Workouts

Interesting article. I don’t like it. But, nonetheless it’s worth viewing. http://www.arthurdevany.com/2007/10/weightlifting_i.html

Today was a hard day to exercise. Work has tired me out. But…I feel so good afterwards…so I do it. After a warm up walk with the dog and some stretches, I did 3 rounds of this:

1. 20 Clean and press w/ kettle bells
2. 20 sumo squats
3. 5 pole climbs (monkey climb)
4. Pilates 100’s

It was a good sweat for 25 min. Took longer than normal. Pole climbs are hard after clean and press.

I was walking along the trail when I heard the labored breathing and heavy footsteps. I looked up and I saw a large man whose face was drained. I watched his knees knock together with each step as his feet were highly everted. He was very out of shape. From looking at his ashen face, I was concerned about his circulatory system. From his form, I was concerned about the pain to come in time from his knees and ankles, if it he didn’t feel it already.

I most certainly applaud his intention, but I couldn’t help to think of the risk he was taking by running when he was clearly in no condition to do so. Running in this kind of form will ensure that running won’t be a consistent habit as injury is inevitable. Normally I’d say no steady pace running is a good thing; however, if it means he won’t choose to exercise because of an injury, it’s not so clear cut.

Telling someone to stop running who you don’t even know could be risky. Telling runners you know to stop running is risky, too. However, this kind of thinking that endurance training is the way to get in shape is just dangerous for the sedentary. If you are thinking about exercising, start walking instead.

Here’s what to do:

1. Find a time in your day for 20-30 minutes. If you think you can’t find a contiguous block of 30 min, start looking at how what you do in a day could entail a walk. If you look, you will find it.
2. Commit to making yourself healthy and realize that you don’t have to hurt yourself to do it.
3. Commit to walking during this time you find.
4. If you get tired, take a break. Walk again. If you get tired, take another break. This is a good pattern: walk, rest, walk, rest, etc.

Other notes:

• If you have a soft tissue injury, let it heal (rest, ice, compression, and elevation) before walking.
• Don’t train in pain! Seriously. It’s not sustainable. People do it, but at a cost.
• When you are walking and your body is telling you that it’s tired, you don’t have to push it. You don’t have to keep going. It’s OK to take a break.

If you can integrate walking into your daily routine, you will be much healthier than if you didn’t and you’ll feel better. It feels great to be in shape and walking is a sustainable way to get in shape. After you can walk for an hour or so comfortably and you feel you need more (and you are clear to do so from a medical standpoint), start throwing some runs into the walk (and I mean of the sprint variety). That would look like:

• Walk 5 – 1o min
• Run for 30 sec at 40% of what you’ve got
• Walk to recover until you can do another burst.
• Run the same again.
• Recover while walking again.
• Aim for 5 sprint bursts and vary your intensity but keep the time under 30 sec.
• Finish with a 10 to 15 min walk.

In summary, if you are just starting, walk. If you are feeling like walking isn’t enough, add some brief intensity with a sprint. All of this gives you a good amount of cardio vascular exercise that isn’t going to create a great deal of stress on your body. It also trains your slow twitch and fast twitch muscle fibers, kicks in your endocrine system, and takes you through the phosphagen system, fast glycolysis and slow glycolysis as well. These are fancy words, but it just means you are using your body as it is designed.

I have a couple of friends who are waiting to get into better physical condition. They think if they could just get a kettle bell or a gym membership, then they could get started.

I have to say that equipment can be fun, but it’s a long way from necessary. The things that are necessary are:

1. A decision for health and a willingness to go after it.
2. Warm up.
3. Good form.
4. Knowledge of safe exercises for you and the ability to vary them.
5. Allocated time for your health.

Often a gym can get you past number one. If you sign up for a trainer who’s respected and knowledgeable, you can get 2, 3 and 4. However, you don’t need to go that route.

You can do #1 for yourself.

• Take a look at your family history. Is heart disease a factor in your family?
• Take a look at your weight. Are you overweight?
• Do you know your blood sugar? It should be below 100.
• Do you know your cholesterol? Total number should be below 200 and the HDL number should be well above 30.
• Are you sedentary? If so, you’ve got to get active to move accumulated trash out of your body.

For 2, 3 and 4, check out Personal Training on the net. Warm up is easy, just move all your parts in all directions for a few minutes and get your heart moving. Also, check out Cross-fit. They’ve got exercise demos for free.

For 5, you can make exercise part of how you live.

• Take walks to work or a break for a walk when you are at work.
• Walk to the grocery store and carry your bags home. You could buy less and do more shopping trips. That might be less efficient, but it’s a way that works. It’s weight-bearing cardio.
• Start looking for places to do pullups.
• You can do pushups anywhere.
• You can do squats and lunges anywhere.
• You can sprint anywhere.
• You can do a bridge anywhere.
• You can stand on one leg anywhere.
• You can walk barefoot in the woods or across stones. It’s a workout!
• You can jump anywhere.
• You can pick up stumps or rocks for lifts anywhere.

Provided you aren’t seriously ill, you can do it. You can start right now!

Here’s a run down of my morning workout starting at about 6am. I did this after a 30 min walk with my pooch through Dolores Park.

• Kettle bell swings
• two hands 1 min
• left hand 1 min
• right hand 1 min
• alternating hands 1 min
• – Rest 1 min –
• Kettle bell figure 8’s 1 min
• – Rest 1 min –
• 50 hindu pushups – 2 min
• – Rest 1 min –
• Mountain climbers 1 min

Total time: 11 min. I was pretty whipped after this one. I know there are people who are in better shape than me and who could do it faster. Still, you can get your strength and stamina training done in under 20 min! This is evidence. Try it out and you’ll see.