Jogging

Jogging is a form of trotting or running at a slow or leisurely pace. The main intention is to increase fitness with less stress than actually running, instead of competition.

Exercise

Jogging is a "high-impact" exercise that places strain on the body, notably the joints of the knee. This is actually one of the fundamental benefits of the exercise, as the impact drives growth processes in the areas of the body stressed by that impact.

Some people drop jogging in order to take up "lower-impact" exercises such as stair climbing, swimming, cycling or walking.

Jogging is often used by serious runners as a means of active recovery during interval training. The runner who may just have completed a fast 400 metre repetition at a sub-5-minute mile pace, may drop to an 8-minute mile pace for a recovery lap. The jog might be carried out in much poorer, looser form whose purpose is to "shake out" the body and maintain circulation to eliminate from the muscles metabolic waste products produced during the bout of hard work.

Like other types of aerobic exercise, jogging is an excellent means of improving cardiovascular health, bone density and physical fitness.