Exercise/Fitness Log

[henrik]

The first and last time I ran on a treadmill I did 15k in one go and when it stopped, I fell over and almost threw up.. didn't see that coming:) I.e., not only is there less forward force, there is a lot more balancing going on.

[Venom]

Recovering from a slightly torn ACL. Not to mention today was my first day walking to a freaking gym that is only 0.6 miles from my house. How ignorant of me, huh? Thank God for ERE . Here was today's training:

Squats 45lbsx10 135x3 185x3 225x5x5(going to up the weight 5lbs per WEEK)

Bench 45x5 95x5 135x5 175x5(sets)x3(reps)

Mid-Row 200lbs 5x10

KB Clean and Press 53lbsx3x6

I do pull-ups daily. Trying to get a weighted chin-up of ~90lbs for a set of 3. That's a very long term goal.

[Ego]

For the last three weeks I've done a 15min AMRAP consisting of:

-3 chest to bar kipping pullups: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RydVit1JIJU

-3 alternating offset pushups: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q5sk1a_n88

-3 20lb dumbbell shoulder presses https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-aVuyhvLHU

-3 25lb standing cable rows https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS6OKT0YXos

Near death experience. The last few sets of pullups were pathetic. Otherwise I was able to struggle through, gulping air before each set.

[Ian]

Looking up AMRAP, here was the first thing I got:
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Amrap

Doing as many reps as possible, though, that looks rough. I'm interested in that kind of routine for the sake of variety, but there's no way I could do it for 15 minutes...

[7Wannabe5]

DB Clean and Press 30 lbs.X10 setsX8 reps = 2400 overhead lbs. in 10 minutes

Which means that if I did the calculations correctly it might be a fair match if you put me in the ring with an 120 lb. male couch potato (especially if kicking was allowed.) My goal is 3600 overhead lbs. in 10 minutes. @ 5'9" 165 lbs. 38"28"40".

[trashcanfire]

This has been an interesting thread. I spent the morning reading through the whole thing. I'm always looking to optimize the set of body hacks I apply to my life. I'm kind of at a low point fitness-wise and I'm trying to reboot.

About 6 months ago was the best shape I have ever been in, and I got there fast. My mom had set me up with a girl that was going to visit me from out of town in about 3 weeks. I wanted to look as impressive as possible, and adopted this routine:

1 mile run, as fast as I could run it, up a ~500 ft vertical ascent.
1 mile walk, as fast as I could walk it, down a ~500 ft vertical descent. I walked to spare my knees.
Drop set of pull-ups starting from 10 (so 10, 9, 8 ... down to 1).
Drop set of push-ups starting from 15.
I did this 5 days a week.
Yoga 4 nights a week.

I adopted this diet:
Low carb. (No pastas or breads. I ate fruit, but avoided high GI ones like banana).
No dairy. (I have know I idea why I did this except I vaguely remembered reading that it might help with my skin; I'm prone to acne on my forehead.)
A TON of water.
A whole avocado everyday.

After being on this a few weeks, my brother, who hadn't seen me in a while, said I looked like a professional rock climber. My skin cleared up and started to "glow". I'm 35 and people said I could easily have passed for someone in their twenties.

It actually wasn't that hard of a routine to keep. I'm going to start it up again today and try to stick with it. I fell out of it because: 1) the girl I did this for passed on me and 2) I had a large stretch of work travel that I had trouble adjusting to (I'm like a full 5 years away from FI).

[jacob]

This whole running barefoot or socks as it may be is really beefing up the calves. Unfortunately, it's still the weak and slow point. Getting faster than a sad 10 min mile is proving to be a challenge. However, no shin-splints!!

[jennypenny]

You should always run on at least a slight incline on a treadmill to better simulate real running.

The best way to get faster is to get outside and run full-on sprints once a week. I like a simple sprint workout ... Go to an outdoor track. Run one easy lap around the track, then sprint straight through the middle of the field to the opposite side of the track. Then run another easy lap and then sprint down the middle, etc. That's also a good time to alternate directions if it won't annoy other runners on the track.

[jennypenny]

I had more surgery on frankenleg a couple of weeks ago. The doctor cleared me this week, so I'm walking on the treadmill. Shuffling would be a better term. I'm still rehabbing the leg and can't bend it much yet, so I'm forced to walk slowly. Picture a zombie walking and you get a good idea of what I look like (a slow zombie ).

