Workout #2: 2/9/14
1st set (very slow, intense movements)
Push-up to failure
Wide arm pull-up to failure
Squat (two 35 lb weights) to failure
2nd set
Military push-up to failure
Reverse grip narrow-grip pull-up to failure
Squat (two 35 lb weights) to failure
3rd set
Wide arm push-up
Overhang narrow-grip pull-up to failure
Squat (two 35 lb weight) to failure
5K walk with wife and dog.
I walk a lot during my day job. When I'm not walking, I'm usually on my feet. Healthcare workers, unless they have a desk job, are quite mobile. As an operating room pharmacist, we specialize in dosing, making and delivering drugs to the right patient at the right time as quickly as possible in the OR. We're constantly shuttling between operating rooms. If, however, you find that you're at a job or have a daily routine that allows you to sit for extended periods of time, you may want to try getting a little weird. For instance, even though there are chairs I can sit at when working on computers, I usually elect to stand for most of the day much to puzzlement of my co-workers. Why? It keeps my blood moving and my mind a little sharper. Even Thomas Jefferson was famous for writing and working at his famous standing desk. If a standing desk helped even slightly in the writing of the Declaration of Independence, I'm sold. Say what you will of his politics, Donald Rumsfield is famous for using a standing desk as well. Other such famous desk standers include Leonardo Da Vinci, Charles Dickens and Winston Churchill. Not bad company if I do say so.
I had an epiphany, or at least what felt like an epiphany, that the little things we do every day add up to great gains when given enough time. These days, when a great idea strikes me, it doesn't take a lot of mental shuffling to realize my "great idea" was really something my wife told me was important to do a long time ago. She's quite wise and I'm just stubborn about it until I arrive at the long-time-coming conclusion she was right all along! Did you know on average it takes about 35,000 to 40,000 steps to run a marathon? If you followed the advice that it's a good idea to take 10,000 steps a day, every 3.5 to 4 days you'd walk a marathon distance. What do you think about parking farther away now?
About a year and a half ago, when I first started taking running more seriously, I bought a pair of minimalist running shoes from New Balance called, wait for it, Minimus. They are great shoes for running in that they helped me develop a better forefoot to midfoot strike while at the same time taking a significant amount of impact off my knees. Alas, I think I pushed too hard, too far, too quickly and ended up developing iliotibial band inflammation in my right knee. I wasn't properly stretching that ligament after runs. Still though, it was quite an improvement from when I used to run in sneakers where within a few runs, I'd develop severe pain under my kneecap, curse the ridiculousness of running and swear I'd never do it again.
Even though I am training now for a half-marathon, I keep thinking about my wife's good advice...it's the little things that count. It's the taking of the stairs, even if it's 8 floors up, versus using the elevator that will make all the difference if done on a daily basis and as often as possible. Yesterday, I parked my car on the roof of the parking garage, went down the stairs and climbed them back up at the end of my shift. In addition, as fortunately I am only required to wear comfortable shoes to work with covers on, I have decided to try to take as many steps as I can in my minimus shoes. I figure if I am shooting for 10,000 steps a day, it should be, as often as possible, in the very shoes (well shoes like it) that I want to run in for the half-marathon. Suffice it to say, after a 10 hour shift yesterday standing on my feet in thin soled minimalist shoes and climbing stairs, especially a day after working out, my calves and feet were pretty sore. I will not rupture a tendon, pull a hamstring or sideline myself taking these small steps on a consistent, daily basis. However, just like the power of saving 5 bucks a day, at the end I hope to have a good deal of capital saved up or in this case muscle strength, endurance and good ligament strength. If you're feeling guilty about not getting a workout in, not running your usual 3 miles five of six days a week and you take the elevator to the 4th floor on a regular basis, you'll do yourself some good by deciding to save a little electricity and take the stairs.
I'll make an effort, in the moments between my workouts, to take more steps, climb more stairs and stand more often. After all, slow and steady wins the race. And in the future, when I write these posts, just as I am doing now, I'll be standing. After all, if it was good for Da Vinci, it's good enough for me.
