Exercise/Fitness Log

[Ego]

I have a cycling question. (I tried googling it, but I'm not sure I'm using the right terms.) In running, there is an optimal step count/minute regardless of how fast a person is running. Is there something similar in cycling? Is there a certain pace I should be aiming for on a nice long ride?

Can of worms.

Revolutions per minute of the pedals is known in cycling as 'cadence'. Everyone has an opinion. I do better with an easier gear and higher cadence.

Here is a pretty good overview.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jh-5TYAtJI

[jennypenny]

I thought that guy was just riding his bike on the treadmill until he stopped pedaling.

Thanks for the link. I asked because I keep drifting back to my running cadence. and I wondered if that was best or just habit. I guess I'll play around with it.

I had to laugh at 177 bpm. I think my heart rate monitor would automatically dial 911 if my heart rate was that high for more than 30 seconds lol.

[Ego]

Last week one of the old guys at the gym crabbed his legs up the wall started trying to do handstands. He's a spry little guy, probably about seventy years old, but he's tough as an old nut and I was surprised how well he did. Of course, I asked him what he was thinking... a seventy-year-old doing handstands! He said he was a bit of an acrobat in his youth and since he was feeling good he thought he'd give it a go and see if he could still walk around on his hands. I had him give me some pointers and did okay.... not as good as him.... until I flopped over.

Today was round two. We both did better than the first time. He gave me a few more pointers. The plan, he says, is to slowly lay down the neuromuscular wiring as we are both strong enough to support ourselves. Once we get that we're going to walk around the room on our hands.

So, yeah, I am now in an ongoing handstand competition with a seventy-year-old.

[Farm_or]

@jennypenny - like ego says, cadence or rpm should be over 100. There's an art to developing the perfect pedal stroke. The perfect stroke is powered 360'. A lot of cycling coaches recommend concentrating on the pull back part "like scraping dog crap off your shoes". That's a good beginning and learning the flywheel action of the higher cadence. The pros do a couple thousand miles of high cadence before loading their knees with the higher gears. Some use fixed gear bikes so they are not tempted to gear up before the knees can take it. Sorry for the long answer; I was a cycling fanatic

@ego. That's awesome trying to walk on your hands. I tried it for awhile but didn't stay with it long enough to to get past four steps.

[Farm_or]

@ego forgot to add that practicing in a pool could help. Work your way to the shallow end where it's more difficult to walk on your hands

[Ego]

@ego forgot to add that practicing in a pool could help. Work your way to the shallow end where it's more difficult to walk on your hands

Mental image of speedo-clad me walking on my hands through the gaggle of blue haired ladies from the water aerobics class who permanently inhabit the shallow end of the pool....

I'll tell you how it goes.

[FBeyer]

Kettlebell Long Cycle and presses is starting to make me look like someone took a barrel of flesh and painted an outline of a sixpack on it and then thought: Naaah screw it, i'll go paint somewhere else.

In reality I'm supposed to be doing the Enter the Kettlebell program, but the endless ladders of presses are too boring for me to keep up for more than about two months at a time. This time I interspersed my EtK program with Long Cycle, jump rope, and pullups. The well-known whatthehell effect of kettlebells means that my time with long cycle has increased my pressing significantly. Yay!

Current program is thus 8 minute jump rope warmup AMRAP. Then 16 minutes of long cycle. When I rest from long cycle I do pullups instead. Haven't calculated the volume in kilogram-meters yet, but I think it's significant.

I've gone from pressing a 16 Kg bell to 24 Kg for reps in about a year and I've had several breaks where I didn't lift anything for about two months at a time.

I'm starting to look into supplementing the kettlebell program with yoga of some sort. KB for doing work and chopping down trees, yoga to sharpen the axe.

Stood on my head yesterday. Being upside down is surprisingly fun.

[vexed87]

I just used vouchers received for xmas to buy a turbo trainer so I can finally work some HIIT into my cycling. Also, I'm pretty excited to give Zwift a go. It's subscription based, so not very ERE but means I can work on my racing capabilities when it's icy out. My cardio fitness plateaued a long time ago, the commute really isn't the place to do HIIT as you need to keep some energy in reserve to get out of tricky situations as they unfold, so eager to see what a trainer can do to aid performance.

Also, before xmas I bought a KB and one of Pavel's books. I really need to get into gear with that. How long did it take you KB'ers to get into the swing of things? If you can excuse the pun

[FBeyer]

I'm mostly sorry for you that you're buying things to do cardio before giving kettlebells a proper go. Swings done right are so effective that jumping rope, even at high intensity, is something you do for warmup, or to keep warm between sets of swings. Once that gets easy, do Snatches, once those get easy, double kettlebell long cycle has you covered (and by covered I mean winded and miserable).

