<p>BTW, Mike Boyle (age 50) does 1 mile Airdyne intervals in under 2 minutes 45 seconds. That is hauling the mail. I’ve never come close to that. I’ve been right around 3 minutes this past week, although I haven’t done miles in about a year. I’ve learned to take it easy enough at first to get through the intervals and then start trying to crank up the speed a little bit.</p>
<p>In fairness, the Airdyne is highly correlated with strength as well as cardio conditioning. Stronger people are faster.</p>
<p>The green is pedal speed (rpm) and the red line is heart rate (as a percentage of my max). These are from a couple years ago and are little faster than I’ve been doing this week. However, you can see that I started off each interval too “greedy” and couldn’t sustain the pace for the full mile. These were recovering to 65% of my max HR between intervals.</p>
<p>Here’s a set of four 1/2 miles, recovering to 70% between intervals. I did a better job here of setting and sustaining a consistent pace:</p>
<p>Here’s a fun one. Three sets, recovering to 65% of max HR in between. First set is six 10 second intervals with 50 seconds rest. Second set is six 15 second intervals with 45 seconds rest. Third set is six 20:40s. You can see that the heart rate barely recovers between intervals, steadily climbing through the set, and how the pace slows down as the intervals get longer. The first 10 second intervals are almost as fast as I can go.</p>
<p>In my experience tempo is not the same as LT or AT and LT is definitely not the same as AT. At LT you are still utilizing oxygen based energy systems in the body but are exceeding the body’s capacity to dispose of lactic acid and co2 by products. AT by definition is the point at which your body switches to energy production without the use of oxygen in the metabolic process. Tempo is at an effort below LT. The structured cycling training I do, which is based on lab measured CO2 and blood lactic acid levels and heart rate while on a precision cyclometer that also measures wattage output, has very distinct levels of heart rate and wattage defining my LT and AT. My tempo intervals are no shorter than an hour and as long as 3, my LT intervals are measured in 10’s of minutes and my AT intervals are measured in 1-3 minute segments. LT and AT can also be derived from field testing utilizing heart rate and wattage output (where available) and applying certain testing protocols and formula that have been found to generally track lab results in a test population but nothing really beats the lab testing to determine precisely each individual’s LT and AT levels.</p>
<p>I think one of the things that can make this a bit confusing is the effect of ventilary thresholds on the perception of whether one is at LT or AT levels. VT is generally categorized as VT1 or VT2 which are thresholds in the rate of breathing during exercising caused by hormonal and sympathetic nervous system responses to cardiovascular exercise. In very general terms, VT1 can be characterized as breathing rapidly but able to hold a conversation and VT2 unable to hold a conversation. At VT2, you are breathing in more oxygen than your body can utilize. Rate of respiration plays a very big role in perceived levels of exertion but really doesn’t tell you whether you are at LT or AT with any precision.</p>
<p>If someone wants to raise their LT, it’s necessary to first develop an aerobic base so that you can sustain training for long enough periods to incorporate structured training at tempo with LT intervals. It’s then training at tempo with LT intervals thrown in that will raise your LT. Bear in mind that LT intervals cover a range of HR and wattage outputs before you hit AT and it’s necessary to work towards pushing to the outer limit of your LT and sustaining it in order to raise your LT. You can raise you LT through training much more than you can train to raise your AT.</p>
<p>As to fat burning and AT intervals, yes, AT intervals will assist in that because the more intense the cardiovascular exercise the more fat calories are burned in a given period of time. Just bear in mind that duration plays a big role in total calories burned including calories from the use of fat as an energy source so if you can only exercise for 20 minutes because you are doing lots of AT intervals to exhaustion with recovery in between, while you will definitely burn more fat calories in the 20 minutes than you would by exercising 20 minutes at the so called fat burning 60% heart rate, you probably won’t burn as many fat calories as you would in 45 minutes at tempo with LT and some AT intervals thrown in but tailored so that you can maintain an intensity of not less than the tempo pace throughout the 45 minutes.</p>
<p>interesteddad, WOW! Thanks for all the helpful info and the time you put into that!</p>
<p>The online calculators tell me my max HR should be ~168, but at rehab, my rehab files say my unmedicated target range is 131-151. In reality, they don’t want me over 130 because of my low ejection fraction, and it’s darned hard to get to that point anyway. I usually get between 115-125, which they tell me is the equivalent of 20 points higher in someone who’s not on the heart cocktail. </p>
<p>Guess I ought to put on my pulse oximeter while I’m on the Airdyne and see what happens.</p>
