Diet/Exercise/Health/Wellness Support Thread

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17581

<p>pizzagirl- The problem is that there isn’t really a “usual” max and it is extremely helpful/important to know what your true max heartrate is- or close to it. The max is NOT a sign of fitness and varies from person to person quite a bit. All the formulas are worthless if you don’t know your true max. It will decrease a little with age, but if you stay fit it won’t change very much. You can get a pretty good idea by doing some 4-5 minute runs where you finish up completely gassed and see what your HR is at that point.</p>

<p>Google McMillan running calculator and plug in your current 5K and maybe a 34 minute 5K and it will tell you what your training paces should be.</p>

17582

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<p>All you can do is wear a heart rate monitor and watch over time to see what your actual observed heart rate is. The simple formula (220-age) predicts 162 for me, but I have seen an actual 172, so that’s what I use as my max. The simple formula would predict 173 for you. If you are seeing 170s, that could be close or it could be a little higher.</p>

<p>I have found that running is the most predictable way to drive my heart rate all the way up to 100% of max. After I’ve got a couple of intervals under my belt to get good and gassed, running 2 minutes or longer at a 10 min/mile or faster pace will get me very close to 100%. Longer 2 to 4 minute intervals on the Airdyne bike will also drive my heart rate up to near max. </p>

<p>Basically, anything that gets you up into the anaerobic territory (muscles on fire, unable to get enough oxygen) will max out your heart rate if you then try to keep going for another minute or two.</p>

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<p>Heart rate is where training for fitness/fat loss differs from training for endurance running. To maximize the physiological changes for fat loss (improved insulin sensitivity, release of human growth hormone, building lean muscle) you want to drive your heart rate above 90% of max. Repeated cycles of this kind of intense exercise also improve the ability to recover (the heart rate falls more quickly). Good recovery rates seems to be one of the best predictors (at least for men) of not keeling over dead in the next five years. But, for distance running, you want to train your body to exercise without driving your heart rate up that high.</p>

17583

<p>So I’m a little slow here. I mean, I’d like to lose a little weight (who wouldn’t?) and look leaner, but I’d also like to be faster for ego purposes. These two goals are in conflict? Oh crap :-)</p>

17584

I see this in my tennis forums: I want to lose ten pounds but when I diet more, I run out of gas on the tennis court. I want to run faster too but after getting injured so many times on pace, I’ve taken to going slow on speeding up. The worst is when you have to take it easy for weeks or more because of something that takes a long time to get better.

I was tempted to do the 9.5 MPH thing today but I’m recovering from knee issues (from tennis) and that kind of stress probably wouldn’t be a good idea.

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<p>I don’t think they are conflicting. You will lose weight with food control and by increasing mileage somewhat. You will still be able to do some faster running and improve your 5K time!</p>

17586

<p>The good news is that, in the early going, anything you do is going to make you faster at running a 5K! Just like, when you first start, any weight lifting program you do, no matter what, will produce noticeable and rapid strength gains.</p>

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<p>My particular goal is to get maximum conditioning benefit from the least possible amount of running. I may or may not ever do another walk/jog 5K race and I don’t care if I ever do 5K running. So, for my goal, doing walk/sprint intervals is probably my best bang for the buck.</p>

17587

<p>The best way to get a faster 5k is to add tempo runs and interval training. </p>

<p>Tempo runs involve running at close to your 5k mile race pace plus 15-30 seconds for at least 1-2 miles. You need to feel some discomfort. Tempo runs are hard—they aren’t junk miles and you get your best bang for your buck here. </p>

<p>Eventually you’ll want to add interval training — 400 meter runs on the track. Starting out try to work up to 4 repeats and eventually get to 8 repeats at 5k race pace (or faster) with a 400 meter walk in between. </p>

<p>Starting out, I would run every other day and bike/swim or row on your in between days.<br>
Your 3rd run during the week should be your long/easy day. Running every day when your first start out can cause you to get injured, especially when you start the tempo runs and interval training.</p>

17588

<p>3 miles, 8:47 pace. Smith Machine. Free weights. 8 minutes of an Efit30 program. Good to do Efit30 again, even if it’s only a partial program. They have some impact stuff like star jacks but they aren’t really jarring - if they were, my knees wouldn’t be able to take it.</p>