Runnin'
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Monday, February 3, 2014
Principles of the 15 Minute Marathon
Workout #1: Sunday 2/2/2014
1st set (very slow, intense movements)
Push-up to failure (about 20)
Wide arm pull-up to failure (about 9)
Squat (two 35 lb weights) to failure (about 10)
2nd set
Military push-up to failure (10)
Reverse grip narrow-grip pull-up to failure (10)
Squat (two 35 lb weights) to failure (10)
3rd set
Wide arm push-up (15)
Overhang narrow-grip pull-up to failure (6)
Squat (two 35 lb weight) to failure (10)
And we're off. It was a good workout and I think a good start to my training. I've made it a goal to post after every workout. I promise not to workout between posts as that's the whole point of my project. However, I do take 5K walks pretty regularly with my wife and dog so that will continue. That doesn't even count, right? Right...?
I wanted to take a few moments to briefly talk about the underlying principles behind this project:
Principle One: The Pareto Principle (Less is More)
My workouts will consist mainly of high intensity interval training (HIIT). The latest science seems to support the idea that conventional aerobic training and HIIT produce similar adaptive changes in muscles that allow for increased efficiency, athleticism and power.
The important point is that slow aerobic workouts engage slow-twitch muscles. Weight lifting and sprinting, however, exhaust fast-twitch muscles and their glycogen stores. The majority of muscle glycogen is stored in these fast-twitch fibers but how often does a typical american engage these muscles? Not often. Generally, when you weight train, you initiate these muscles in sequence with slow-twitch trying to lift the weight first, then type 2a fast twitch and then finally when all else fails, type 2b fast twitch. Once the fast-twitch muscles are engaged, it takes 5-10 days for them to recover. It's similar to a cut on your arm. It doesn't usually heal in 3 days. In fact, it takes about 5-10 days! It takes roughly that duration of time for micro tears in your muscle to heal and the adaptive process to take shape after a strenuous, fast-twitch muscle inducing workout. I never understood the whole "workout every three days" advice. When I used to lift weights every three days, I felt like I was never fully recovered. It was only during those accidental weeks where I had been too busy to work out and a week had gone by that I noticed marked improvement in my strength from the previous session.
The majority of your cardiovascular health improvement can come by simply taking more walks, mowing the lawn, or taking the stairs instead of an elevator. You'll be at the proper heart rate for endurance training when you go for a long walk without the added stress and overuse injury that plagues most chronic aerobic exercisers.
Principle Two: Nutrition is Key
I've more or less, for the past 5 months, been on a paleo diet. I follow an 80/20 rule because there are certain experiences (like going out to eat) that I just enjoy. Having said that, I feel healthier than I have been in a long time. I can go into a bunch of health benefits I've experienced with this diet as it has helped me to lose a good deal of weight. However, there are a lot of websites and books out there that can do a better job explaining the diet than I ever could. Suffice to say, my diet has been and will mostly consist of:
The 80%
I do not eat processed foods. They are pretty easy to spot. It's anything that wouldn't exist if it wasn't for modern science...for the most part. If you can't kill it or pull it out of the ground, it's probably not good for you. One could argue, in fact, that foods like bread are some of mankind's original processed foods. Grain seeds were never a part of our repertoire until we figured out a way to grow it, harvest it, pulverize it, ferment it and enjoy it.
Principle Three: Get Plenty of Rest and Relax(ation).
I think this principle speaks for itself. Whatever you can do to make sure you sleep well enough, do so. I've had some trouble with this over the past year. Recently, I discovered that I could have been chronically dehydrated. After spending the last week or so consciously willing myself to rehydrate more often, my sleep has infinitely improved. If you're having trouble sleeping, whatever the cause may be, it's definitely worth doing what you need to do to fix it.
Also, plenty of relaxation is required. Your body needs time to recover. I also work about 50 hours a week so recovery during down time is critical. Lastly, relaxation, preferably with loved ones, is just good for the mind and soul.
These are my principles. What do you think?
1st set (very slow, intense movements)
Push-up to failure (about 20)
Wide arm pull-up to failure (about 9)
Squat (two 35 lb weights) to failure (about 10)
2nd set
Military push-up to failure (10)
Reverse grip narrow-grip pull-up to failure (10)
Squat (two 35 lb weights) to failure (10)
3rd set
Wide arm push-up (15)
Overhang narrow-grip pull-up to failure (6)
Squat (two 35 lb weight) to failure (10)
And we're off. It was a good workout and I think a good start to my training. I've made it a goal to post after every workout. I promise not to workout between posts as that's the whole point of my project. However, I do take 5K walks pretty regularly with my wife and dog so that will continue. That doesn't even count, right? Right...?
