Whether you’re just starting running or preparing for your next running goal, the question: “How long to jog” occurs again and again.
But what is the answer to this for different goals? How long should you jogif you want to lose weight, improve your health or run a half marathon?
In this post you will find out:
Is there an optimal training duration?
Unfortunately, the answer to the question of how long you should jog cannot be answered without context.
It is incredibly individual and depends on many factors.
The decisive factors are your training status, the goal you are currently pursuing and the training session you have coming up. If, for example, you are training for a half marathon, your training plan will look completely different than if you primarily go jogging to make it easier for you to lose weight.
The optimal training duration can vary between a few minutes and several hours.
But the good news is: below I will look at different scenarios and give you answers to the question: “How long to jog for”.
The WHO recommendations
They can also help with your own training planning WHO recommendations offer. This recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise or 75 minutes of high-intensity exercise per week. Of course, these areas can also be combined.
For example, you could walk slowly for 5×30 minutes to achieve the minimum that is essential for your health. Or you run slowly for 3×50 minutes. If you are more advanced, you can, for example, complete one quick run per week in which you train at high intensity for 25 minutes (e.g. interval training or endurance running) and combine this with two slow sessions of 40 minutes each. Including warming up and cooling down during your intensive session, you also meet the WHO recommendations.
How long should you jog as a beginner?
If you’re just starting out, it’s obvious that you won’t be able to jog for that long at a time.
It’s best for beginners to jog for just a few minutes at a time and alternate these running intervals with walking breaks. The total duration of such a training session is at best between 20-30 minutes and after a few weeks can be up to 45 minutes.
For example, at the beginning you alternate two minutes of running with three minutes of walking and repeat this four to six times.
For a gentle introduction to running training, there is also my training plan for 0 to 5km, with which you will learn to run easily and optimally prepare your body for the stresses of being a beginner.
How long does jogging last to lose weight?
While the running duration can be determined very easily and specifically for beginners, it is much more difficult to determine exactly when it comes to losing weight.
If you want to lose weight, then running is primarily about energy consumption. Now you might think that the longer you run, the more weight you lose.
But unfortunately this only corresponds to reality in theory.
The truth is that endurance training like running very often leads to increased feelings of hunger. This means that you can, in principle, jog “too much” to lose weight, even though you will increase your calorie consumption.
For most people, there is a “sweet spot” of exercise and training that helps you regulate your appetite and hunger. If you go above or below this limit, it will be easier for you to rely on hunger and satiety.
So if you jog for too long, your feeling of hunger increases exponentially and no longer linearly with your calorie consumption during the run. You get more hungry and the risk that you end up consuming more calories than you burn is very high.
To find out how long you should jog to lose weight, I recommend starting with sessions of 30-45 minutes at a slow pace. If you are also a beginner to running, you should start by alternating between running and walking, as in the last section. If you are more advanced, you can also go through and incorporate interval training 1-2x/week.
Observe your individual feeling of hunger here and how these training sessions affect you. Make sure to include at least 1-2 complete rest days per week.
Of course, you also run the risk of overexertion if you want to jog to lose weight. If you improve too quickly, you may get injured and may not be able to train or only train to a limited extent for weeks or months.
That would be very counterproductive to your weight loss goals. That’s why it’s so important to plan your training individually and always focus on what your current fitness level allows.
How long should you jog for a half marathon?
If you’re preparing for a half marathon, you’ll need to jog longer than if you’re “just” training to stay healthy or running your first five kilometers in a row.
But here too, the training takes place in phases.
Basically, training for the half marathon can be divided into easy runs, long runs and optionally speed training. During these sessions you jog for different lengths of time.
Most of the time you will receive two sessions per week, lasting around 30-60 minutes. The long run may take an hour at the beginning and up to two hours in the most intensive training phase before the half marathon.
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Conclusion
As you can see, the question “how long to jog” cannot be answered clearly. It depends on how trained you are, what goal you are pursuing and ultimately what possibilities your everyday life offers.
For many goals such as building fitness, supporting weight loss and general health maintenance, sessions of 30-45 or 60 minutes are recommended. If you have higher goals, you will also need one long run per week, which can gradually increase to up to 120 minutes.