<p>I finally got a lot of space cleared in the basement so I can do my home weights routine without worrying about breaking something or tripping over something and I can do pushups, situps and all sorts of other things. I have a ten by ten space now. I still have more stuff to clear out but I can take my time with that stuff now.</p>

<p>There was two new Efit30s out today with interval workouts. I was pretty excited on the title until I realized that the aerobic parts were skipping rope. I’m a klutz when it comes to skipping rope and I’d probably hit the ceiling in the basement anyways if I tried that.</p>

<p>I have to get back to my stretching videos. The calf cramp soreness went away with Sunday’s sleep and I stretched several times today but I need to do the videos for better overall coverage with more intensity.</p>

<p>I tried calling one of my stringers to get one of my racquets back on Friday and today but I couldn’t reach him. He might be out of town. I went and tossed a few racquets from the 1990s this evening while cleaning out the basement - they had been modded to the point of no return and I couldn’t see using them again. Probably no resale value either. I’m thinking of going back to the set of four that I bought a few months ago. They are very heavy but maybe I could get used to them - I would just have less power on the serve. I was going to sell them but the market is really, really slow because of Europe and maybe it isn’t worth the bother.</p>

17589

<p>Well, that was fun! I did my first [New</a> Rules of Lifting for Life](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/The-Rules-Lifting-Life-Muscle-Building/dp/1583334610]New”>http://www.amazon.com/The-Rules-Lifting-Life-Muscle-Building/dp/1583334610) workout this evening. I’ve had the book since it was released a month ago, but decided to hold off diving into it until after the move.</p>

<p>In reality, I’ve already been doing these workouts for quite some time as my workouts follow essentially this same template. If anything, today’s Phase I workout was a little easier than my workouts (which had crept up in duration). That’s fine. One of the things I really like about starting an “official” program is that it forces me to do a “beginner” phase, and “intermediate” phase, and and “advanced” phase.</p>

<p>Specially, Cosgrove’s Phase I in this program calls for two sets with a lot of reps (15 reps per set). The idea is to always choose a weight that is very difficult on the final rep. I’ve been doing 6 to 8 rep sets lately, which means using pretty heavy weights. I had to scale back my weights quite a bit today to complete 15 reps. I actually guessed pretty well, as the last rep was tough on all the exercises. It’s a different kind of workout with high reps, putting the focus on faster lifts and endurance. Nice change of pace for me.</p>

<p>For Core: I did plank and side plank with my feet in the straps and TRX pallof presses.</p>

<p>For Power: I did box jumps to my weight bench.</p>

<p>For Strength: I did goblet squats for the squat, inverted rows for the pull, single leg dead lifts for the single leg exercise, and alternating bench press for the push.</p>

<p>In between sets, I moved stuff around, getting my new home gym organized a little better. I made progress clearing out some of the boxes over the weekend and realized that a four-sided layout would work: chinup bar and TRX straps on one side, weight bench on the next side, trap bar deadlift station opposite the chin up bar, DBs on the fourth side, and exercise mat in the middle of the square.</p>

<p>The only thing I miss is a long, unobstructed 40 foot run for warm up stuff. If it’s not raining, I may go outside for that stuff. For example, the NROL for Life warmup has [high</a> knees skipping](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYfekCZzryI]high”>High Knee Skip - YouTube) and [url=&lt;a href=“Carioca Drill Exercise - YouTube”&gt;Carioca Drill Exercise - YouTube]carioca[/url</a>]. I didn’t have quite enough room inside, but it probably saved me from busting my butt as I try to get going with this stuff.</p>

17590

<p>I had a good workout today…</p>

<p>3 sets of each
-20# KB RDL (each leg 4 reps)
-Monster Walks (8 paces each direction)
-40# KB Swings (4 reps)
-1# Ball tosses (8 per arm baseball throw)</p>

