<p>Had a really great week of exercise. My walks are getting very long/fast and I am itching to do more and step it up. I’m thinking about spinning, though I’ve never done it. I’m still hoping to rejoin Masters Swimming in the fall. I’m down 2.5 pounds for the year- at least as of this morning! </p>
<p>Michael and Idad- I hope to one day understand and find a way to apply your conversations to my exercise. Baby steps first here!</p>
<p>Good luck Bunsen! Boston is going to be amazing this year. I walked by the Johnny Kelley statue in Newton yesterday and he was outfitted in green for St. Pats day!!! There were an awful lot of people running the carriage lane wearing vintage Boston Marathon Jackets. </p>
<p>Peacefulmom, if you feel that you are ready to try spinning, then go for it! My suggestion would be that you find a spinning class where the instructor is either Mad Dogg or a Schwinn certified and where correct form is emphasized. Avoid classes where the instructor has the class do goofy stuff like push-ups on the bike, 2 second count standing up and sitting down movements (jumps) or even ridiculous stuff like doing dumbbell exercises while pedaling. Don’t hesitate to ask the instructor to help you set up the bike to fit you correctly. And remember that you control your ride. Stick with the cadence (rpm’s) that the instructor requests so that everyone is riding together but don’t be reluctant to control your resistance to meet your needs and if the resistance the instructor calls for is too much for you to maintain the cadence, back off on the resistance so that the cadence can be met.</p>
<p>8.3 miles, part trail, part bike path. I find with trail running, the time goes faster because I’m concentrating on ground in front of me so that I don’t trip over a rock or land in a hole or something. I saw my chiropractor this morning for some art on my hips, since I’ve been having some issues with sciatica. It doesn’t hurt exactly, but it’s a very annoying nerve type sensation that never goes away. Whatever he did, it seems to have worked. I had a wonderful run and I don’t have that annoying nerve thing anymore. I hope it sticks!</p>
<p>abasket, what a good idea to run your race in absentia!</p>
<p>An easy way to kick it up a notch is find some hills on your walks. Push up the hills so that you are breathing hard at the top of a hilll and catch your breath going down. Or, in the city, you can do the same thing with outdoor steps. All the heartrate stuff is kind of interesting, but hardly essential. It’s pretty simple to just push the intensity up for a bit and then recovery at an easier pace.</p>
<p>Enjoy your new imaginary LED suit…I’m sure it will be the talk of the town! :)</p>
<p>On the subject of heart rate estimation and working out, optimal fat burning is in the mid-range, right? The “not-quite-panting-like-a-dog” spot?</p>
<p>The notion of an “optimal fat burning” target zone is misleading. At lower intensity cardio exercise, often associated with “60%” max hr, the energy systems drawn upon in the metabolic process are fat based. When you step up the intensity, the metabolic process switches to relying more on glycosis and glycogen based energy systems i.e. carbohydrates. As a result, Some literature and commentators therefore “recommend” exercising at a “60%” intensity if your goal is to burn fat. The reality, however, is that at the higher intensities, fat is still burned even though proportionately carbohydrates become the primary fuel source. Where the “fat burning zone” literature goes awry, though, is in failing to discern that at the higher intensities, fat is still burned and the total number of “fat calories” burned in a given unit of time will be greater than the number of “fat calories” burned in the same unit of time at lower intensities even though the fat/carbohydrate fuel source ratio has shifted. And at the higher intensities, the total number of calories burned during the exercise from all energy sources will be greater than would be burned at lower intensities. Accordingly, adding intensity to your cardio workouts will burn more fat, burn more calories and enable someone to lose or maintain weight more efficiently and effectively. If you then add in a regimine of resistance training, you will promote the growth or maintenance of lean muscle tissue during this process which is essential to achieving changes in body composition. Without the resistance training, you end up losing lean tissue too. As to the intensity of the cardio work, “not quite panting like a dog” sounds about right but depending on the time you have to commit to cardio (frequency