<p>Deborah- that’s the thing. A good yoga instructor will offer modifications on the poses for the less “bendy” people or anyone with an injury. There were simply ways my body was not about to go!</p>
<p>Still lurking but also still inspired. I finally went to my first real yoga class (versus a DVD at home) with an amazing instructor. I did better than I typically do at home, likely because of pride: I was the only mom-type there, and my college D was also there as well. My D is a prior ballet dancer, so I know better than to try to push myself on every pose she does, but I was able to challenge myself on a few new poses, which made me feel strong. </p>
<p>It is actually too cold today to ski outside (-20F), so I will do inside treadmill and some more yoga with my friend Jillian Michaels or that P90X guy. If anyone knows of a really good yoga DVD, please clue me in … I plan to try yoga classes more so I can learn proper technique, but realize after my first real class that my DVDs I currently have are athletes doing yoga poses, versus the whole aspect of Vinyasa yoga, including the mind and breathing that I was able to experience.</p>
<p>"When I see pictures of yoga poses, some of them look overextended is the best way I can figure out to describe it. Flexibility, great, but some of those positions… Pilates – I think I already do a lot of these exercises. "</p>
<p>Deborah - I don’t know where you live, but if you live near a CorePower Yoga franchise, try the level 1 class. Trust me, I’m not doing handstands on one hand or anything. The classes are taught in a very accessible way and if you need to modify the moves, it’s absolutely fine. Indeed, for several of the moves they explicitly show you modifications and it’s up to you how you want to do it. I’ve taken more advanced classes and there are moves that I simply don’t have the flexibility to do (I can’t clasp my hands behind my back or do a backbend) and I just do what I can and it’s all good, which is very motivating. My guess is what you’re seeing online are the goofy, human pretzel poses.</p>
<p>“Pilates is good but I like the reformer class/lesson better than the floor classes.”</p>
<p>Totally agree, which is why I do privates - I use all the equipment. At the end, she puts me on the Cadillac piece of equipment, I stand and put my leg in what almost looks like stirrup at waist height, and I stretch from all angles - towards the front, turn to the side, turn to the back (so quad stretch). I seriously feel 2 inches taller when I’m done! </p>
<p>My D had been having shin splint pains, and took pilates at her school, and reported a big increase in flexibility.</p>
<p>Idad - I’ve got a couple of Jack Daniel’s books ( funny name for a running guru! ) and I struggle to comprehend a lot of his science but he is considered the expert in the running community today. When I attended the FIRST training class and was measured for LT, I was told tempo runs are more effective than interval track workouts in raising LT. From their book - “most people are limited by metabolic fitness rather than cardiovascular fitness. Endurance athletes can work at extreme heart rate without severe muscle fatigue . An untrained athlete might reach LT at 50 percent of max HR whereas well trained runners won’t reach LT until they are at 80-95% of max HR”</p>
<p>LasMa: I have osteoporosis. When I was first diagnosed 7 years ago, I didn’t change my exercise routine. A couple years ago I dove into internet research, and came across all these recommendations for exercises to avoid. Don’t bend, don’t twist, don’t run, etc. I thought my bones were going to crack at any moment.</p>
<p>Six months ago I found the best specialist. She’s about my age, thin like me and has osteoporosis. She pooh poohed my concerns, told me to keep running and said my bones were not going to start splintering. What I concluded is that, unless you’ve already had broken bones, a lot of the exercise recommendations are for fragile 80+ year olds. Healthy 50-year-olds don’t have to worry as much. </p>
<p>I’ll be curious what your specialist says, but I pretty much do what I want exercise-wise, although I make sure my routine includes things like lunges and lat pull downs.</p>
<p>Hi guys. Interesting topics as usual
To weigh in on walking vs running, I’ll just say if you’re either not fond of running or need to avoid high impact you can still get your heart rate up using Nordic ski poles and a hill, which will double your caloric burn :)</p>
<p>That said, Sabaray’s running habits combined with the discipline of it have her literally miles ahead of me personally in terms of weightloss this year, and I noticed the departure when she got her mileage up early summer. We were evenly matched in terms of weight lost back in late spring, and then I goofed off a lot by the pool, consumed copious amounts of party food and alcohol, and she kept running </p>
<p>So I think running is a great way to hook yourself into a healthier lifestyle.</p>
<p>CountingDown, I do 20:40 intervals on the airdyne for 10 min. and regularly feel like I will die but its hands down the fastest way on earth to infuse a quick hit of exercise into the day if you can stand it ;)</p>
<p>I think whatever you do for exercise, you have to enjoy it. There is no way I could force myself onto the Airdyne. No way, no how. </p>