I had a bad day yesterday when I focused too much on how far I have to go to get back to where I was. I'm not even ready for a C25K. I have to work myself back up to "C" first. I was tempted to give up since I know I have at least one more surgery coming up and I'll have to do the whole thing over again. I managed to talk myself out of the funk and got back on the treadmill this morning and lifted afterwards.

I'm cleared to lift with some limitations. I can't kneel, bend the leg too much, or touch my toes. I'm trying to figure out a work around for most things. I can do ab work if I prop the legs on the lat arm on the weight bench instead of doing curls. I can do barbell rows if I prop the bar up on boxes so I don't have to bend over all the way to the floor. Anyway, you get the idea. It's frustrating, but better than nothing.

No new music. I'm only listening to random stuff right now. It seems sacrilegious to put on Bullet for My Valentine or Rage Against the Machine while I do my stupid zombie shuffle on the treadmill.

[suomalainen]

I had a bad day yesterday when I focused too much on how far I have to go to get back to where I was...It's frustrating, but better than nothing.

I hear ya. I've done a lot of endurance type races (culminating in an ironman a few years ago). This summer, I got hit by a car and was on my back for about a month, then only PT and walking for about 2 months, then finally got cleared to slowly get back into running (can't bring myself to get back on the bike to share the road with commuters more concerned about getting to their destination than, you know, not killing people, and, well, I'd have to buy a new bike since the other one got mangled). I'm up to a half-mile run/walk. Pathetic, and frustrating as hell. Anyway, just wanted to offer that bit of sympathy and some unsolicited advice to focus on the week-to-week improvement rather than looking forward to that far-off destination. I guess kinda like ERE, right? Good luck!

[Redbelliedhound]

I'm currently working on trying to get back into shape as well as getting more flexible. I have about twenty pounds to lose right now and I've been struggling to workout at least five days a week. Seven hours of my work day is walking, so it's hard to stay inspired to workout before or after work.

I've recently discovered yoga and I'm loving it. Sadly, without spending any more money I'm limited to yoga once a week unless I'm just fooling around by myself. I'm still not entirely sure what I'm doing to have a structured self workout. Trying to teach myself so if anyone has any good online resources, I'd love it.


Yoga Friday night, did a spin class Saturday morning, relaxed Sunday, and going to run in the morning Monday. Trying to stay consistent and keep disciplined. I love to snack. ;[

[jennypenny]

I had a bad day yesterday when I focused too much on how far I have to go to get back to where I was...It's frustrating, but better than nothing.

I hear ya. I've done a lot of endurance type races (culminating in an ironman a few years ago). This summer, I got hit by a car and was on my back for about a month, then only PT and walking for about 2 months, then finally got cleared to slowly get back into running (can't bring myself to get back on the bike to share the road with commuters more concerned about getting to their destination than, you know, not killing people, and, well, I'd have to buy a new bike since the other one got mangled). I'm up to a half-mile run/walk. Pathetic, and frustrating as hell. Anyway, just wanted to offer that bit of sympathy and some unsolicited advice to focus on the week-to-week improvement rather than looking forward to that far-off destination. I guess kinda like ERE, right? Good luck!

That sucks! It's so frustrating when you can't move the way you're used to or the way your brain thinks you should. Will you make a full recovery?


I've made some progress. I worked myself up to 5 miles/day (even though it took over 2 hours the first time I walked that far). I straightened my gait out which helped. Then last week I was cleared to run. I'm only able to do a run/walk (can only run 2 minutes at a time right now) and it hurts like a mother, but I'm grinding through it. I look horrible--like I don't have knees or something--but I'm keeping my pace up to minimize injuries. I'm too tired to lift after running most days, but I'll live with that for now.

current music:
I'm using Outkast's Hey Ya for pacing while running. My walking songs are alt-J's Left Hand Free, Big Data's Dangerous, some Arctic Monkeys like R U Mine, and lots of Crash Kings like Mountain Man, Saving Grace and You Got Me. (I love that Crash Kings album--one of my favorites)

[jacob]

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-31095384 <- does anyone have access to the original research to see what assumptions they made?

