Fit&Me.com is an online resource powered by a team of personal trainers and fitness enthusiasts who want to share their passion for health and fitness through the development of the best possible fitness products. They believe in empowering people with the knowledge needed to make smarter choices when it comes to fitness and fitness products. Here’s an excerpt from their ’14 Benefits of Running’, so check them out and then head on over to their site to get the entire list.

Benefit #1: It Saves Money

One thing that you are definitely going to like about running is that it is cheap. The bottom line is that all you really need to run is a decent pair of running shoes. Other than that, you don’t really need anything and that is definitely a bonus. Nobody wants to spend a ton of money and running helps you do that. Sure, you can buy a gym membership if you want, because there are some advantages of running at the gym, but it really is not necessary.

Benefit #2: Living Longer

Another thing that you will love about running on a regular basis is that it will help you live longer. There is a recent study which shows that on average runners live quite a bit longer than people who don’t run on a daily basis. This has to do with several factors including increased heart and lung health, better circulation, stronger muscles, and the fact that it helps fight obesity, diabetes, and other conditions that have to do with being overweight. The simple fact of the matter is that running will keep you alive for longer. In fact, it is also shown that running on a daily basis can even help to reduce the risk of developing various types of cancer such as colon cancer and breast cancer.

Benefit #3: Eating Carbs

Something else that you might really like about running, especially when you are training for a raceor marathon, is that it lets you be kind of a pig and eat a ton of carbs. Many runners engage in something called carb loading before a big race because it helps to produce a lot of energy and lets you get through a race and that’s thanks to the energy producing nature of carbohydrates.

Not only does this mean that you can eat a ton of your favorite pasta, but it actually has another beneficial effect too. What we are talking about here is that the combination of carb loading and going through high intensity training is shown to help increase your physical performance and it can increase your mood as well. We’re not going to go too far into detail in terms of the science behind it, but the fact of the matter is that a load of spaghetti plus lots of training can help you run better and feel better mentally too.

Benefit #4: Meeting People

Something that you may not have thought about when it comes to running is that it can actually help you make some new friends. No, you’re not going to make new friends if you are one of those people that just pops their headphones in your ears and block out the world around you, but it does not have to be that way.

You can join some kind of running group, ask your friends to come for a run with you, or you can even end up meeting new people if you go for a run at the gym. Meeting new people and making friends is always a great thing to do because it broadens your social circle, plus nobody likes being lonely either.

Benefit #5: Making Your Bones Stronger

The next benefit that you are really going to like when it comes to running is that it helps make your bones stronger. This is thanks to the fact that running is a weight bearing exercise. Weight bearing exercises are great for your bones because whenever you put weight on them, especially repeatedly such as when you run, your bones grow stronger.

You see, your bones grow much in the same way as your muscles grow, or in other words, the more you exercise and train them, the more they grow. This is because the stress of a weight bearing exercise such as running forces your bones to produce more bone mass, thus making your bones stronger and thicker.

Benefit #6: Burning Calories

One of the biggest benefits that you can get from running is that it helps you burn a ton of calories and fat. It is shown that 1 hour of running can help you burn as many as 850 calories, that’s pretty much a whole meal! Of course, the number of calories that you burn does depend on how hard you run, but generally speaking, you can burn a whole lot of calories from this simple type of exercise.

Obviously, this can also help you lose weight because if you don’t have enough calories in your body, say if you are on a diet, the energy you need to run will be taken from your body fat reserves, thus helping you lose weight. Another benefit that has to do with weight loss is the fact that high intensity exercise such as quick paced running can also boost your metabolism, meaning that your body is more efficient at converting calories and fat into energy.

Therefore, even when you aren’t running your body will burn more calories and that helps you keep weight off. This also has to do with EPOC, or exercise post oxygen consumption, which in simplest terms means that exercise such as running helps give your metabolism such a boost that you continue to burn increased numbers of calories even hours after you have finished exercising. If you want to find out just how many calories you will burn based on the distance you have run as well as your weight, you can try this free calorie calculator.

Something that you can do to burn even more calories is to engage in interval training, which is where you spend a given amount of time running as fast as you can, and then taking a small break. This type of high intensity exercise increases the number of calories that you burn and helps to boost your metabolism even more. There is actually a study which shows that interval training is much more fun than just regular old running, thus keeping things interesting and helping you stay motivated to exercise day after day.

Benefit #7: It’s Versatile

One thing that is fantastic about running as a form of exercise is that it is very versatile. What we mean by this is that you can run pretty much anywhere. You can run in the park, on the beach, or on your city’s sidewalk. If you like you can go run at the gym or you can run at home on a treadmill too. Heck, you can even run on the spot if that sounds like fun to you.

It’s always nice to engage in a form of exercise that lets you choose when and where you can do it. And that’s another thing too, you can run whenever you feel like it and aren’t restricted time-wise by anything. The when and the where are all up to you, which is something that everyone can definitely appreciate.