<p>Back running on my home turf today. Squirrels, teenage bunny, a crow. Nice temperature. A little bit of a shaky start, but all in all a great way to begin the morning.</p>
<p>My sense is pretty much in agreement with MOWC’s. I think that as you get more fit – and especially as you train for a very specific activity – your muscles develop the capacity for more work in an oxygen-depleted state, which, in turn, allows you to drive your heart rate up to a previously undiscovered max.</p>
<p>I do think that across the population, max heart rates do decline with age. I don’t think that many people in their 50s see heart rates in the 200 to 220 range.</p>
<p>I don’t think max heart rate really matters except in the context of having some reference for monitoring your own exertion and adjusting your workouts accordingly. BC’s approach makes perfect sense. It doesn’t matter if 100% is really 100% as long as he is able to correlate his 100% reading with a level of exertion. That’s what I did and then I bumped up my max setting when I started seeing heart rate readings of 102%. :)</p>
<p>One of the things that happens training for running (or any endurance cardio) is that the body gets more efficient at that specific activity. I’m not adapted to running at all and saw 100% heart rates in no time at all. I could go out right now and hit my highest ever observed heart rate with four or five minutes of running. If you wanted to find your true heart rate, it would probably be more likely to happen on something you aren’t adapted to. For example, a mile interval on an Airdyne.</p>
<p>The conditioning guys say that you usually find it by going to the point where the muscles are actually burning (lack of oxygen) and then try to keep going for another minute or two (for example, to complete an interval). That anaerobic state is where the peak heart rates will usually be seen in the body’s max effort to supply oxygen. Hard three to four minute sprint intervals seem to be the ticket. You are so acclimated to running that it would probably be really tough to get to the point where your legs are burning. That’s what endurance conditioning is all about. Getting specific muscles doing specific motions to be very efficient and stingy burning energy and oxygen. That’s also why endurance cardio isn’t necessarily the best strategy for fat loss.</p>
<p>With all that said, I would say a hard kick at the end of a speed 5K would put you pretty close to max heart rate. Certainly above 90%. I just don’t think the body can sustain 100% for 13 minutes. At least for me, 100% is like – OMG – I can’t get a breath of air, I’m going to die! The only way I can hit 100% is to stubbornly complete an arbitrary interval, no matter what, even though I’ve been completely dying, legs on fire, gasping for air, for 30 second already. 95% doesn’t feel like that. 90% isn’t really that intense (except maybe on the first interval). Panting, yes, but no where near the feeling of panic at not being able to get a breath and recovery is predictable and quick.</p>
<p>Haystack:</p>
<p>I bet the rowing will suck the oxygen right out of your lungs. How long does a 1000m row take?</p>
<p>We were supposed to pace ourselves and have each row be faster than the previous. I think the first one was 4.5 to 5 minutes, 2nd was 4 to 4.5 minutes, the 3rd was about 6 minutes. I was gassed from the power cleans.</p>
<p>Haystack, 4:30 is a very specific time. Do you have something scheduled for 4:30 today, or is that just enough hours later to see if your body is going to stage a revolt?</p>
<p>I have CrossFit class at 4:30pm M/W. My right shoulder is revolting as I type but I will be there anyway, hopeful that shoulder work is minimal.</p>
<p>2 hours of tennis against the guy that is better than me, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4. He really picked up his game in the second set and it was over pretty fast. I picked up my game in the third set and he made more errors due to fitness level.</p>
<p>We’re both pretty competitive guys that don’t like to lose.</p>
<p>I think that he could be a 5.0 if he lost 50 pounds. There’s a 4.5 and a 5.0 in my circle of tennis people and he has no problems beating the 4.5 guy. I don’t think that he’s played the 5.0 guy for quite some time but I’d guess that he would give him a lot of trouble. Especially when the weather is cooler.</p>
<p>It was about 89 degrees and quite humid in the field house (where the courts are). I went through slightly under two liters of water. I didn’t feel tired - on the changeover, I went to the bench, took two gulps of water and then just went to the other side. The normal changeover is 90 seconds where people take some time to rest, have a drink, maybe take a little food. If we did that, we wouldn’t be able to get in three sets in two hours.</p>
Haystack:
I’ve never done power cleans from the floor… too rough on an ol’ (formerly) fat guy’s back. I’ve done them a few times from the hang clean position, but I’m so lousy at catching the bar in the proper rack position, that it’s not a great exercise choice for me. I do use a [one</a> arm DB snatch](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRA_8jrlT3U]one”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRA_8jrlT3U) for a power exercise. DB hanging at the knee. Hinge the hips, explode up with a little jump, ending up with the DB overhead. It doesn’t take many of those to be panting like a dog.