and duration) and your current fitness level, you may want to structure your cardio to about 70-80% of the time at or a bit below “not quite panting like a dog” and 20-30% of your cardio time at or above “not quite panting like a dog”. If your breathing feels like you could go a long time (30 minutes or more) at that that pace, it’s probably on the low side; if it feels like you will be totally spent in 10 to 15 minutes or less, you probably have dialed in the right higher intensity. Your high intensity intervals should be from 15 seconds to 3 minutes with about 3x as long recovering at a lower intensity. These are very general loose guidelines and how you structure your intensity levels and ratios of high and low intensity are completely dependent and variable based on your current fitness levels.</p>
<p>I agree with everything MKAT wrote above. Limiting intensity to stay in a “fat burning zone” is not the most effective fat loss exercise strategy.</p>
<p>Beautiful morning to run (but cold) in Indianapolis on the canal path and by IUPUI. I ran past NCAA HQ and now know where all the money goes… I didn’t feel great (had to drive 5 hours to get here yesterday). The HvAC unit in my hotel room turned on (every 5 minutes or so) with slightly less noise than a 747. Now to cut the legs out from under a lying plaintiff…</p>
<p>Made it to spinning last night; workout today with my trainer–TRX, Kettle bells, and heavy weights. She had me work with battle ropes and then walking lunges. Those ropes are killers!! Talk about raising your heart rate!! Wow. Finished morning workout with 50 minutes on the elliptical machine.
Congratulations CD–awesome accomplishment!</p>
<p>I hate to rub it in for those of you enduring warm spring weather and flowers and so forth, but I got out and enjoyed a nice afternoon in the White Mountains. A ton of snow – probably a solid six feet on the ground in places. Mid 20s . Blue sky.</p>
<p>Hiked the Coppermine Trail to a very frozen Bridal Veil Falls. 5.25 mile round trip. Despite the 18 inches of new snow late last week, the trail was packed well enough to carry the snow shoes and wear the spikes. </p>
<p>Ahh, but to rub something is requires the listener to be envious of such a thing! Beautiful day here in Florida. Fluffy clouds. Blue sky. Was able to wear a tank, leggings and Keds and NOT break a sweat!</p>
<p>The snow looks so fluffy! I really do just want to roll in it and throw it up in the air! That’s one thing I’ll miss out on being a tropical kind of girl: snow. </p>
<p>One more day of real snow in Philadelphia - pretty please - I really want to try out my new cross country skis. Then follow up the next day with 60 degree weather LOL.</p>
<p>Nice hike, idad. Snow is still degrading here so I’m not venturing the hill. Rain today, which promises to make things interesting they’re calling for snow early next week so maybe I’ll get in a short hike or two then, otherwise its dreadmill and airdyne for me. I’m getting impatient to open the pool if I can’t have real snow…but of course, first we’d have to FIND it :)</p>
<p>Re:fat burning zone…that makes perfect sense. I tend towards an interval approach in my short stints anyway and hate wearing a monitor so I’m disinclined to be that precise My rather laisser-fair working theory is that if I haven’t worked up a real sweat and gasped a few times, I haven’t done much “work” But the prime objective in my case has been just to move a little and maintain muscle and feel good from the exertion, which kinda only seems to happen at a particular level of effort. Eg. A hill or incline, which kind of serves as a natural interval. I’m not training for anything…other than “life.” ;)</p>
<p>I do kind of marvel at a few of my friends who seem to spend a lot more time than I do working out (as in going to classes or the gym) but don’t seem to garner much in the way of muscle tone. I’m not sure what they’re doing but my guess personality wise is it involves little real exertion or isn’t particularly balanced. Eg treadmill without arm weights or walking without poles so not getting the same level of overall work you get on the traverse with the exerstriding approach. I haven’t quite figured it out. </p>
Beautiful day here in Florida. Fluffy clouds. Blue sky. Was able to wear a tank, leggings and Keds and NOT break a sweat!</p>
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they’re calling for snow early next week so maybe I’ll get in a short hike or two then, otherwise its dreadmill and airdyne for me. I’m getting impatient to open the pool if I can’t have real snow…but of course, first we’d have to FIND it :)</p>