Page Eight THE MICHIGAN DAILY SUNDAY MAGAZINE
April 3, 1977
Jogging
(Continued from Page 7)
otherwise they (and your shoul-
ders) wil'get tight. In addition,
make sure not to move your
arms back very far past your
hipbone because that will cause
you to turn vour whole body,
throw you off-balance, and re-
strict breathing."
Jogging adds Jan is not like
racing. The key is ease and
fluidity. "Keep it medium
stride. Stretch your whole body;
your arms, your neck, your
back. stomach legs and ankles-
everything. Bend your knees in
whatever is normal fluidino-
tion. And as for foot placement,
when you're just jogging, you
don't want to be real high up
on the balls of your feet. Stay
ind of low, more heel-toe."
The one exception to these
rules comes when it's windy or
you're going up a hill yogi want
to shorten your stride a little-
(That's called 'gathering').
2. Regularity is important.
Regularity is paramount - over
speed, distance brand of sweat-
pants etc. Which means a Fttle
each day instead of three miles
once every two weeks. After the
first agonizing two weeks of
cramps and sore leas the a -t of
filling your lungs and plimoing
your legs becomes exciting and
addictive. As one woman nuts
it "It's very important to me to
make the time to do this regu-
larly. Yori need discipline to
really get something out of it.
I only run three or four times a
week and I'm not imnro vi g be-
cause I'm always catching up
from the last time.
3. And if yon are in pain. "A
lot of ionaers have nain running
because thev don't 'stretch out'
before and after they run," -ays
Jan. "If you get tight and vour
muscles hurt you're not gong
to run. And the only way yu're
going to prevent getting tight is
by stretching."
The easiest wav to stretch oat
is to stand upright then bend
down and try to touch your read
to your knees. "'But you ;huuild
not bounce down." adds Jan.
"Instead, go down slowly to .he
point of pain and hold it there
for about ten counts and then
come up slowly. Repeat this
about ten times. In this way,
you will stretch the muscle out
gradually, rather than forcing
it to stretch and contract quck-
ly, which pulls and tears on the
muscle when you're actually
running."
Cramps in the side, stomach
or legs are another problem
which plagues the beginning
runner. While some women sit
and suffer bravely through such
seizures, a few easy tricks can
help those cramps go away al-
together. If you get a stomach
or side cramp while running,
just keep on going, while you
concentrate on inhaling and
pushing your stomach out si-
multaneously. If you have a side
cramp, on the right for exam-
ple take your left hand and grab
your right wrist and pull it high
up over your head while taking
a breath at the same time.
The remedy for a cramp in
your calf requires you to stop
running stand on the edge of a
step with your heels hanging
off and drop down slowly, as
far as you can, below the step,
stretching but not bouncing ,the
muscles. Come back up again
slowly. Repeat this shifting the
weight to one or the other, leg
as necessary.
A. Dress comfortably. And
dress psychologically. Since
you're doing this to feel good,
you should feel good about your-
self while doing it. If Adidas
sweatsuits with racing stripes
and white headbands make you
feel professional, they're right
(though possibly expensive).
But your feet .will need more
than moral support to carry you
through those jogging miles. "In
order to excel as a regular jog-
ger," says Jan, "A number one
thing is the kind of shoes you
have. You just don't want to go
out and run in tennis shoes. In-
stead, try to invest in a good
pair of track shoes, anything
with good thick soles - and if
you have arch or heel problems
- a shoe with good supports."
The advantages to be gotten
from the support of a good pair
of track shoes, are similar to
those found running barefoot in
the optimum jogging environ-
ment -- a beach of sand, ex-
plains Jan.
"Running on beaches in -sand
is the best because you're bare-
foot and you get a natural arch
out of the sand. The pushoff out
of the sand takes more muscle
control so you get a better
workout than running on the
road. Yet at the same time, it's
easier on your legs because it's
a softer surface."
S. Don't compare - compete
with yourself. On an indoor
track, competition can be more
discouraging than the monotony.
After a few days you can't help
noticing that some people are
bouncing past you, propelled by
huge taut muscles which seem
to defy gravity, as though the
track had become the lunar sur-
face. The irony of running as
an amateur is that although you
are really, only competing
against yourself it is inevitable
that indoors you will compare
yourself to other runners to
gauge your speed. Even timing
depends on competition (how
do you really know what a good
time is unless you have a stand-
ard?) Still the best way of pac-
ing yourself is assessing your
improvement - and this is es-
pecially important' for people
who are running for health and
pleasure instead of competition.
What does tan x-minute mile
mean to a beginner? Instead,
measure just how far you can
go each time and still feel like*
running. When you're outside,
this sort of standard can be
easier and even more reward-
ing. "You'll go out the first day
and you'll notice it'll really hurt
when you pass ,a certain point.
Two weeks later, you'll go out
and pass that same point and
youll laugh because it's so
easy," says Jan.
ALTHOUGH the act of jogging
brings its own little rewards,
most amateurs will appreciate
even more the ways in which
this simple exercise can affect
so many other areas of their
lives.
Says June, "Over all, I feel
much better-I tire less easily."
And Jan: "I have developed a
lot more muscles that I didn't
used to have . .. though it's not
true that jogging kept at a mod-
erate point, builds great big
muscles for either men or wo-
men. It just strengthens and
tones the ones you have. As a
result of running my legs have
gotten a lot more toned. Run-
ning up and down the stairs, I
don't feel as tired. In general,
I feel livelier."
SEDENTARYtypes may sneer
at health nuts and routine in
exercise but the effort can be
important for a variety of rea-
sons.
Men have traditionally val-
ued developing strong bodies.