<p>3 sets
-40" Slideboard lateral slides
-Med Ball Tosses (8 each side)</p>

<p>3 sets of 8
-Slideboard Hamstring Curls</p>

17591

<p>Pizzagirl, FWIW, I run much slower on my treadmill than I usually run outside. I could hardly run 6 miles at 8:40 pace in training (and yet I managed to run 26 miles with the average speed faster than that :eek:). I bet your 11 will translate into faster running in the actual race. Interval training is good for 5Ks.</p>

<p>idad will be proud of me today! I did burpees, weights and planks. :)</p>

17592

<p>I think burpees and kettlebell swings will probably be on my docket for tomorrow!</p>

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<p>Uh. Oh. Not that it will interfere with my marathon training, but it looks like a new Mayo Clinic review shows that long-distance endurance training may cause heart problems:</p>

<p>[Excess</a> exercise ‘hurts the heart’ and cause dangerous long-term harm, say scientists | Mail Online](<a href=“Excess exercise 'hurts the heart' and cause dangerous long-term harm, say scientists | Daily Mail Online”>Excess exercise 'hurts the heart' and cause dangerous long-term harm, say scientists | Daily Mail Online)</p>

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17593

idad, I wonder how many of the study subjects were the weekend warrior kind of marathoners and Ironmen? Nowadays, everyone and their mother seem to train for and run something marathon-ish.

Shhhh… Please don’t tell Mr. B - I played with his 35-lb kettlebell today. :smiley: Gotta love those swings!

17594

<p>My quads were sore this morning - must be either the air squats or the jacks from Efit30.</p>

<p>I did my stretching video, some abs and floor work and home weights. I also tried a new exercise with the barbell. Take a towel, go around the middle, sit down in front of the barbell with legs straight and pull the towel with your arms. It’s basically to stretch the back of the body. I was thinking that a rope posted in the wall would work nicely but I couldn’t think of a place that had that setup. The barbell works quite well. I’m quite tight in the back - usually it’s moderately tight vs extremely tight. If I do my stretching videos regularly, it gets somewhat tight - I’d never say that I’m flexible - last time I could say that was in my 20s. All of that space in the basement makes it really easy to get up early for a morning workout. I pointed it out to my wife too - she usually does her workout in the living room but I’m interested to see if she moves down to the basement. There’s a bar stool which I usually put my MacBook Pro on to do workout videos. I have the remote control so I can pause the workout for a break or drink of water.</p>

<p>My wife has a laptop so she could do YouTube videos if she wants to. It will also provide a private place for my daughter to workout.</p>

17595

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<p>Dang, BB. That’s hard core. I think you get the “animal” award for the day! :)</p>

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<p>It sounds like the Mayo Clinic marathon article was a review of all the studies on endurance sports and heart problems.</p>

<p>Here’s a 9 minute video of the lead author discussing the article (and a lot of good all-around fitness/exercise/health recommendations).</p>

<p>[Potential</a> Adverse Cardiovascular Effects from Excessive Endurance Exercise - YouTube](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp_zviTtIQk]Potential”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp_zviTtIQk)</p>

<p>Looks like the text of the article will be available (free) on Thursday. From the sounds of it, a major study cited in the article was a review of the Cooper Institute’s database of 50,000 aerobic exercisers.</p>

17596

<p>I’m in the Cooper database! :)</p>

17597

<p>Sour mash moonshine, anyone?</p>

17598

<p>When the asteroid hits, the runners get to go out with great gams. :)</p>

17599

<p>None of the runners with whom I associate either in person or online claim that they run more than an hour a day for health benefits. Many years ago Dr. Cooper did a study and claimed that over 30 minutes 3-5 times a week was not for health benefit.</p>

<p>There is a lot of discussion on the running forums about this latest “study”. One runner who runs way more than I do and competes in ultras and marathons said, “I need to challenge myself with goals and events to keep running interesting. If I didn’t do that, I would lose interest and would lose the health benefits that I get.” </p>

<p>So, basically, we know running has health/fitness benefits, but we overdo it for OTHER reasons- whether it be weight control, race performance, mental benefits, social life etc.</p>

17600

<p>My marathon-friend and coach runs more to tilt as his own windmills, for lack of a better term. It’s a way in which he stretches himself in his own world - it just happens to be running. Now that I’m (slightly) into it, I get where he’s coming from a lot more.</p>