[George the original one]

Synopsis says:

Background: People who are physically active have at least a 30% lower risk of death during follow-up compared with those who are inactive. However, the ideal dose of exercise for improving longevity is uncertain.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between jogging and long-term, all-cause mortality by focusing specifically on the effects of pace, quantity, and frequency of jogging.

Methods: As part of the Copenhagen City Heart Study, 1,098 healthy joggers and 3,950 healthy nonjoggers have been prospectively followed up since 2001. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was performed with age as the underlying time scale and delayed entry.

Results: Compared with sedentary nonjoggers, 1 to 2.4 h of jogging per week was associated with the lowest mortality (multivariable hazard ratio [HR]: 0.29; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.11 to 0.80). The optimal frequency of jogging was 2 to 3 times per week (HR: 0.32; 95% CI: 0.15 to 0.69) or ≤1 time per week (HR: 0.29; 95% CI: 0.12 to 0.72). The optimal pace was slow (HR: 0.51; 95% CI: 0.24 to 1.10) or average (HR: 0.38; 95% CI: 0.22 to 0.66). The joggers were divided into light, moderate, and strenuous joggers. The lowest HR for mortality was found in light joggers (HR: 0.22; 95% CI: 0.10 to 0.47), followed by moderate joggers (HR: 0.66; 95% CI: 0.32 to 1.38) and strenuous joggers (HR: 1.97; 95% CI: 0.48 to 8.14).

Conclusions: The findings suggest a U-shaped association between all-cause mortality and dose of jogging as calibrated by pace, quantity, and frequency of jogging. Light and moderate joggers have lower mortality than sedentary nonjoggers, whereas strenuous joggers have a mortality rate not statistically different from that of the sedentary group.

[slimicy]

Here's some related info, from an ex-professional distance runner:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-evid ... ic-cardio/

[Ego]

Somewhere between 1/2 - 2/3 of the population see self destruction as a virtue. Where they used to destroy themselves fighting for crown or clan, they now use cigs or drink or drugs or food or any other socially acceptable means to deliver themselves to the end sooner.

Last weekend we did a 12k trail running race, the 'beginner' contest part of the South African national championship 80k. There is little doubt in my mind that those 80k runners where exercising their equivalent of smoking three packs a day.

[Chad]

The problem with these studies is they can't control all the variables. The extremist runners/joggers are probably also extreme in other parts of their lives. They may work ridiculous hours at jobs with very high stress or they may eat garbage because their workouts burn tons of calories (2,000 calories of Doritoes is not the same as 2,000 calories of real food), it's hard to tell. With that said, these studies are still probably on to something. It seems to generally not be healthy to take any lifestyle to the extreme for decades at a time.

[henrik]

I find it very suspicious that they define intensity through pace ("scientists concluded the ideal pace was about 5mph (8km/h)") and "times per week". It is almost like defining the cost of a car through the monthly lease payment:)
It is likely that there are cumulative adverse effects from intense training over time, but "pace" and "times" are not units to measure intensity or load. I don't know what is, but it should at least include heart rate as a component.
Also, 8 km/h is speed; assuming constant movement, the corresponding pace would be 07:30 min/km.

[DSKla]

Agreed, Henrik. Since we're talking about jogging, the implied pace is a low percentage of maximum output sustained over a longer period of time, relying heavily on the aerobic pathway, so all that should be moot. What we're really talking about is volume and frequency. How far, how often.

It doesn't surprise me a bit that at the extreme end, there are less health benefits. You could probably do the same study with most training modalities. For example, sedentary people and elite powerlifters versus the guys with a 1,000 lb total. Specialization comes with a price.

[J_]

Since ten years I do cross country skiing in winter, since four years I do the skating variant of it. More speed, much more power to put in. Much freer for the knees as your movements are not restricted to groves in the snow. The feeling is as gentle as cycling but more of my body is involved as my arms are delivering about 40% of the speed and there is a constant need for balancing to react to changes in the slope upwards or downwards or to the snow condition. I am now in the third month of the three and a half months-wintercycle and I feel/see (good for the mind/no belly fat) the benefits of having almost every day a workout in crisp fresh mountain air. (I add kettle bell excercises for overall strenth and pilatus on the floor for souplesse)
It is perhaps a good idea Jennypenny ( and other runners) , to recover from running injuries to try this sport.