<p>The lesson of the night was: relish and use those recovery intervals! A recovery interval should be easy enough to make you feel guilty :). When I do wattage training, my recovery intervals are at about 1/4 the watts I do the work intervals at. At last night’s spinning class, I was at “gear” 18 for the work intervals and dropped to “gear” 2-4 for the recovery intervals and needed every second of it!</p>
<p>The saving grace is that the 2 minute recovery periods at least let your heart rate fully recover between sprints. At least you’ve got a fighting chance. That’s the way I do intervals, only I actually recover until my heart rate hits 70% of my max, the heart rate watch beeps, and off I go. So the early recovery periods are shorter, increasing in length over the course of the workout.</p>
<p>The brutal intervals are when the rest is so short that the heart rate hasn’t recovered. I prefer a full heart rate recovery because it lets me keep the pace up on the work intervals. Without sufficient heart rate recovery, you have no choice but to slow down the work intervals. I’ve done interval workouts where I’m STARTING the last interval with a heart rate of 90% of my max. Needless to say, I’m not going to be capable of a full pace work interval!</p>
<p>For short intervals (10 seconds, 20 seconds, etc.), I’ll do a set of six with timed intervals and timed recovery (like 10-50s or 20-40s) and then a full heart rate recovery between sets of six.</p>
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<p>BTW, it would have been a completely demoralizing waste of time to do an FMS on me at 250 pounds. I would have been an epic fail on every screen and probably decided that I was too fat/too embarrassed/too out of shape to start exercising. Because it’s so demoralizing, Mike Boyle doesn’t recommend FMS testing out of the gate on older deconditioned fat loss clients (He does for all athletes). Find out about injuries, of course. Always be on the lookout for any pain. But, just assume a 1 on every screen and start with elementary correctives for all of the movements. You can always speed up the progression if you get pleasantly surprised. His warm-up (which I have unabashedly stolen) actually consists of exercises specifically intended to address shortcomings in all of the FMS screens.</p>
<p>I actually think he’s right. Even if I had lucked into a 3 on an FMS screen, at my age, I still should be doing correctives to maintain that movement as a part of every warmup. You don’t want to load a dysfunctional movement, but I was starting with body weight exercises and less than full range of motion anyway. I could barely pick up an 8 pound DB. My first bodyweight squats were about 1/4 squats. That’s all I could do. I couldn’t do a stationary split squat. Maybe about 1/2 depth. I think I used the DBs for some pulling and pressing – along with pushups from my knees because I couldn’t do a big boy pushup.</p>
<p>I think a big obstacle for a lot of young personal trainers is that they have no clue what it is like to not be able to do chin ups. Or pushups. Or how massively important core and movement training is for older folk. My movement warmup and core exercise set would be an awesome stand-alone workout for the vast majority of older folk just starting to exercise. Add in 10 minutes of exercise bike intervals to get the heart rate up and call it a day. Probably 30 minutes start to finish.</p>
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<p>Yes…you see my problem here. There’s just no way to make bush whacking sound sexy 
She is a runner, though, and I may treat her to our local color run Sunday…then send her along the blasted easement to get a run in while I wrangle in the woods ;)</p>
<p>Author, I am sorry to hear the poison ivy got you. It is an evil vine, and the one reason I look like an idiot covered from head to toe in the dead heat of summer in what amounts to my hiking burqa ;)</p>
<p>Sabaray, woot to your H! He must be delighted with his early results.</p>
<p>Michael, was the trainer a certified strength and conditioning trainer? Your friend should report him, because he doesn’t deserve the credential. Or more likely, said trainer wasn’t certified at all…it’s amazing how many folks hang out a shingle as a trainer without any legitimacy or protocol.</p>
<p>I remember well one such moron from the gym I joined before taking my weightloss goals into my own hands…I had patiently explained to her what facet joint syndrome was, (which i have, ergo needed to modify a routine) then argued about said modification then left in disgust, then never darkened that gym’s door again. I lost a year’s membership but at that point didn’t care because I didn’t want to support a culture that employed that level of ignorance.</p>
