‘Investing’ In Your Body
Dear reader,
Welcome to Weekly Carb-Loading! Your Sunday morning dose of running and fitness inspiration.
We believe every run has a story, and we’re bringing these stories to you, with runner profiles, race histories, home workouts and a whole lot more!
Over the last few years, running has been an inherent part of our lives at Team WCL. Being finance professionals by day, we experience multiple similarities in the approach to, and within these two fields.
This week, we delve into some of the themes which hold true just as much in running, as they do while managing our personal finances. Later in the post, we also continue our ‘Runner Workout’ series, with Core Strengthening and a Fun Feature!
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Investing In Your Body
‘Work from Home’ is the new normal for a lot of us, through the pandemic.
An increasing number of people all over the world have, in the last few months, turned to trading in the stock markets, driven by the market buoyancy (supported by central banks), zero-fee brokerages, and the chance to multiply their wealth (albeit while taking higher risks)
Running, like investing, is more successful with a long-term perspective than a passing interest, it is a marathon rather than a 100m dash.
In similar fashion to creating a Systematic Investment Plan (‘SIP’) to build long-term wealth, we see regular exercise, running and maintaining our fitness levels, as investing in our body.
Daily incremental deposits into our health and well-being, which pay rich dividends, and help increase our life-spans.
Start Now, Start Small, But START
Successful investors, start early at a young age, laying out long-term wealth goals and working towards them little-by-little.
Early contributions and deposits may seem tiny, in comparison to the larger goal but the compounding effect over time makes significant gains in latter stages of their lives.
Likewise, each runner starts small, our first few runs being just a kilometre or two, with plenty of walking along the way.
Although the runs may be on the shorter side, every single run makes its small but significant contribution to our body, over the long term. A healthy and fit body leads to lower injuries over a season, and over our lives.
Pacing Yourself
“Stop beating yourself up, you are a Work-In-Progress. Which means you get there a-little-at-a-time, not all at once.”
Investing and running are both lonely sports.
Every runner runs at his own individual pace through life. There will always be slower and faster runners, someone overtaking us, while we overtake others.
Although we aspire to a faster timing, getting there involves gradual incremental progress and plenty of practice. It is impossible to wake up one day and run a marathon distance while sprinting.
Investing is much like planning a marathon. We set our individual goals and chart our course towards them.
As in running, there may be other investors making higher returns, or some with greater wealth at the current point of time.
If we pick up pace too fast, or too early in a marathon, or try to run at others’ pace, we risk jeopardizing the entire race. Likewise with investing, if we get too greedy, and try to take higher risks to meet our goals, it can set us back by a few years.
In both running and investing, the competition is ourselves. We can only improve our own PB, focus on our personal goals, measure our wealth against where we were a few years ago, and not compare.
Avoid Tips, to Avoid Pits
For a long-term investor, it’s important to avoid the short-term attractiveness of trading on tips and market information. Although these may earn us a quick buck if we’re lucky, it’s almost impossible to implement it successfully over the long term.
Instead, relying on the sound advise of a portfolio manager or an investment advisor, who know us, our goals and our investment philosophy, and is oriented towards the same long-term horizon, gives better returns.
Over our running journey, we very rarely increase our pace suddenly, for a sustained period of time, or try a new routine based purely on others recommendations.
We do of course turn to certified trainers and coaches for advise, who have a thorough knowledge of our running and fitness history and our body’s capability.
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Patience
Investor: Small amounts at regular frequency, focus on meeting financial goals, avoid temptation for instant money.
Runner: Small distances to building strength & stamina, reasonable time & pace targets, steadily longer distances over a year.
Discipline
Investor: Stick to sound investment plans and long term goals, ignore tips, news based investing, volatility and internet experts.
Runner: Stick to training schedules, diet and nutrition, ignore distractions about others’ race strategies
Risk Awareness
Investor: Know the products you are investing in, understand risks and returns according to your appetite. Review and re-balance your portfolio regularly. Take well informed decisions.
Runner: Know your limits, avoid exhaustion, pay attention to niggles and injuries and get routine check-ups. No new routines or pre-race diets on the day before the race.
Both running and long-term goal-based investing, if done correctly, with consistency, patience, discipline and risk awareness, can give us all the health and wealth we desire.
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We leave you with an interview with the Late Jack Bogle from 2016, founder of the Vanguard group, who in 1975 pioneered the concept of Index Investing, while charging the lowest fees possible for investors.
Vanguard had assets under management of USD 6.2 Tn as of 31st January, 2020.
Runner Workouts - Core Strengthening
This section brings you simple, easy-to-do home workouts which help you become a stronger runner, increase your stamina and reduce chances of injury.
Last week, we introduced a few basic Shoulder Strengthening exercises. This week, we concentrate on our core.
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Benefits
A strong core improves running posture and speed.
Increased stability in our torso (staying ‘upright’ when we run) allows other parts of the body - arms, back and neck, to move in sync with the legs, increasing the efficiency of running (expend less energy per step)
A stable torso also transmits energy from the upper body (eg. through arm swing) to the legs, increasing speed.
A strong core, and increased stability of the body prevents freak injuries and mishaps like a twisted ankle, while running on trails or uneven surfaces.
Towards the latter stages of long runs, our running form (posture) may deteriorate due to fatigue, increasing chances of injury. When the core is fatigued, other muscles have to step in to do more work, and may tire. A strong core mitigates this risk to some extent.
Like our shoulders, our core is also used extensively in cross training or weight training workouts, while strengthening other parts of our body.
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Core workouts are of two types.
The first, called ‘Isometric Workouts’ involve minimal movement. These engage and ‘hold’ your muscles, helping to strengthen them.
The first video above, takes us through 16 amazing Isometric exercises with 20 second holds and 10 second rests.
The other type, called ‘Dynamic Workouts’ involve movement - lengthening or contraction of core muscles to strengthen them.
The second video below, introduces 9 Dynamic exercises, interspersed with 5 Isometric workouts, in a 30 second cycle, with 10 second rests.
As with any workout, please start slow and concentrate on the movements, to get your form right. You may also try the workout in front of a mirror to achieve the best form. Please pause the video as many times as you require, if you tire.
General Instructions: Please wear sturdy shoes and loose, comfortable clothing. Hydrate well during the workout. If you experience unusual pain in any part of your body, stop immediately and seek medical advise from your doctor.
New to workouts, and wondering how to get started?
For absolute beginners, a few weeks of regular physical activity like walking, running or cycling would be helpful, before moving on to body strengthening exercises.
Over the last two months, we covered a range of Beginner Workouts just for you, these can be found in our Archive!
Fun Feature of the Week
The next time someone says, ‘Time passes by really fast’, tell them you have a way of REALLY slowing it down :D
Thought for the Week
That’s a wrap from us!
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Stay healthy, stay fit, and stay safe! <3
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