboxes (this is in the UK) and stopping to look at them for a bit. No stress, just always go a bit further, even if only a metre.

Thank you.

2) It's never 10 minutes. The nearest place I can run which isn't on the sidewalk is a 10 minute bike ride away. Add to that the time it takes to get prepped and shower... It's a no go.

3) What worked for me is not doing any running but HIIT at home with kettlebells. Takes 15 minutes, with a 5-7 minute warmup.

Also maintenance is easier than letting yourself getting out of shape, so try to do that 10 minutes a day. With that said, sometimes life gets in way and you do get out of shape. Just no you can always work your way back, no matter how tough it is in the interim.

the first half mile of any run always sucks. Why do the worst part over and over without rest days and never enjoy the glory of being warmed up and just humming along for miles?

It is very easy to increasy workload and overdo it and crack something if you create systems that dont take recovery seriously. And sometimes you really really should stay in bed whole day.

Cause otherwise you may end up with months (well over year in my case with no or only interminnent activity).

Same kind of thing but for me it was "at least 1km (preferably running but walking counted if required)". After a few months of that, I was definitely fitter and running better than for a long time.

Instead of going every day 10 min you can use a scheme. Some apps help with that, but you can make your own as well (e.g. spreadsheet). You slowly build up with that via intervals, you do it every other day with one day extra rest in a week. In 12 weeks you can run 5 km straight. I do get the complexity might put one off tho.