Exercise & Fitness

[peterbound]

So the bar scraping my shins doesn't hurt so much anymore. Now it just kind of itches.

Wear longer socks

http://lifeasrx.com/asrx/mens/menacc/accessories-socks-unisex-wodkilla.html

[Harlot]

Thanks alg. The encouragement is very appreciated. Decided to take another day's rest this morning, but I might run 3 instead of 4 this afternoon if this soreness has subsided. My legs are feeling much better today. I downloaded all my info to the Garmin website last night and was happy to see that I was still under 11 min/mile as you pointed out. It did make me feel better and more confident. Like I said, just needed to get my head on straight. As the saying goes "90% of the game is half mental" :)

[Fleeing Finn]

Congrats Vethnar! Great stuff!

[cjfshaw]

Please send good karma my way, fellow runners. Shin splints have really started hurting, despite the NSAID gel that my orthopedic doc gave me. Even when I'm not moving, they're hurting.

I may have to calm down the hill work and do some more spin classes.

Toe raises all day erry day.

[cjfshaw]

A question about clean and press form. While preparing to do the clean, and throughout the movement, are you shoulders supposed to be tight like when you do pull ups? Also, after the clean and before the press are you supposed to be holding it like you do in a front squat? Because I don't see how your hands can press the bar from that position.

[Eponine]

Please send good karma my way, fellow runners. Shin splints have really started hurting, despite the NSAID gel that my orthopedic doc gave me. Even when I'm not moving, they're hurting.

I may have to calm down the hill work and do some more spin classes.

If you're doing hill workouts, run up the hills normally and walk/jog down backwards.

[alguien]

If you're doing hill workouts, run up the hills normally and walk/jog down backwards.

This.

And stretch the hell out of your calves after a run. 30 second intervals. 3-4 times. Always helps me. Used to have bloody awful shin splints in high school, to the point where I couldn't launch off my left foot. Ever since I became a religious stretcher, they haven't been a problem.

[Greywolf2375]

Been testing out all of the joints over the last month - shoulder, knee, wrist, elbow. All seem to be in working order, so for the first time in about 7 months, I'll be able to workout consistently. Set myself new goals - as of 6/1, at 203lbs, 17.4% body fat; as of 8/31 will be 200lbs, 9.5% body fat. The mission begins.

OK, so I failed my mission. Kinda.

As of 8/31 my BFI is down - 14.2%, I can even see the outline of abs. My weight is going in the opposite direction - which I am ok with considering how I still feel - up to 209.4lbs.

[peterbound]

A question about clean and press form. While preparing to do the clean, and throughout the movement, are you shoulders supposed to be tight like when you do pull ups? Also, after the clean and before the press are you supposed to be holding it like you do in a front squat? Because I don't see how your hands can press the bar from that position.

Your shoulders should be 'pulling' in a shrug like manner after your hips are fully extended and you get the feeling of coming up on your toes. The hip explosion should be vertical, not horizontal, thinking jumping not humping.

As the hips explode the power should be transferred up through your body into your shoulders and you should shrug the weight up. The power from your shoulders should then be transferred to your arms, resulting in high elbows. You then should endeavor to get underneath the bar and rack it on your delts, you can at this point (and should be) in a front squat position. Knees out, on your heels, elbows high.

From here (per olympic regs) you can readjust for the jerk (the actual movement that is usually associated with a clean. A press is a movement that does not require 'catching' the weight.) Get the weight stable on your shoulders and prep for the jerk. The elbows should be slightly in front of your body. Not so high as to do a front squat, but enough to keep the weight stable on your body. At this point, think of your arms as pistons. Dip and drive /Quickly/ and get underneath the weight with your arms fully extended upon the 'catch' (to make it legit). You can push jerk or split jerk, up to you (i prefer the split with heavy weight).

Linking the burgener warm up for you to practice the transfer of power through your hips (although it is usually used for snatch, you can modify it for cleans), and some examples of the clean/jerk.

[Mudguard]

If you're doing hill workouts, run up the hills normally and walk/jog down backwards.

Walking or jogging down a hill backwards seems like it would be really awkward to do. Don't you have to keep twisting your head around to look over your shoulder so that you can see where you're going? If you don't do that, how do you avoid hazards?

[Eponine]

Do it on smooth pavement, keep the edge of the road right next to you.

[Mudguard]

Seems like that would work well with something like hill repeats, where you are repeatedly going up and down the same incline, since you would be able to see all the hazards (rocks, dog shit, etc.) on the way up and you could clear them out of the path before you go down backwards.

