Jogging for fun

As a software developer and avid reader, I tend to spend a lot of time sitting or laying down in a bed. And this is normal for my life, I would say that at least 10 hours in my normal day are based literally on my ass.

When I started working I noticed this, and I knew I had to do something to keep my body as trained as my hands and brain were. So I decided to go back to an old costume I adopted while I was writing my thesis... jogging.



Jogging is a very simple discipline where you set a target destination and run at a certain pace, fast enough to not be walking, slow enough to keep your stamina.

The benefits

These are personal facts, that might not apply to everybody:

• Relaxation, it keeps you away from your daily problems for some hours, clearing your thoughts and mind.
• Concentration, well... you need it, you have to control your legs, your breath, and your speed while checking what's in your way.
• Fitness, it keeps your middle-body in a good shape, if you do it regularly.
• Discipline, you need a lot of will to jog when it's raining, when it's cold, when it's hot. 

How much?

After some years of irregular practice, I have set my jogging sessions to 30-45 minutes, it could be longer, but definitively not shorter.

What about the speed?

It depends completely on you, when I haven't done anything for a while I have to recover the muscles and pace I start slowly and then increase the speed day by day. As a metric, use your breath, if you get too tired or just too agitated, you might need to slow it down.

How to keep it interesting?

It could get bored, specially if you follow the same route for several days in a row. What I enjoy doing is listening to some podcasts while running, or perhaps some music. For this situation a portable iPod is the best choice.