You have to separate between what you watch on TV (definitely not planks), workouts performed by 40 of the elite men and women athletes in the world, and what everyday people like me do. No one forces you do anything that you don’t want to do at a CF gym. All exercises can be scaled for age and ability.
I watch someone like Kipchoge, who runs twenty-six 5-min miles, and I’m truly amazed. Or a triathlete, who can run a marathon, swim a mile and bike another 100 miles and I’m also truly amazed. CF is just a different sport, but I’m no less amazed at what the top CF athletes can do. But the difference is that CF athletes at the lowest level (me) to highest level, when they arrive at the gym or arrive the day of competiton, do NOT know what the test is going to be that day. I/they prepare and train for the unknown. That’s really the primary challenge.
The article posted by @ohiopublic was, for me, like a politician espousing a lie. With CF, you run, swim, row and bicycle. They even paddle on a board in the ocean. And we rarely, if ever, do planks. And certainly CBS (ESPN before that) isn’t going to televise planks. And to say rowing is bad cross-training for some endurance athletes, I’d say, show me the proof. IMO, rowing for 10, 30, 60 or 120 (+/-) minutes is NOT bad cross-training for an ensurance athlete. It’s low impact and raises your heart rate just like any exercise.
As for injuries, I’ve never been injured doing CF, but I have been injured (minor) running thru a pothole or on a bad trail. Injuries happen, but I’m not going to be scared of being injured. I know my limitations and with age comes a little wisdom.
Exercise comes in many flavors. Choose you own. But you won’t see me ripping another sport, other than Olympic curling, of course. =))
Today was a Pilates day for me. People frequently remark to me that they don’t think Pilates is much of a workout. I have to disagree with them. If you don’t think it’s a workout, then you’re not doing it right. Many of the things I’m working on now were initially difficult simply because I was afraid - I’m thinking, I’m balancing in a precarious position and I really am afraid of falling but there have been no catastrophes. I’ve worked with my instructor for almost 4 years now so there’s a pretty deep level of trust there but that moment when you’re first balancing is scary. I enrolled in another 4 weeks of the advanced Reformer class which I’m really excited about. I have some exercises that I’d really like to master and the only way I’ll do that is if I practice more consistently. After a lot of mat work this morning, today’s fun was the jackknife. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lfbhR2x05U
@MomofWildChild This is true. Last Friday, as I previously mentioned, I PR’ed my squat clean. I was REALLY excited. I didn’t politely put the weight down. I let it go from my shoulders. I/we do use rubberized bumper plates, to muffle the sound, but they still make noise. However, in my case, I was the only person in the gym on Friday evening.
I do have it on videotape. Lots of grunting and groaning and then big “YIPPEE!”
@sabaray I agree. Pilates is a workout. I’ve never used a reformer as I take Pilates at my gym but my mat classes are challenging and I see results. My gym has 4 Pilates instructors and they all have a different style of teaching. Monday I took a Pilates fusion class which is Pilates exercises but we also use weights. @Bromfield2 I hope you keep us posted on Noom. I’m interested as I think my D might benefit from the program.
Mat is hard! Most of my instruction is a mix of equipment and mat. I really like Pilates, particularly as I can see continuing with it as I age. Consistent practice, as you’ve observed, really leads to results.
I’m beat today. 5.4 mile run this morning, Pilates workshop tonight. That might call for a rest day tomorrow.
This week is a “deload” week, which just means the programming is lighter and shorter. Last night, after stretching and warming up with some squats, my HIIT was a combination of a 50 calorie row, 50 burpees and 50 squats at a light/moderate weight. That took me about 15 minutes. And then finished up with dragging a sled (bodyweight) for about 400 meters, which took me about another 15 minutes.
Enjoy your birthday, @maya54! Please report back on the meal. I love talking about food!
Yesterday was a rest day for me. I was beat after two tough workouts and a run in a short time span. This morning I had a short 4.2 miles of running but a pretty good pace (for me).
I have to ask a dumb question. You mention a “50 calorie row” - how are those calories calculated? I see that referenced and I’m never sure how it’s determined. How do you know when you’ve reached 50 calories of work?