If there were any street crossings, I'd be uncomfortable running backwards since I can be absent minded and could easily see myself inadvertently jogging backwards into the intersection without stopping unless I was looking backwards periodically. A bicycle path/paved trail up a hill without any street crossings would be perfect though.

[cjfshaw]

First American woman to win gold at the World Track Championships in 30 years.

Unrelated note, swmming and pools are awesome.

[Reek]

I've got a question about training intervals.

Last night instead of my regular 3 mile jog, I did a series of timed intervals. I set a repeating timer for 30 seconds. Every time it beeped I'd change my pace.

30 seconds each starting at a walk, then a jog then a run (not quite a sprint).

I originally planned on doing 10 reps through the cycle, but I lost count around #8... Ten reps should have taken me 15 minutes but I was still doing intervals at 21 minutes. I figure I covered about 2.5 miles before I decided to jog another half mile, then a cool down walk to a stop.

I guess my question is: is this the best way to be training intervals? Is 30 seconds too much or not enough of a timer at each pace?

Eventually I'd like to work up to about 30 straight minutes.

[Eponine]

Reek, yes, that's a good way to do intervals. If you can't run very far without stopping, have you considered cool running's couch to 5k schedule?

It's good to mix up your workouts and speeds though - what you're doing, I would consider more like a warmup to do for about half a mile before trying to extend your endurance, assuming you don't just flat up want to be a sprinter, in which case 30s intervals still aren't quite the thing.

[Reek]

I can jog a 5k no problem... My 3 mile time is under 25 minutes if I really hustle. That's all at one medium pace though. Really what I want to work on is my recovery time after short bursts of strenuous exercise.

I do SCA armored combat and I'm hoping these intervals will simulate the type of conditions I have to deal with when I am in armor and fighting. Basically, a bout lasts about 30-60 seconds tops before someone gets hit. Most of that time is maneuvering and footwork type stuff; testing the waters. But once range is established and we really get to wailing on each other it's seriously hard work. Either someone gets hit and we reset the fight and go at it again, or no one gets hit and we do another pass until someone wins...

What I am saying is that the pace of the fight is not set at one speed. I figure training intervals is a good simulation of the types of stress I am putting on my cardiovascular and respiratory systems...

I feel like my endurance is pretty good. If I wanted to I could train up to a 5 or 10 mile race in a few months... but really, I don't think that type of steady pace running is a good analogue for what I am training for. Does that make things more clear?

[peterbound]

I can jog a 5k no problem... My 3 mile time is under 25 minutes if I really hustle. That's all at one medium pace though. Really what I want to work on is my recovery time after short bursts of strenuous exercise.

I do SCA armored combat and I'm hoping these intervals will simulate the type of conditions I have to deal with when I am in armor and fighting. Basically, a bout lasts about 30-60 seconds tops before someone gets hit. Most of that time is maneuvering and footwork type stuff; testing the waters. But once range is established and we really get to wailing on each other it's seriously hard work. Either someone gets hit and we reset the fight and go at it again, or no one gets hit and we do another pass until someone wins...

What I am saying is that the pace of the fight is not set at one speed. I figure training intervals is a good simulation of the types of stress I am putting on my cardiovascular and respiratory systems...

I feel like my endurance is pretty good. If I wanted to I could train up to a 5 or 10 mile race in a few months... but really, I don't think that type of steady pace running is a good analogue for what I am training for. Does that make things more clear?

www.crossfit.com

and i'm resisting the urge to make fun of SCA right now. This being the 'nice' thread and all.

[lokisnow]

I've been doing intervals on the treadmill on non-lifting days, I started with 30 minutes (which is seven speed intervals, eight walking intervals) and add 2 minutes per workout until I got to 40 minutes (which is 10 speed intervals and 10 walking intervals). I also started at 6.5 for my run speed and added two-tenths speed each workout until I got up to 7.5. I started off with the treadmill set at 1.5 degrees for those first six workouts. I'm now increasing the incline two-tenths each workout. last night was the first night of increasing the incline, modestly up to 1.7 degrees. I didn't think I would actually notice a difference, but wow, I definitely did. Impressively more difficult than my last workout at 1.5 degrees. wwo.

[Stego]

and i'm resisting the urge to make fun of SCA right now. This being the 'nice' thread and all.

This is a forum for fantasy book geeks. We can't really judge.

[Eponine]

I can jog a 5k no problem... My 3 mile time is under 25 minutes if I really hustle. That's all at one medium pace though. Really what I want to work on is my recovery time after short bursts of strenuous exercise.

Ah, when you said you wanted to work up to 30 minutes, I thought you meant of running. I don't know anything about SCA, but it seems that you might want to take up the same kind of training as a fencer.