“I HATE running”.

“I can’t run”.

“I don’t want to run”.

Just some of the statements I hear from people when talking about different forms of exercise.

In the vast majority of cases though, these statements are not really true. Unless you have a medical condition or injury then pretty much all of us can run to some degree.

In fact, babies run before they can walk. So it’s possibly the most natural form of exercise and movement we have as humans. And fairly useful in prehistoric days when we would need to run away from predators or chase after our own prey.

In modern time, however, running after food isn’t too much of an issue for most of us.

So why should we bother running? Watch small children and they will run around all day.

When I take my boys to school, the playground is full of youngsters running around. When we go anywhere they just want to run and they all seem to be smiling and laughing as they do it.

Running is fun. Don’t believe me? Go for a run and find out for yourself.

Sorry I forgot, you can’t run! Nonsense. You may not have run for a while and you may be a bit unfit but you CAN run.

So how do we start? The same as with anything, exercise or other things in life, start small and progress from there. If you haven’t run for 20 years and you go out to and try running 10 miles this weekend it’s only going to end in tears.

I’d suggest that you find a small loop near your home, or in the park. Walk it to start with and then choose sections to run. Not long sections. Maybe 100 to 2,000 metres. Then walk again.

Walk the hills and run the downhills until you feel able to run up a hill-or part of the hill.

One of the work outs I do with clients returning to running – I won’t say new to running because we almost all run before – is the lamp post run. It’s very easy to do and we can all do it.

Starting at the first lamp post we run to the second and then walk to the third. Then we run. Then we walk. Then we run, then we walk……get it?

You can even run one lamp post and walk two. You set your own level and then measure your own progress.

The other strategy I would suggest as well, is get yourself a running buddy. Arrange a day and time to meet and do the run together. That way you have to go or let your buddy down. It also allows you to run easy.

Running easy is just how it sounds. If you can chat as you run, you’re running easy and to be honest that’s the level you should run at in the first instance. Then you’ll enjoy it and keep on.

As the advert used to say: you either ran today or you didn’t.