I don’t think I’ll make it up to a 60 lb DB like the woman in the video anytime soon!
<p>Interesteddad,
What rehab has me doing is purely wimpy compared to the rest of y’all. However, I have an ejection fraction of 35-40%, which is well below the 55-70% the cardiologists like to see. (Ejection fraction is a measure of the heart’s efficiency in pumping oxygenated blood.) They are hoping that with the rehab, I may be able to get to 45-50%. My treadmill stress test had a max HR for me of 143, and that was truly the limit. (By contrast, a couple of years ago, I could get to 160-170 and not feel particularly pushed.) My resting HR is in the 60s, and I’m getting to 100-110 in rehab. BP today was 84/50(!) – usual these days is 90s/60s. They are keeping it low with meds to help things heal.</p>
<p>My rehab sessions are 1.25 hours; 30 minutes on the treadmill at 2.9 mph, 15-20 min on a recumbent stairstepper at 25 watts, leg weight machines (2 series at 12x rep on each of three machines) and some free weights. Once again I am the youngest patient there with the most interesting medical history. </p>
<p>They are not trying to push me to my max yet, but rather having me build endurance. At some point I will graduate to the upper body machines, rowing and elliptical. At this time, I am not allowed to raise my left arm above shoulder level or move it behind my back because the defibrillator implant needs to scar up a bit more to stay securely in place, so some machines and exercises are still off limits. I still get dizzy when lifting my arms (as in painting the bathroom), but that is a) largely postural and b) a function of all the meds I am taking, several of which cause dizziness.</p>
<p>deb, the hardest part for me in picking foods is the sodium. It’s everywhere. Not that I ever really salted my food, but it shows up in almost everything. When I was pregnant with S2, I had to go on a reduced sodium diet, and it was quite the education to read those labels. Farewell to pasta sauce, farewell to cheese. </p>
<p>And may I say that the cholesterol levels in shrimp really stink?</p>
<p>Consider me motivation for exercising and getting in shape, folks – you do not want to go down this road.</p>
<p>Counting Down:</p>
<p>Nothing wimpy about your recovery efforts. You make the rest of us look like pikers with what you’ve gone through. Just the psychological side of pushing yourself must be a real challenge. I don’t have any heart issues and it took me a while to actually believe that I could push my heart rate up and recover.</p>
<p>Sounds like a pretty comprehensive program. Interesting stuff!</p>
<p>Great job CountingDown. They may never want you to max out your HR. considering your EF, I am not a professional but just based on info from personal experience. You are doing so good, It is so hard.</p>
<p>Do you have a Whole Foods near you. One of the best places (only) for no salt added beans, tomatoes, any canned goods. I’m sure you know but many times meat you buy in a grocery store is pumped full of saline to make it tender. Salt lurks everywhere.</p>
computer died, on a borrowed one. I am hoping that it is just the charging cord that is broken…
Warm Up
500 m row
2 rounds
15 pass throughs
10 push ups
lunges with twist
15 v ups
8 minutes as many rounds as possible
8 deadlifts (went light on these because of the many reps, I think I only had 65 lbs)
10 20 inch box jumps
6 rounds as fast as possible
8 front squats (again, light – just the 45 lb. bar)
10 box jumps
I may decide to leave if I see this workout again. Seriously. The combo of high rep deadlifts followed by front squats just does not work for me. I end up lightening up the load to the degree that the whole things appears pointless. As you can see, I had a bit of an attitude today. Not enthralled with the instructor du jour nor his music. Only two other people there for this class (word must have gotten out!), so the overall energy was way down. My groupon deal is over now, too. So I have to find another Crossfit place, decide to sign up with this one (unlikely), return to the really pricey place or come up with a new solution.
