Sweat365 » Archives » March, 2008
Sticking To Your New Fitness Goal
It’s easy to get excited about resolutions. Everyone wants to make changes to improve their health or accomplish a new fitness goal. We start out with great intentions. So, why is it difficult to stick to your plan?
Often our goals are vague. When setting a new goal you need to be as specific as you can. If you want to run a race, sign up for it. Make the necessary arrangements if travel is involved. Buy the appropriate gear that you need, i.e. shoes, shorts, etc.
1. Set Realistic Goals - If you want to run a half marathon, pick a race that’s 6 months from now if you are a beginner. If you have time goals, make sure they are realistic.
2. Break Your Goal Down - If your half marathon is in 6 months, you’ll want to be able to run a 10K in 3 months. You’ll want to be able to run a 5K in 2 months.
3. Get Expert Advice - Find a training plan or hire a coach or personal trainer. Make sure your trainer is experienced and certified. American College of Sports Medicine (A.C.S.M.), National Strength and Conditioning Association (N.S.C.A.) or American Counsel on Exercise (A.C.E.) are reputable certifying organizations.
4. Get Support - Find others who are doing the same thing. Seek out people who have similar goals. Use them for support. Maybe you can schedule work outs together.
5. Map out Your Training - Now that you have a plan to get to 5K, 10K, and half marathon put your training into a calendar. Refer to your calendar daily so that you can know what you are doing and when you are doing it.
6. Track Your Training - Track what you actually do. When you track your progress it’s easier to stay focused.
7. Be Accountable - Once you’ve declared your goal tell your friends and family. Share with them what you are doing and when. Ask them to support you by asking you how it’s going.
8. Be Flexible - Sometimes things happen that are beyond your control. You may need to change your schedule if something important comes up. Stick to your plan as much as you can, but know that if you miss a work out or two it’s not the end of the world.
9. Listen To Your Body - Your training plan may have you scheduled to run 5 miles, but if you aren’t feeling up to it because you haven’t gotten enough sleep or you haven’t recovered from yesterday’s work out, skip it. Rest is equally as important as training.
10. Think Positive - Visualize a positive outcome. Imagine yourself accomplishing your goal. There will be good days and days where you don’t feel as strong. Everything you do is bringing you one step closer to achieving your goal.
Remember to enjoy the journey. Every day is an opportunity to improve and be healthier. Take it one day at a time. Celebrate your success. Be patient and know that the more you put into the process, the more you will appreciate the end result. Health and fitness is not a short-term goal, but a lifelong journey. When you reach your goal, start thinking about what you want to do next.
Good luck!
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Running And Weight Loss
A lot of people begin a running program in order to lose weight. It’s true that running is one of the most effective cardiovascular work outs that you can do to burn calories. A 150 pound person can burn about 100 calories per mile. The calorie deficit adds up quickly for those trying to shed a few pounds.
Even though running burns a lot of calories, many runners complain that they find themselves gaining weight even though they are running longer distances. Runners need to be aware of how many calories they are eating. When the duration of the exercise increases, so does the appetite. Many runners find themselves indulging by treating themselves after hard work outs. The other thing that happens is when the work outs get longer and more difficult, it takes time to recover. If you are laying around on the coach recovering from your long run, you are probably burning less calories than you normally would during daily activities. If you are burning less calories, then you need to eat less to maintain or lose weight.
Tracking calories consumed and calories burned is a great way to keep moving toward your weight loss goal. Drinking plenty of water (1/2 your weight in ounces), eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, and spreading out your calories over the day will also aid your efforts. Nancy Clark suggests front loading your day. That means don’t skip breakfast. In fact eat a larger breakfast, maybe even 2 smallish lunches and a light dinner. When you spread out your calories you never get ravenous. You are less likely to cheat and eat larger portions or unhealthy foods.
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Balance Training For Injury Prevention
Muscles are stressed through limited ranges of motion specifically for specific sports. Runners and hikers tend to develop strong hip flexors. Sometimes the hip extensors or glutes are weaker relatively speaking. Cyclists tend to develop stronger quads than hamstrings. Balance dictates the relationship between agonist and corresponding antagonist muscles (hip flexors/hip extensors, quads/hamstrings, abs/low back, biceps/triceps, chest/back) be of complementary strength. Balance training can help restore muscles to proper function.