<p>KMC, believe me, there were plenty of days I would have traded running for party food and alcohol! I don’t want to discourage people from running, but if you think you want to run for exercise and fun (and I’m not talking about being a competitive athlete), then ease into it. Walk/run. The C25K program is a great way to get started, even if (like me) you’ve run before and “know what you’re doing”. Big difference between running at age 20 and age 50.</p>
<p>You don’t see me doing a lot of Airdyne in the summer when I am hiking or going for walk/jog intervals! I make no claims about it being “fun”. It actually would be OK for long slow distance cardio, but I don’t think that’s particularly beneficial and I don’t have the patience to do hour long cardio sesssions, regardless of the machine.</p>
<p>On the other hand, it is probably the perfect interval/conditioning machine. No buttons to push. No impact on the joints. Simultaneously working the upper and lower body. The saving grace is that 20 minutes is gracious plenty, start to finish. So it’s a good “just a little something” once or twice a week.</p>
<hr>
<p>MKAT and Ohio:</p>
<p>Awesome stuff. Thanks. I would say my Airdyne interval sessions are definitely AT (anaerobic threshold) workouts.</p>
<p>Long uphill hiking is probably closer to lactic threshold (LT). Lower heart rate. At the first instant of feeling my legs start to tire/burn, I either stop or back the pace way down. This continues for 2 to 4 hours going uphill. It’s not precise intervals because the terrain dictates the pace, but it’s probably a similar effect.</p>
<p>Downhill is long slow distance for me. I can’t go fast enough to get my heart rate above the 68% to 75% range and I generally can go for an hour or two, stopping maybe every half hour for long enough to get a drink of water.</p>
<p>For just casual fitness, I think the key is variety and trying to do a iittle bit of everything from a conditioning standpoint. Long walks (or jog), short intense intervals, and a few points in between. I’ve spent most of the last six months working on longer 2 to 3 minute intervals (both on the Airdyne and in weightlifting sets) as I felt it was a particular weakness for me.</p>
<p>I guess I was speaking in a more general sense about enjoyment, iDad. I don’t think I have a lot of variety in my exercise; I run, use the elliptical (my Airdyne alternative - which I do not particularly enjoy or find fun) and do some stretching, planks and lifting. I exercise my dogs regularly and that involves a lot of activity on my part in short bursts as well as adding about 5 miles a day in walking. I enjoy the running and dog activities; the other stuff I don’t necessarily enjoy but it makes it easier to enjoy the other two. I hope that makes sense. Today might be a day when I need more coffee!</p>
<p>^^^makes perfect sense to me. For anyone new on the thread, I also never ran before in my life till my 53rd birthday and that’s when I started C25k - I highly recommend it if you have any thoughts of learning to run/jog. I have always been an active person (not a couch potato) but never an athlete (ok, I did do synchronized swimming in high school…). </p>
<p>I do think its important that you choose an exercise that you generally enjoy - cause I don’t now about you, but I’m not likely to do something I DON’T like 3-4 times a week!’</p>
<p>MOWC and PG, thanks for the reassurance. Yeah, it’s the human pretzel pose pictures, lol. Thanks for the specific starter class recommendation, PG. I may check that out.</p>
<p>Stretch/core/strength early morning workout. Added single leg circles and superman back into my routine for the first time in a while. Also added a light db to pushup position t-rotations for the first time (other hand remained on floor, not gripping a db). Gave reverse fly and upright rows a shot. So far so good. I went light and not a lot of reps to stay on the safe side. Took my time today.</p>
<p>Note that the usual estimates of maximum heart rate (e.g. 220 minus age and other formulas) may be suitable for population studies, but can be significantly off for any given individual. So using heart rate as a guide in your exercise intensity needs to be done carefully, realizing what your actual maximum heart rate is rather than relying on the usual estimates.</p>
<p>I reached my goal of walking 5 times this week. I hoped to go m-f, but skipped yesterday and went today. I chose a NEW hilly path based upon your recommendations. It was cold, snow-covered, sunny and beautiful.</p>
<p>My goal next week (week two) is to do the same and to add additional exercises in week three. I’m trying to build a habit. I also will look into the food/calorie/exercise tracking systems next week.</p>
<p>I’m keeping my longterm goal of re-joining Master Swimming in September. If I can keep increasing my exercise and eat better, it should be achievable!</p>
<p>I took a hiatus - my Dec 31 was crazy-busy, I woke up with a horrible headache Jan 1 (and not due to drinking) and missed working out on the next 2 days and feel sluggish and off the wagon. Did weight training this morning but felt only up to 1/2 hour elliptical, not up to running. Need to shake this and get back on track but funnily I feel “anti motivated”!</p>
<p>Hi guys.
I asked about treadmills and thx for the replies. What about ellipticals and air dynes mentioned here. Is there a particular brand and are they affordable for the home?
Days like today I want to do something but getting out to the gym is problematic.
Thx</p>
