3) Trail running works a wider range of muscles

Your body needs to be a lot more agile to negotiate trail. You’ll be required to jump over obstacles, twist and turn to avoid roots and rocks in your path, and balance as you teeter on an uneven surface as you do so. This combined with the fact that the softer surface requires more lift from your leg on each step as it compresses more than the road means that your body gets a much more rounded workout as you activate the smaller, less used muscles in your legs. The strengthening of these smaller muscles therefore helps to stabilize the more major muscles in your legs making injury less likely as discussed above.

4) Fresh air is good for the lungs

Generally speaking, road runners will have to breathe in a certain amount of traffic-induced pollution which according to a recent article on Active.com can cause lung damage. Running on the trails will give you the opportunity to get a good workout with nothing but nice, clean, fresh air to gulp down into those lungs.

5) Trail running allows you to explore new places off the beaten track

Heading out on a trail run feels like a real adventure. You are leaving the everyday hustle and bustle of life behind you as you head into the wilderness. The number of routes out there to explore are endless and it gives you the opportunity to see places and experience a place in a way that few others get to do.