What is balance training?
I think of it as working on balance and coordination. Some people call it functional training. It’s the funky stuff that I do with my clients in the gym that rounds out their program by working all the little synergistic muscles, not just the big ones like quads and hamstrings. I use a variety of equipment such as half foam rollers, bosu balls, stability balls, medicine balls, bands and weights.
Here are some simple exercises that help balance out hips and glutes. Balancing on one leg also helps prevent plantar fasciitis because it causes you to use all the muscles of the foot for balance. These are also great for seniors. Working on balance and coordination helps prevent falls.
1. Ball Drop/Pick Up - Stand on your left foot, drop a medicine ball a foot in front of your left foot. Execute a 1 leg squat to pick the ball up with your right hand. Repeat 10 times. Repeat on the other side.
2. 1 Leg Reaches - Pretend your body is the center of a clock. Place a marker of some sort at 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock, and 6 o’clock. Stand on your left foot, reach your toe forwards as if to touch 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock and 6 o’clock. Keep hips even as you are reaching out. Return to the starting point in between each marker without touching the right foot to the ground. Repeat 5 times. Repeat on the other side. (Place markers at 12, 9, and 6)
3. Hip Flexor Lift on Half Foam Roll - Stand on your left foot, raise the right leg up like you are marching. Repeat 10 times without touching your foot to the ground. Keep hips even. Repeat on the other side.
4. Hip Abduction on Half Foam Roll - Stand on your left foot, lift the right leg out the the side to abduct the hip. Repeat 10 times without touching your foot to the ground. Keep hips even. Repeat on the other side.
I try to incorporate some of these exercises into every exercise routine. You can do this at home or when you are traveling. A little bit of work goes a long way to keeping your muscles balanced and functioning properly.
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Getting Ready For Racing
You’ve spent the last few months working out and you feel fairly fit. Now you are contemplating which events you’ll do this Spring and Summer. Whether you want to compete in triathlons, road races or cycling events, it’s time to up the ante.
Step 1 Aerobic Base - Developing an aerobic base takes time. Dedicating about 3 months to aerobic training is recommended for optimal performance. When you train aerobically oxygen is transported from the lungs. It attaches to the hemoglobin in your blood. The blood transports oxygen to the working muscles. Your heart, which is a muscle like any other, becomes larger and stronger. Capillaries and mitochondria increase as the demand for oxygen increases. The heart becomes more efficient and stroke volume increases. Mitochondria produce energy from fat and carbohydrate oxidation. Capillaries transport oxygenated blood to active muscles.
Once you’ve developed a strong aerobic engine, you’ll be able to carry more blood and oxygen to the working muscles. This helps to reduce and buffer lactic acid, which causes a burning sensation and reduces your ability to perform.
The aerobic system uses fat and glycogen (carbohydrate) for energy. During aerobic exercise fat is the primary fuel source burned with oxygen. VO2 (volume of oxygen) testing measures how efficient your are at utilizing oxygen. We have thousands of fat calories stored in our bodies, but we have a limited amount of glycogen (carbohydrate) in our muscles. We can only store about 2,000 calories of carbohydrates in our muscles. When glycogen is used as a fuel source, there is an accumulation of lactic acid. The less glycogen you use during exercise, the more efficient you’ll be.
2. Introduce More Intense Work Outs
3. Time For Speed
4. Time To Peak - Training volume decreases, but intensity levels are high. Make sure there is adequate time to recover between work outs. High intensity training should be done only twice per week, once mid-week and once over the weekend. At the end of this period you’ll taper prior to racing. This period should be about 3 weeks to a month.
5. Time To Race - You’ve established a base, increased strength, power, muscular endurance and speed. Now it’s time to put yourself to the test. Make sure that you get adequate rest between races. When you are not racing, fast rides or runs with a group will maintain your fitness until the next race. Racing season may last 5 or 6 weeks.
6. Transition Time - is the time for rest and recovery. You can still work out, but keep it light. Crosstraining and easy workouts are what will allow for complete recovery and avoiding injury. Transition can be anywhere from 1-2 months.
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