The beginning of Enter the Kettlebell is very nice. You're doing small concentrated sessions of turkish getups and swings. You're most likely going to start out fine and after a few weeks you'll do just great. For the next long while, you will most likely find a LOT of stuff to get better at regarding swings and form in general. Going to heavier kettlebells reveal a lot of small inaccuracies in your technique that you didn't notice so personally I've had a lot of benefit from doing a few workouts with a heavier bell from time to time, just to go back to my working weight and apply my new biomechanical experiences there.

The unwiedlyness (imadeaword) of non-competetion kettlebells means that, opposed to barbells, the movement mechanics are SLIGHTLY different depending on the bell weight, but it's different enough to make a difference when you're working with them.

I tried doing presses with an 8kg and a 16kg in the same hand to compare how it feels to a single 24 kg bell, it's really something and it means that I can tinker with my exercise for a VERY long time with the bells me and the GF own between us. 8, 12, 16, 20, and 24.

I'm genuinely surprised how much fun I'm having noodling around with kettlebells.
I think I love kettlebells. Sorry barbells...

So time getting into the swing of things: very little. Is there room to grow? Yes, definitely!

[FBeyer]

Kettle bell snatches. 16 kg 190 reps in 10 minutes.

[jacob]

https://www.theguardian.com/science/201 ... rchers-say

Reminder for the lazy potatoes out there ...

[Ego]

Handstand progress. 1X 40 seconds and 2X 30 seconds handstands this morning while barely touching the wall for balance. In the rest interval I do headstands for 90 seconds with a kipping pushup to handstand at the end of the rest like this one....
http://gymnasticswod.com/content/handstand-push-kip

Absolutely no progress with walking on my hands. I take one step and teeter. Eventually I will get there.

[Ego]

Increased to two 40 second and one 30 second handstand. After ten minutes of rest I did an additional 40 seconds. Progress is slow, thought I feel a little more balanced on my hands.

A few weeks ago I was running on a rainy Wednesday morning and ran into a November Project workout. I'm not sure how to describe them in a nutshell. Maybe the camaraderie of Crossfit but free and outdoor and more running based. They seem to be spreading quickly. Did I mention.... free.

Has anyone done a November Project workout?

https://november-project.com/

A movie about them here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwofbcpEUgw

[jennypenny]

I've spent the winter sitting at my desk working and reading copious amounts of material ... and now my ass is as flat as a pancake. I've been working out, but nothing structured or challenging. I need to find a goal that interests me enough to motivate me. I'm not good at winging it when it comes to exercise. I could sign up for a race but ... been there, done that. If I trained for a race, I'd want to combine it with a different type of goal (preferably strength-based).

I'm drawing a blank.

[Ego]

One of the great things about Jersey....

http://rays-notebook.info/ows/gpa.html

Most summer weekends there is a race somewhere in the state and they generally have a relatively reasonable raceday fee. Some of them have SUP races as well. Not exactly strength-based.

Another alternative...

https://sites.google.com/delawareriverr ... org/public

[FBeyer]

Kettle bell snatches. 16 kg 190 reps in 10 minutes.

Kettle bell snatches. 20 kg 126 reps in 8 minutes then I had blisters on both hands and had to stop.

Cardio is fine, strength is fine, grip strength is fine, but grip/catch technique is hampering my way to 200 reps in 10.

[enigmaT120]

Sunday I mowed for several hours. With my scythe. Then I finished up the taller grass on Monday. I was so whipped I didn't even feel like trail running yesterday. It's been raining forever but it's warm enough for the grass to grow. I should just leave the gate open and let the deer in to mow it.

[jennypenny]

Our new ERE exercise goal? https://youtu.be/Ji3-EzkOCtg

Watch the whole thing. It's ... humbling. He's barely breaking a sweat.

[FBeyer]

Our new ERE exercise goal? https://youtu.be/Ji3-EzkOCtg

Watch the whole thing. It's ... humbling. He's barely breaking a sweat.

Saw it a couple of days ago. Dude moves like he's running on hydraulics rather than bone and muscle!

[Chad]

Our new ERE exercise goal? https://youtu.be/Ji3-EzkOCtg

Watch the whole thing. It's ... humbling. He's barely breaking a sweat.

Extremely impressive and very inspiring, but not directly because of how in shape or strong he is currently. More so because of the impressive efficiency of movement and iron clad control of those movements. It's why I follow certain people on Instagram like some of the Crossfitters and one woman out of Seattle (@KaisaFit) who is extremely impressive.