Each time Sarthak Malani overtakes another runner in a half-marathon, the bewildered look that the latter gives him redoubles his satisfaction.
It must be said that he sees very well the faces of these runners behind him. He runs backwards.
“People keep telling me I’m not the right way,” he said.
If so, he’s not the only one. More and more runners are turning around, including on treadmills, to run into the unknown. So what is the problem?
Ready to run
Some run backwards to beat boredom, others to improve balance and coordination, and still others, like Malani, in hopes of recovering from injury.
Six years ago Malani made this great reversal, also called retro running, following a knee injury. Based in India in Ahmedabad, this marketing manager for a men’s skincare brand and a fan of running found himself forced to take a long break.
“I was ready to try everything, even the most outlandish solutions to start running again”, he explains. One day, he reads that running backwards, and its very different mechanics, could help him heal his knee.
It took a bit of getting used to. He went to the park and started by putting one foot behind the other.
Double calories burned
Running backwards has long been part of the training of professional runners, points out Raj Hathiramani, coach of the Mile High Run Club in New York, where the exercise features in training programs.
Sports advisers like him list all sorts of reasons why such a strange practice can be beneficial.
“It forces you to maintain a more neutral and upright position, with your head held high, your shoulders above your pelvis.
The following is reserved for subscribers…
- Access all subscribed content
- Support independent writing
- Receive the Mail Alarm Clock every morning
Source of the article
The Wall Street Journal (New York)It’s the business bible. But to be handled with care: on the one hand, high quality investigations and reports; on the other, editorial pages so partisan that they too often fall into the most flagrant bad faith.
Awarded 37 Pulitzer Prizes, The WSJ is especially appreciated for its analyzes of the financial markets and its monitoring of management and business trends. Since its takeover in July 2007 by News Corp. of Rupert Murdoch, the daily has however evolved towards a more general formula. The goal: to compete with The New York Times. From now on, more space is given to international news and politics. Sport and culture are also gaining momentum. Finally, a luxurious supplement on the art of living, called WSJ Magazine, was born in September 2008. It accompanies the weekend edition 11 times a year.
Installed in the financial district of New York since its creation in 1889, the editorial staff has remained there despite the damage caused by the attacks of September 11, 2001 and an exile of a few months in New Jersey. But, in 2008, she ended up leaving Wall Street to settle a little further north, in Midtown, in the offices of News Corp.
The electronic version of the journal is available in 6 editions in 3 languages (English, Chinese and Japanese). It is fed by 1,300 journalists in some fifty countries. Every day, nearly a thousand articles, most of which are paid for, are put online. With 1.7 million subscribers and 42 million visitors per month, it is the largest paying economic and financial information site on the web.
Read more
Nos services