Ryan's Journal
- Thread starter Goldfish
- Start date
Thanks, Claire and Tony.
I had a fairly light workout yesterday. Well, mostly. I won't bother blogging it, but I will post about it here. I didn't have any reason on my behalf to go to the gym yesterday, but it did mean making sure that one of my friends who doesn't bother going without me got there.
I spent the first 20min or so rolling out on a PVC pipe, cracking my back over a back roller, and stretching my legs, hips and lats.
After that, I did 1-arm DB presses with 10kg, 1-arm cable rows at 20kg, and suitcase walks, first with 25kg then with 20kg. I did a teensy bit of skipping, but when I realised that my muscular endurance and coordination were limiting me far more than my cardiovascular fitness (which, given my history with skipping, is an odd feeling, getting my calves to burn but not having a fast heart rate), I decided to do some sprints until my speed dropped off. Haven't sprinted in ages, and either I've forgotten how fast I can be, or I've gotten faster than I used to be through strength training. Both are reasonable possibilities.
One issue I've always had with running is heel-strike, which one of the other guys noticed. I spent a lot of time a few years back working on trying to fix that and get a smoother gait, but lack of practice has allowed me to revert back to old habits. I want to be doing more cardio, and doing something like 5-10 short sprints close together got my heart rate up more than anything has in a long time, so this might be something I'll be working on in the foreseeable future.
I had a fairly light workout yesterday. Well, mostly. I won't bother blogging it, but I will post about it here. I didn't have any reason on my behalf to go to the gym yesterday, but it did mean making sure that one of my friends who doesn't bother going without me got there.
I spent the first 20min or so rolling out on a PVC pipe, cracking my back over a back roller, and stretching my legs, hips and lats.
After that, I did 1-arm DB presses with 10kg, 1-arm cable rows at 20kg, and suitcase walks, first with 25kg then with 20kg. I did a teensy bit of skipping, but when I realised that my muscular endurance and coordination were limiting me far more than my cardiovascular fitness (which, given my history with skipping, is an odd feeling, getting my calves to burn but not having a fast heart rate), I decided to do some sprints until my speed dropped off. Haven't sprinted in ages, and either I've forgotten how fast I can be, or I've gotten faster than I used to be through strength training. Both are reasonable possibilities.
One issue I've always had with running is heel-strike, which one of the other guys noticed. I spent a lot of time a few years back working on trying to fix that and get a smoother gait, but lack of practice has allowed me to revert back to old habits. I want to be doing more cardio, and doing something like 5-10 short sprints close together got my heart rate up more than anything has in a long time, so this might be something I'll be working on in the foreseeable future.
Try Timmons style intervals as part of cardio. I tried Tabita and was unimpressed but Timmons is great. Warm up then 3 sets of 20 seconds flat out and 2 minutes steady then cool down. I do 10 instead of 3, because I am stupid and only do 1 lot of intervals a week but the longer recovery means being able to give so much more on the sprint. Wouldn't like to do this on a treadmill though as they take so long to speed up.
*looks up Timmons interval training*
That there pretty much describes exactly how I first learned to do HIIT...and like you, I was (am) crazy, and instead of doing 7min exercise I was generally at it for ~40min until I had no sugar left in my blood. In my first HIIT program I was doing ~30sec as hard and fast as possible on 80% or higher of the max resistance on the exercise bike at the gym I was at, and then pedaling at a much much lower resistance until my heart rate got back down to something like 140bpm, and then repeating it all again. That worked out to be one burst ever 3 minutes, IIRC.
I kind of wish I didn't know as much about Tabata training as I do, because people who know the specific details of the Tabata system turn into nitpicky wieners whenever it's mentioned on the internet, and now that grotesque side of me is showing... I used to think I did Tabata intervals, since I did 8x20:10 as fast as possible against resistance. Turns out that there's at least 1 more requirement before it can be called Tabata training (there are more specs again, but this one's the clincher): it all needs to be done at 170%VO2 Max. That kinda complicates things.
I did used to get a lot out of 8x20:10@max speed under load, but these days all forms of cardio are hit or miss for me. It's a disparity thing between strength and endurance, I think. My strength used to be low compared to my endurance, so I used to be able to do any form of cardio and it'd work. Nowadays I tend to find that I need a certain intensity in order for cardiovascular activities to actually feel anything like training; problem is, that intensity is typically too high to be able to endure it long enough to get a cardiovascular stimulus out of it. Alternatively, if I take the intensity down low enough to be able to maintain the activity, it becomes too low, and I'm fairly sure it doesn't have much of an actual training effect. One exception to this, as far as I can recall, is that at my old gym I was able to get a nice middle-ground on the elliptical. As we don't have one of those at SSG, that's not entirely helpful, unfortunately.