As a Marxist perspective em-
phasizes power derived from
economics so a feminist per-
spective can stress power de-
rived from body awareness (for
it is a body awareness that sep-
arates men and women). Wo-
men need to be strong.
And because civilization is us-
ing our bodies less sand less to
do its daily work, both men and
women increasingly face the
threat of not being able to use
their strength when the need
arises - in work, play or dan-
ger situations.
Maybe we'll turn into the an-
drogynous archtype of many a
science fiction tale - a huge
brain white, convoluted matter
with pulsing -surface veins in
one Star Trek episode) and
shriveled limbs. At least the in-
trepid runners are saving them-
selves from this fate.
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Toe thong in white or latigo leather uppers.
(Continued from Page 5).
not necessarily to every reader.
She makes it particularly diffi-
cult for the reader because she
not only does she fail to use all
of her statistics but varies the
number of qoutes she uses de-
pending on the impact she wish-
es to make upon her audience.
Likewise, if a series of goutes
do not support her major thesis,
she does not include them in
the main text; instead, she uses
an asterick which directs you
to small print at the bottom of
the page which refers you to the,
appendix.
In one instance Hite advocates
that intercourse is too orgasm-
oriented and to document this,
she cites responses to the ques-
tion, "Does having good sex
h a v e anything to do with
orgasms?":
"Women often said, in an-
swer to. this and. many other
questions, how much more im-
portant body c o n t a c t and
closeness were to them than
orgasms per se in sex with a
partner.
"This could be accepted
purely at face value; however,
since women do masturabe for
orgasms, it is clear that or-
gasms are also very impor-
tant to women. The truth is
that to women both orgasms
and close body contact or
touching are extremely impor-
tant . . ."
At this point Hite uses an
asterick, which leads to a foot-
note: "(See appendix for statis-
tical breakdown.) Many other
answers to this question did re-+
flect a militancy about getting
orgasm, not represented in these'
quotes."
If one ,looks in the appendix
one finds that in fact, the ma-
jority of women ranked orgasm
as the part of sex which gave
them the most pleasure, despite
Hite's inferences to the con-
trary.
D' KEEPING s u c h major
scientific flaws in mind, how
do we explain the national rau-
cous The Hite Report has
caused? Hite herself has made
guest appearances on such tele-
vision programs as Mary Hart-
man, Mary Hartman and Good-
night, America. She even in-
spired the creation of Mary
Hartman's controversial charac-
ter Mae O'Linsky. What is it
then that makes The Hite Re-
port a landmark, set off from
those earlier, in fact, more revo-
lutionary reports? Why has it
so intimately touched American
men and women?
To find the crux of Hite's
success, we must strip away
both her poor statistical base
and her personal political point
of view. What we have left is a
book of quotes from real wo-
men based on real feelings.
Palline Plum, an artist and
student in the School of Social
Work, considers The Hite Report
"very rich stuff" which does
not deal with "magic" or "sim-
ple mechanics" or sound "cook-
booky." "I could find myself
in there where it's difficult to
do that with Masters and John-
son, and behavioral charts," she
said.
BenDor also expresses a posi-
tive attitude towards the report.
"What it is most valuable for is
showing the incredible diversity,
of women. The report gives wo-
men a voice to say things
they've been feelng for hun-
dreds of years. The more they
are able to talk to each other,
they can come out of the dark-
ness and experience sexuality-
which I think is fantastic. I
think of sex as an altered state-
of consciousness and it's better
than drugs, with fewer conse-
quences."
Hite's open - ended question-
naire is largely responsible for
these personal accounts. Unlike
similar studies done by - maga-
zinessuch as Psychology Today
and Redbook, which use multi-
ple choice formats, Hite encour-
aged women to answer as freely
as possible.
"I think it's amazing she got
that kind of response," Plum
said. "It must be something to
do with the kind of questionnaire
it was. Most questionnaires in-
vite people to make answers as
short as possible. This one is
very complete, asking for' very
complete descriptions. No one
has asked women for that kind
of description unless they were
going to a clinician-and maybe
not even then. There must be,
as a group, a real drive -and
need to articulate what one's ex-
perience has been. No one has
been interested before. Lovers
never a s k e d - at least male
lovers hadn't and I wouldn't
know about female ones. Unless
you're having a problem, one
never discusses these things in
detail."
HITE HAS BEEN distributing
a s i m i l a r questionnaire
oriented toward males through
such outlets as Penthouse Maga-
zine. While it is both gallant and
valuable to try to dispell many
of the myths abort male sexual-
ity, Hite will inevitably run into
the same methodology problems.
Her potential population - the
kind of men who read Penthouse,
for example - will be biased.
Also, because of the open-ended
nature of her questionnaire, she
will undoubtedly run into the
same data interpretation prob-
lems as well.
It is unfortunate that men and
women need questionnaires in
order to confront such sensitive
feelings and experiences. Hite
asks questions which people
should be able to ask themselves
and each other. The fact that
people are reacting so positively
to the subjective quality of
Hite's book illustrates just how
dire a need we have to finally
resolve our sexual conflicts.
Yet, we cannot help but be dis-
appointed in ourselves.
After reading The Hite Report,
many of us will never quite be
the same. The candid and in-
formal replies touch feelings
we've known were there for
years but were not brave enough
to explore. The report invites us
to be in touch with ourselves,
re-evaluate our past and present
relationships, and most impor-
tant, look for ways to prevent
us from settling for anything
less than we deserve. Hite's
study shows people crave more
communicati6n, m or e tender-
ness, and more spirit.
INSIDE-
Th. Sho.
minS, DWNoWso
Womnen: Tlhe Hile Report.
00.Antor
Neroa oipulsion to be thin
The art Of amateur, jogging .
0
Supplement to The Michigan Daily, Ann Arbor, Michigan