I wanted to take a few moments to briefly talk about the underlying principles behind this project:
Principle One: The Pareto Principle (Less is More)
My workouts will consist mainly of high intensity interval training (HIIT). The latest science seems to support the idea that conventional aerobic training and HIIT produce similar adaptive changes in muscles that allow for increased efficiency, athleticism and power.
Your muscles are comprised of three types of muscle fibers:
- Type 1 - Slow-twitch (for the endurance): they take awhile to exhaust, oxidative and recover quickly
- Type 2a - Fast-twitch oxidative: aerobic and anaerobic, store glycogen, useful for power, recover slowly
- Type 2b - Fast-twitch glycolytic: anaerobic, all power, takes a week to fully recover, store glycogen
The important point is that slow aerobic workouts engage slow-twitch muscles. Weight lifting and sprinting, however, exhaust fast-twitch muscles and their glycogen stores. The majority of muscle glycogen is stored in these fast-twitch fibers but how often does a typical american engage these muscles? Not often. Generally, when you weight train, you initiate these muscles in sequence with slow-twitch trying to lift the weight first, then type 2a fast twitch and then finally when all else fails, type 2b fast twitch. Once the fast-twitch muscles are engaged, it takes 5-10 days for them to recover. It's similar to a cut on your arm. It doesn't usually heal in 3 days. In fact, it takes about 5-10 days! It takes roughly that duration of time for micro tears in your muscle to heal and the adaptive process to take shape after a strenuous, fast-twitch muscle inducing workout. I never understood the whole "workout every three days" advice. When I used to lift weights every three days, I felt like I was never fully recovered. It was only during those accidental weeks where I had been too busy to work out and a week had gone by that I noticed marked improvement in my strength from the previous session.
The majority of your cardiovascular health improvement can come by simply taking more walks, mowing the lawn, or taking the stairs instead of an elevator. You'll be at the proper heart rate for endurance training when you go for a long walk without the added stress and overuse injury that plagues most chronic aerobic exercisers.
Principle Two: Nutrition is Key
I've more or less, for the past 5 months, been on a paleo diet. I follow an 80/20 rule because there are certain experiences (like going out to eat) that I just enjoy. Having said that, I feel healthier than I have been in a long time. I can go into a bunch of health benefits I've experienced with this diet as it has helped me to lose a good deal of weight. However, there are a lot of websites and books out there that can do a better job explaining the diet than I ever could. Suffice to say, my diet has been and will mostly consist of:
The 80%
- Fruits
- LOTS OF VEGETABLES - it angers me that people, especially paleo people, take this diet as a license to eat a hell of a lot of bacon. It isn't.
- Lean meats: mostly organic, grass fed.
- Oily Fish: We like salmon. I like shrimp (not technically fish) and I love canned sardines.
- Some nuts though I don't consistently eat these.
- Dark Chocolate...it's a treat
- Bread/Pasta. It's a once in awhile treat because my wife is an excellent bread maker. Bread, in general, however is a nutrition devoid carb bomb.
- Desserts
I do not eat processed foods. They are pretty easy to spot. It's anything that wouldn't exist if it wasn't for modern science...for the most part. If you can't kill it or pull it out of the ground, it's probably not good for you. One could argue, in fact, that foods like bread are some of mankind's original processed foods. Grain seeds were never a part of our repertoire until we figured out a way to grow it, harvest it, pulverize it, ferment it and enjoy it.
Principle Three: Get Plenty of Rest and Relax(ation).
I think this principle speaks for itself. Whatever you can do to make sure you sleep well enough, do so. I've had some trouble with this over the past year. Recently, I discovered that I could have been chronically dehydrated. After spending the last week or so consciously willing myself to rehydrate more often, my sleep has infinitely improved. If you're having trouble sleeping, whatever the cause may be, it's definitely worth doing what you need to do to fix it.
Also, plenty of relaxation is required. Your body needs time to recover. I also work about 50 hours a week so recovery during down time is critical. Lastly, relaxation, preferably with loved ones, is just good for the mind and soul.
These are my principles. What do you think?
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