I know cardio has a bad rap on the muscle-building aspect of getting your swell on, and I agree 100%. It is not good for building muscle. If you overdo it and don't strength train, you will catabolize your muscle gains. However, running is a useful skill that you should practice once every two weeks or so.
However I still do some cardio about three times a week in order to keep in some cardiovascular shape for rugby before the season. Rugby involves two halves that are 40 consecutive minutes of at least a decent jog, which can be very difficult for a smoker. While sprinting is also very useful for getting your VO2MAX to a good level, you have to practice running to some extent for just getting around the field.
Here's a very useful tip for guys who run maybe a mile or four at a crack. What you want to keep in mind is how efficient and gentle your stride is. Barefoot runners have basically figured out how to run without injuries. Here's a good link.
Al Kavadlo's Tips on Barefoot Running
Here's a useful video for showing the different between heel striking (very bad) and forefoot-style running (which is useful and efficient). For the sake of preventing injuries, you want to slightly butt-kick as you run as well as lifting your thighs to near-parallel, leading your running stride with your knee as opposed to leading your running stride seemingly with your feet.
You can see the difference here. One half of the video shows an inefficient heel-striking running style (the feet barely leave the ground) with long strides. The other half shows shorter strides that are less likely to cause injury.
Prevent injuries, use your forefeet!
One other useful read is the "100UP Method". I used to have the PDF but I lost it after an unintentional disk reformat. It's basically the best and most efficient way to run. The method was rediscovered in the 1800s or some damned thing. You can find the drills on Youtube. Very useful.
However I still do some cardio about three times a week in order to keep in some cardiovascular shape for rugby before the season. Rugby involves two halves that are 40 consecutive minutes of at least a decent jog, which can be very difficult for a smoker. While sprinting is also very useful for getting your VO2MAX to a good level, you have to practice running to some extent for just getting around the field.
Here's a very useful tip for guys who run maybe a mile or four at a crack. What you want to keep in mind is how efficient and gentle your stride is. Barefoot runners have basically figured out how to run without injuries. Here's a good link.
Al Kavadlo's Tips on Barefoot Running
Here's a useful video for showing the different between heel striking (very bad) and forefoot-style running (which is useful and efficient). For the sake of preventing injuries, you want to slightly butt-kick as you run as well as lifting your thighs to near-parallel, leading your running stride with your knee as opposed to leading your running stride seemingly with your feet.
You can see the difference here. One half of the video shows an inefficient heel-striking running style (the feet barely leave the ground) with long strides. The other half shows shorter strides that are less likely to cause injury.
Prevent injuries, use your forefeet!
One other useful read is the "100UP Method". I used to have the PDF but I lost it after an unintentional disk reformat. It's basically the best and most efficient way to run. The method was rediscovered in the 1800s or some damned thing. You can find the drills on Youtube. Very useful.