<p>In a way, it was a blessing because through this thread, iDad’s counsel on reading McGill, and experimenting I learned how to improve my overall condition doing thing more organic to my day at home, like the snowshoeing and aquajogging and core routine, kettlebells, and airdyne …</p>
<p>That said, with a more aggressive goal, I can see where a good trainer would be invaluable, and I may go shopping for same to kick it up a notch, as I am a notorious backslider </p>
<p>Good cautionary tale, MnK, and I’m sorry your friend had such a disastrous result! Before we could join our current gym, H and I had to get medical clearance from our doc. Then we each had a “fitness assessment” and meeting with a trainer who then developed an exercise prescription for us. We then met with the trainer and did the workout, modifying as necessary. I feel like we’re in pretty good hands. Another plus is that there is always a trainer “on call” that can assist with equipment or modification when we’re there working out. </p>
<p>Part of H’s program is attending various lectures/fitness clinics to learn more about diet and exercise - it’s been a good way for him to broaden his horizons. When I met with my trainer, I stressed I needed something to work on core strength and wasn’t really interested in HIIT because of running. H’s program is more HIIT focused and it seems to be working. Sadly, I think he’s a little frustrated that 20 came off so quickly and now he’s stalled a bit. I told him to just stick with it and will pass along your congratulatory and encouraging messages…once I roust him out of bed. </p>
<p>Kmcmom13, I don’t know what the “trainer’s” supposed credentials were but he chose the wrong client to commit malpractice on. My friend was a very successful lawyer who retired at 50 but has maintained his license, his son’s a lawyer, I’m a lawyer (at least until I open my own studio 
). This dangerous clown’s life could get very uncomfortable in some form or another. And when you talk about someone just hanging out a shingle as a personal trainer, unfortunately in most states there are no licensing or even registration requirements. As consumers, it’s important to ask questions to assure that a trainer has credentialing from a legitimate certification program that uses independent third party testing as part of the certification process. One of the reasons I chose the certification program offered by the American Council on Exercise was because of its affiliation with a number of professional oversight organizations and it’s requirement that after completing its course work, you must successfully take a 3 hour exam administered under stringent protocols by a third party testing center (I couldn’t even bring my wristwatch into the testing room in order to safeguard against electronic devices with internet capability).</p>
<p>Idad. - can you post the excercises you "stole " from the mike Boyle warmup routine ?</p>
<p>Somehow I got up at 5, made it to a 6am 75 minute hot yoga class, got ready for work at the yoga studio, picked up breakfast (don’t ask) and made it to work by 8am. Not sure I’ll survive the day, but I’m here!</p>
<p>Bunsen- it’s tough when your city gets taken over by an event. It’s great for the economy, but makes things tough on the locals! </p>
<p>This is some interesting data for anyone who might be hesitant about entering a race because they feel too slow.</p>
<p><a href=“How Do You Compare to the Average Road Racer? | Runner's World”>How Do You Compare to the Average Road Racer? | Runner's World;
<p>I saw that article and quit feeling too slow. The only runners I know in real life are very competitive and fast. I am a turtle compared to them. I’m older than the average (10-17 years older depending on the race) and my times are pretty close to the median. I just want to finish in November, even if I’m crawling! Note, I’m not planning on crawling, but if I have to, I will! </p>
<p>Holy cow, I am fast! Based on this article I need to stop comparing myself to my 20-year-old self and embrace my speed at 50. At 20 I was a speed demon and now I am an above average female runner. </p>
<p>Tonight is my first run after some minor surgery on Monday … I am so happy that the weather is cool now.</p>
