Couch to 5K: if you never thought you'd run...
Couch to 5K is a brilliant NHS programme designed to help more people than ever before get up and running…
Couch to 5K is a nine-week running programme endorsed by the NHS. It is the brainchild of Josh Clark, who in 1996, aged 25, laced up his trainers and dragged himself out for a series of runs.
In a BBC World Service interview, Elizabeth Davies speaks to Josh about how he came up with this world renowned system help novice runners train to reach 5k and beyond.
Who is Josh Clark?
Today, Josh Clark (https://bigmedium.com/about/josh-clark.html) is founder of Big Medium, a New York design studio specializing in future-friendly interfaces for artificial intelligence, connected devices, and responsive websites.
In 1996, he was a junior TV producer in Boston, and certainly no athlete:
“I hated running. My entire experience with running all through my younger years was that it was painful and boring,” Josh says. But one day things changed.
“I had just had a breakup, had a sense of self loathing and I probably wanted to punish myself a little bit, so I put on this sorry excuse for sneakers, pulled on some shorts and a sweatshirt and I ventured outside......”
Although the first runs were awful and painful, Josh kept running, again and again.
“It didn’t take long, I would say 3 or 4 runs, before the initial discomfort started to wear off”. He discovered the zeal of the converted and decided to help others find the same.
Couch to 5K success
After Nancy, his mother, successfully completed the programme, Josh decided to put it online, on a running website called kicksports.com.
Josh never copyrighted the programme and as technology developed, people freely started creating website and apps that reproduced his C25K approach.
The UK National Health Service decided to adopt C25K in 2010 as an official fitness programme (https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/couch-to-5k-week-by-week). Millions of people have since followed the steps to become runners.
The benefits of Couch to 5k are huge
In a BBC 4-minute film called Anybody Can Run, Josh says: “As kids we run all the time, we do it just until the point of exhaustion, laughing the whole time. We are designed to run, we can all re-capture that spirit.”
Josh wanted to correct the slogan “no pain, no gain”.
Instead, the philosophy is NO PAIN, NO PAIN. Perhaps the key of its success, this slogan highlights the importance of going more slowly that we think we should - and achieving more than we believed we could.
The secret is to take each step gently. Modern living undoubtedly puts strain on our mental health. In this context, being kind to yourself and avoiding unnecessary pain is a very powerful message.
Looking ahead: Couch to 5K and Running for Science
We have exciting plans to make Couch to 5K the focus of our next study. We want to look at the physical changes that happen as non-runners progress to successfully running 5km. Our plans are on hold during the current epidemic, but as soon as we can get started we’ll be looking for volunteers, so watch this space!