Featured Image Credit: YouTube/lukelongden8625
Topics: Health
Brenna Cooper
A YouTuber tracked his progress after running 5k everyday for a month as a total beginner and revealed his impressive body transformation.
We're now two weeks into the start of 2025, which means most of us will already be desperately clinging onto our New Year's resolutions of cutting back on the booze and getting fit.
However, if you're struggling to keep yourself motivated in these cold January mornings and are wondering 'What difference will any of these changes make?', here is how one man was able to transform his body in just one month after getting out and running everyday.
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Documenting his journey via YouTube back in 2021, Luke Longden shared what it would be like to take up running as a complete beginner and, spoiler alert, it's not very pleasant.
"You don't realise how unfit you actually are until you first start running and you've got to come to a stop after barely two minutes," he explained in the video.
Longden clocked a time of 32 minutes and 58 seconds for his first run, which meant he now had a target to beat over the following 29 days.
Despite the pain of being a new runner (we've all been there, it's awful), things swiftly began to look up for Longden, with the creator able to make improvements everyday, despite setbacks such as leg strain and lower back pain.
After 30 days, Longden was able to shave around 10 minutes off of his time, finishing on 21 minutes and 40 seconds - which is certainly an impressive improvement.
Improved fitness wasn't the only change in which Longden noticed either, with the content creator also shared a series of clips of himself at the beginning and end of the challenge, in which he appeared to look noticeably leaner.
Longden isn't the only person who's felt inspired to take the plunge and start running daily, with various Reddit users claiming to have lost weight and seen health benefits from the practice - but how safe is it to go from a sedentary lifestyle to running 5k everyday?
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In one discussion about the pros and cons of running so much, one Redditor pointed out that it can actually have a negative impact on your body to take on so much exercise so quickly.
"Yes running is great, but you can't just go from sedentary to running a 5k every day. Trust me, I've tried," they wrote.
"You need to build up to that volume over time. Throwing yourself into high volume running when you're not in shape for it is just gonna lead to insane soreness and injuries cause your body isn't ready yet."
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Exercise physiologist Biara Webster told LiveStrong.com: "To decrease the risk of injuries to newbies, I would advise running every second day, alternating your program with strength training, especially of the core and legs if running is your goal, and/or alternative cardiovascular exercises, like swimming or cycling."