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<p>I’ve worked with 3 trainers over the last 5 years–all were certified. I’m not sure of the pedigree of their certification, but the most important thing for me was that all of them were over 45. I absolutely stayed away from the young guys because I was sure they couldn’t relate to an overweight, late middle-aged woman who wanted to get fit. My first trainer was in his 40s and was the one who got me excited about weight training. I was pretty strong, especially for a woman who had never done anything, and I got a lot stronger because that trainer really helped me–I also lost 40 pounds. I was sorry that he left my gym. I’m sure that there are some young male trainers who understand the limitations of old folks just starting out, but I wasn’t going to take a chance. </p>
<p>Got in a 2 mile walk yesterday and that was it. I have 2 days to finish up getting vacation place ready for renters and I know that I won’t be able to get to the gym. Every year H and I say we aren’t going rent again but then we get the check (which pays the property taxes and the homeowner’s insurance) and we end up renting again for the month of August. </p>
<p>I’ve been lurking here since asking about HR . i’m in awe of all of you. (i do have some physical limitations. ) I WALK 3 miles on a treadmill, reaching a high speed of 4.4. ( i can’t run.) Doing that, i hit a hr of 144, which is all i’m comfortable with right now. </p>
<p>I too would appreciate it if interestedad would post those basic exercises in a video.</p>
<p>Bunsen - you posted a link to an knee brace awhile back that you liked? can you post again? thanks</p>
<p>jonri:</p>
<p>A heart rate of 144 bpm, for someone middle age or older, is almost certainly high enough to get all the benefits of high intensity exercise. That’s probably in the range of 85% of your max, which is the target a lot of good trainers use for general fitness exercise.</p>
<p>I can’t walk 4 mph without “speed walking” – which has me bent over panting like a dog. My normal fast walking pace on smooth level ground is more in the 3.5 mph range. If I walked on a treadmill, I’d actually bump the incline up instead of trying to walk really fast.</p>
<p>I’m going to break out the video camera for a warmup this afternoon. It would be impossible to describe some of these exercises. I just went through Boyle’s list and there are a couple that I’m not doing in my usual warmup that I’ll add.</p>
<p>Ohio, here it is:</p>
<p><a href=“No results for Cep cep rx knee brace | Zappos.com”>http://m.zappos.com/cep-cep-rx-knee-brace</a></p>
<p>Amazon sells it, too.
Ouch, I hope this is just to fix a minor issue for you! I found that the gel ring around the knee cap keeps things in place, and the brace material is fairly flexible. For longer runs (over 2 hours), I wear a smartwool knee warmer under it to prevent chafing. I ran a marathon with this brace (because I was paranoid about the knee giving me troubles during the ran), and I hardly even noticed that I had it on. Make sure you get the right size! Fingers crossed for you.</p>
interestedddad, Thanks! i’ll look for the video.
i use a slight incline–3.5% or so. i do most of my walking outside at a slower pace. But when it’s too hot or muggy or my walking buddy isn’t available, i use the treadmill. i don’t do the whole time at 4.4, BTW–only a couple of minutes.
As i said before, i do some other stuff, but it’s easier stuff than you all do–a senior exercise class 2X a week and swimming 1-3 times for 40-45 minutes.
4.4 walking on a treadmill – wow! I usually do 3.5 on up to 3.5% incline, but more typically do two miles @ 3.2 mph on a 7% incline. Burns lots more calories and elevates my heart rate up a bit more. (In my case, “more” is 120-125, which is as high as it will get with all the cardiac meds I’m on). I can never get a high heart rate on the elliptical, so have not been doing it as much.
After eight weeks and four attempts (and two endoscopies, a colonoscopy and three units of red cells for a GI bleed and severe anemia), I finally had my right heart cath on Tues. Consensus is that the chemo is causing the pulmonary pressure to increase, but it is only a mild increase and they were VERY happy to see that my heart was functioning better than they expected, given the damage. Cardiologist and oncologist are both happy, so I am off to enjoy my summer!
CD, how did I miss all of this was going on! Glad to read that things are improving.
Bunsen - my knee issues are cropping up again. I have dramatically cut down on my warmup and stretch routine. Maybe that’s the cause or an increase in mileage? Maybe the new warmup routine that I received from a recent 1500 meter olympics finals finalist don’t translate to 58 year old legs?! I’m starting to ice daily to help. My current knee braces feel and look like something an nfl offensive lineman might wear.