The Concept 2 rower (skierg and bike too) measures your workout in either watts, calories or distance. The monitor has a button that you push to change the method in which the “units” are calculated. My workouts with the ERG are either programmed in meters rowed (distance) or calories burned.
I forgot to add this. As you probably know, the Concept 2 equipment (rower, skierg, bike) has an adjustment on the side where you can make the rower harder or easier (easy 1 to hard 10), just like a bike in spinning class has a knob. But the lever that you use to adjust the difficulty or effort of the rower does play a role in the rower calculates distance or calories rowed. I hope that helps.
Thank you, that did help. I’m not a rower, so I learned something new. I guess I always wonder how reliable those calculations are so I’m always surprised to see it included as part of a workout. For a while I worked with a coach who had me running for certain periods of time at a certain HR range. I had a really hard time with it - I’d find myself trying to equate it to miles with a more conventional training plan (running 4 hrs at 128 HR should be 20 miles, that type of mental gymnastics).
In terms of CF, the number of calories burned, if programmed as a calorie workout, is meaningless. After a workout, I never try to calculate the calories expended. With CF, it’s about the numerology. If the workout is 5 rounds of 10 cal row/10 pushups/10 pull-ups, then you’re just focused on the number 10 as a goal to move on. The programming is based upon the amount of time spent doing each round and the amount of time spent finishing the workout. We, or at least I, don’t think about the 5x10 calories burned for the rowing portion.
As an aside, the numbering pattern of 21-15-9 has reverence within CF, for whatever reason. CF’s most famous benchmark workout, called “Fran”, is 21-15-9 of thrusters and pull-ups.
So, that’s a long-winded way of telling you that how the number of calories is calculated by the machine is meaningless for me and I assume other CF’ers, especially since we all burn calories differently. Time is the important characteristic of the workout.
You are all so knowledgeable!
Running is hard!
Lol
Getting into my final days before the half. Reached 10-mile run last week and starting this week, I am “tapering”, reducing the distance and hoping to run a bit faster.
Got a new pair of running shoes from fleet feet, the lady who was helping me there thinks New Balance 860 is the best fit, so far I have run in them for 10+ miles, the first 6 was kind of difficult (shoes seemed tight) but they are getting more comfortable now.
Still a bit scared but also start to believe that I can do it.
Our scale literally broke, :)) initially I thought it needed new batteries, after new replacement it still was not working. So I have not weighted myself for a week, but several folks had commented that I slimmed down! Hopefully when I get the new scale in, the number will confirm it too!
Happy Sunday!
I was wondering how things were going, @makemesmart - thanks for the report. I know you can do it!
Rest day for me yesterday - from exercise anyway. This morning I did a time trial on our neighborhood track. Walked over, easy one mile jog, one fast for me mile, and an easy walking cool down. Good mood booster!
I also got a pair of new shoes this week. I’m always hoping to find a good gym AND a good running shoe, but I’m still searching. I bought a pair of No Bull’s, which are fantastic gym shoes, very well made, but they’re not very good running shoes unfortunately.
Body is sore from yesterday’s workout, since Saturday’s programming is very long (90-120 mins), but a run is planned for a bit later today. Length = TBD.
I had my birthday cheat meal yesterday. It was amazing salad with cheese popovers , Waygu steak, mashed potatoes, roasted Brussel sprouts and for desert chocolate cake and fresh beignets. Yum!
Today at my doctors suggestion I am doing a 500 calorie “ fast”. She said since I’m already doing intermittent fasting this could be a good thing after a huge meal. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to do it but So far so good.
That sounds incredibly good and only a very few cheat items. Friday I had to go to a dinner launching a capital campaign and was honestly surprised at how healthy the meal was. I picked fish and it was a pan roasted rockfish - no sauce which it badly needed if just for moisture. The vegetarian entree was a fried green tomato. I was glad I’d gone with the fish!
Weather this time of year is tough. Never know what to wear for running. It was 48 here this morning but super windy so it felt much colder. Glad I wore long sleeves with my shorts! Managed 2.6 including the big hill to home. Pilates scheduled for the next two days.