That there pretty much describes exactly how I first learned to do HIIT...and like you, I was (am) crazy, and instead of doing 7min exercise I was generally at it for ~40min until I had no sugar left in my blood. In my first HIIT program I was doing ~30sec as hard and fast as possible on 80% or higher of the max resistance on the exercise bike at the gym I was at, and then pedaling at a much much lower resistance until my heart rate got back down to something like 140bpm, and then repeating it all again. That worked out to be one burst ever 3 minutes, IIRC.
I kind of wish I didn't know as much about Tabata training as I do, because people who know the specific details of the Tabata system turn into nitpicky wieners whenever it's mentioned on the internet, and now that grotesque side of me is showing... I used to think I did Tabata intervals, since I did 8x20:10 as fast as possible against resistance. Turns out that there's at least 1 more requirement before it can be called Tabata training (there are more specs again, but this one's the clincher): it all needs to be done at 170%VO2 Max. That kinda complicates things.
I did used to get a lot out of 8x20:10@max speed under load, but these days all forms of cardio are hit or miss for me. It's a disparity thing between strength and endurance, I think. My strength used to be low compared to my endurance, so I used to be able to do any form of cardio and it'd work. Nowadays I tend to find that I need a certain intensity in order for cardiovascular activities to actually feel anything like training; problem is, that intensity is typically too high to be able to endure it long enough to get a cardiovascular stimulus out of it. Alternatively, if I take the intensity down low enough to be able to maintain the activity, it becomes too low, and I'm fairly sure it doesn't have much of an actual training effect. One exception to this, as far as I can recall, is that at my old gym I was able to get a nice middle-ground on the elliptical. As we don't have one of those at SSG, that's not entirely helpful, unfortunately.
I don't have anything that can tell me what point of my VO2 max I am at and doubt many are portable enough to run down the road with I know I didn't do Tabata correctly but in reality most of us don't have that kit lying around so I winged it, hated it and stick with Timmons.
I am naturally set for stamina, worked for build then power with weights so the endurance gap was vast. Now I seem to have filled that, lost a bit of power and want it back but have that as a future plan. Having it all is my constant aim, it's great being so unrealistic. Middle ground always seems like moderation and no amount of knowing this is a good idea ever persuades me to do it as standard.
I am naturally set for stamina, worked for build then power with weights so the endurance gap was vast. Now I seem to have filled that, lost a bit of power and want it back but have that as a future plan. Having it all is my constant aim, it's great being so unrealistic. Middle ground always seems like moderation and no amount of knowing this is a good idea ever persuades me to do it as standard.
Middle ground is where I struggle the most, mentally. I'm so used to going 0...1...2...3, 98, 99, 100!, that the massive gap in the middle feels like too much effort for my lazy side and not enough effort for my working side. I think in the middle ground my attitude is something like: "This is kinda hard, but it's not hard enough to be worth the effort."
I have a very minimal idea of what I'll be in for over the next week. But I'm sure I'll come back pleased that I went. Goodbye for now, I'll be back to harass you guys in a week
I have a very minimal idea of what I'll be in for over the next week. But I'm sure I'll come back pleased that I went. Goodbye for now, I'll be back to harass you guys in a week
Enjoy. Good stuff on the session.
I've got a couple more intro posts to make, but they'll have to wait for the time being. If time permits, I may have the next one up in a couple of days. I've got a surprisingly high amount of commitments going on right now for someone who doesn't formally have any commitments to adhere to.
I am getting more used to the uncrossed front squats now, largely just rested on shoulders with finger guidance, but finger slippage is annoying.
Good to see training going well.
Good to see training going well.
I had one time earlier this year where the bar I was using had such pathetic knurling on it that finger slippage magically transformed my front squat into a zercher squat. That was entertaining. My legs have been informing me today of the session yesterday. I'll be training 6 days this week, if all goes to plan...then I may not get to do much training at all next week, due to some holiday that everyone else seems much more excited about than me.
Christmas is a great time for me. In fairness any opportunity to be at home with my family spoiling my son is a great time for me.
I make no bones about my son being spoiled. It goes too far occasionally and we aren't helping him understand how to do without things, but he's disciplined harshly, according to most, so shows virtually none of the spoiled brat traits.
I make no bones about my son being spoiled. It goes too far occasionally and we aren't helping him understand how to do without things, but he's disciplined harshly, according to most, so shows virtually none of the spoiled brat traits.
Body builder proud of not being as well built as others his strength, Doh!
Posting vids of my incompetence definitely helped me. Your critique was spot on, identified things I had and others I had missed.
I take it your other number in the new film is named Rosie (as in whole lotta ACDC style)
Posting vids of my incompetence definitely helped me. Your critique was spot on, identified things I had and others I had missed.
I take it your other number in the new film is named Rosie (as in whole lotta ACDC style)