Recently, down at the parks, I am beginning to see some Strange Things. There are people who are jogging backward…
What good is that?
My guess is that leg muscles exert more when running backward in order just to keep the person from falling over. Maybe the people you saw want to improve their balance and agility when playing defense in basketball, though I don’t see how jogging slowly and upright would help that.
Such benefits are probably outweighed by the increased risk of (head) injury. Pedaling an elliptical machine in reverse seems like it would be a safer alternative.
I do backwards laps on the treadmill as part of my physical therapy. It really works the quads and glutes. As far as actually running backwards… I have no idea.
SP
Well, if you are an NFL defensive back running backwards is a big help. They can run backwards faster than the average person can run forwards.
I’m walking backwards for Christmas, across the Irish sea.
They’re trying to reverse the mileage.
‘The chronometers, sir! They’re running… backward!’ – Ensign Chekov.
…and a Ying tong iddle I po to you.
Spike Milligna lives!
Strangely, most of the folks I see doing this are well advanced in ages.
Is there a connection?
When in college I used to run on a small indoor track that was 1/8th mile. I would run always the 6th lap backwards as I heard it was good for the ankles. (don’t know if it was but my ankle sprains occured less often while I was doing this.) Funny thing was, I could sprint backwards quite fast. I always thought it was because running backwards uses different muscles and when I switched from front to back I had a fresh set of muscles to use.
Prolly trying to turn back the odometer to increase resale value.
One advantage is easy to see. In jogging, most people’s steps strike on the heel first, and the shock can be hard on some people’s knees and back. When going backwards, the forefoot strikes first, and it is cushioned by the big muscle on the back of the calf.
Still, I’m not advocating it.
it uses a difference set of muscles. try, for example walking up a steep hill forwards, and then try walking up it backwards. for me, it’s easier to do backwards because the ‘backwards’ muscle set is stronger. not sure why people are doing this in parks though.