I am going to give myself a 4 week shopping period and hope to try out some new things during that time. May start with stand up paddle boarding.
<p>
</p>
<p>That sounds like fun. :)</p>
<p>^The other thing I am seriously considering trying out is a kangoo jump class…
Anyone ever done this:</p>
<p><a href=“http://img.webmd.boots.com/dtmcms/live/webmd_uk/consumer_assets/site_images/articles/health_tools/fitness_crazes_slideshow/kangoo_rf_photo_of_kangoo_class.jpg[/url]”>http://img.webmd.boots.com/dtmcms/live/webmd_uk/consumer_assets/site_images/articles/health_tools/fitness_crazes_slideshow/kangoo_rf_photo_of_kangoo_class.jpg</a></p>
![http://img.webmd.boots.com/dtmcms/live/webmd_uk/consumer_assets/site_images/articles/health_tools/fitness_crazes_slideshow/kangoo_rf_photo_of_kangoo_class.jpg[/url]](http://img.webmd.boots.com/dtmcms/live/webmd_uk/consumer_assets/site_images/articles/health_tools/fitness_crazes_slideshow/kangoo_rf_photo_of_kangoo_class.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
<p>CJane:</p>
<p>That workout borders on criminal. Neither deadlifts nor front squats nor box jumps make any sense for a high rep, to exhaustion, exercises. The whole idea is to stop at the point of technical failure (when you can no longer maintain perfect form). That workout is designed to go past that point, with exercises that are inherently dangerous at technical failure.</p>
<p>The first thing I would do if you held a gun to my head and made me do that workout is switch the deadlifts to Romanian deadlifts, only going down to just below the knees with each rep, rather than to the floor. That lets it be a pure hip hinge motion and takes the danger part out of it. I would also rest between each set.</p>
<p>Don’t feel bad. The empty bar is about all I can handle with front squats for 8 reps. I prefer doing those squats with 2 DBs resting on/in front of my shoulders.</p>
<p>5K hilly walk/jog today. Only the second time in a month or so. For some reason, I was out of sync and ended up doing most of the running intervals uphill. Jeez. I just kept thinking of walking up the Stairmaster from Hell Sunday and kept pushing. I did my usual run to 90% heart rate and then walk – 12 times. I kept going on three intervals to the top of a hill and hit heart rates of 95%, 97% and 98% on those three. It doesn’t take me long to go up from 90%.</p>
<p>Beautiful weather. 82 degrees. Sunny. Fairly dry.</p>
Took a few days off after wiping out on the bike. Got back to the gym today. Walked there because my kids had the car and then did a Cybex workout (40 minutes of hill intervals) and 100 KB swings (any more of those challenges Hops? I kinda liked the 100 swings of the KB). Will go to a power class tomorrow. The instructor likes to use KBs for that class. My knees/elbows are bruised and look awful, but other than that I’m OK.
<p>Bromfield, you got access to a TRX?</p>
<p>I’ve been watching the match between Li Na and A Kerber at the Western and Southern Open. Kerber won the first set 6-1. Kerber is big, powerful and fast. Li Na is smaller but only a little bit shorter but Li Na does Idad-style workouts in the gym and has proven her fitness when she won the French Open (it’s on slow clay so champions are generally in superb shape).</p>
<p>Li Na turned it around in the second set but mainly because Kerber started to slow down. Na won the set when Kerber stopped running for balls. Kerber had an argument with her coach at the changeover and Na quickly won the first four games of the third set. Na basically started hitting the ball into the corners doing everything to make Kerber run and move. Final score: 1-6, 6-3, 6-1. Pretty dramatic match - power vs fitness.</p>
<p>CJ:</p>
<p>Let us know how the Kanga boots work out. I think an ol’ (formerly) fat guy like me should probably take a pass. I’m pretty sure that I would end up in the hospital… :)</p>
<p>[Kangoo</a> Nation: Kangoo Jumps “Kangoo Hip HOP” Outdoor Class in Union Square with mariothetrainer - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>