If you've followed TOJ for awhile, you've seen an increasing focus on the importance of doing intense exercise, not just light aerobics. The evidence that hard exercise pays health dividends, regardless of your age, continues to mount.
Read this illuminating article by Bruce Grierson about a record breaking, 91 year-old athlete named Olga Kotelko. What drew my attention wasn't her athletic accomplishments, but what exercise physiologists in Canada believe is responsible for them. Grierson writes:
"EXERCISE HAS BEEN shown to add between six and seven years to a life span (and improve the quality of life in countless ways). Any doctor who didn’t recommend exercise would be immediately suspect. But for most seniors, that prescription is likely to be something like a daily walk or Aquafit. It’s not quarter-mile timed intervals or lung-busting fartleks. There’s more than a little suffering in the difference.
Here, though, is the radical proposition that’s starting to gain currency among researchers studying masters athletes: what if intense training does something that allows the body to regenerate itself?"
The source of our physical energy is in our cells, which reproduce themselves many times during our lives. Scientists believe a significant cause of the visible effects of aging (wrinkles, muscle loss) is the aging of our cells. One theory is that cells age because what are called telomeres at the end of our chromosomes, containing the code to replicate the cell, grow shorter, thus losing some genetic information with each cell replication that happens 50 or so times during the average lifetime.
What intrigues the physiologists about Olga is that she still has long telomeres, which may be giving her the lung and heart capacity and strength of a much younger person. It might be that intense exercise induces the production of an enzyme called telomerase that enables telomeres to maintain their genetic code (DNA) and thus produce healthy mitochondria inside cells that fuels human performance at all ages.
Every TOJ knows intense exercise makes you feel good. Now there's another reason to go hard. It helps you stay healthy and strong for much longer.
Showing posts with label interval training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label interval training. Show all posts
Fast Twitch
Many folks (me included some years), trying to stay healthy and active by running 10Ks and marathons, developed a high maximum oxygen uptake and low pulse rate. However, exercise science has discovered that we were exercising only half our muscles. Likely to our detriment.
Our bodies have three types of muscle fibers: slow, fast, and faster. These descriptions have nothing to do with how fast they contract, but the amount of time it takes for them to fatigue. Slow twitch are mobilized during aerobic exercise -- jogging, rowing, cycling -- and rely on oxygen. The fast twitch are mobilized in the transition from aerobic to anaerobic -- sprinting and intense weight lifting -- and rely on both oxygen from your blood and glycogen, stored in your muscles. The fastest fibers, which are mobilized for only a few seconds of the most intense exertions and called white muscle fibers, rely solely on glycogen.
Unfortunately, if you only do aerobic activities, your fast twitch fibers sit idle and unused. You might wonder so what? Because you are compromising your long term health and well-being. They play a vital role in your health by helping your body naturally produce human growth hormone (HGH), which is especially important to a TOJ.
Once we pass our twenties, our bodies start to produce about 14% less human growth hormone per decade, a process that is called somatopause. This leads to a host of potential long term health problems. The most visible one is the tendency to carry more fat in your belly and hips. But the less visible ones are more serious, including loss of muscle mass, cognitive decline, decreased bone density, decreased totally body water, and insulin resistance, to name a few.
Watch this informative discussion between Dr. Joseph Mercola, a burnt-out runner, and Dr. Phil Campbell, trainer and author of Ready, Set, Go! Synergy Fitness. Campbell provides an insightful explanation on the role of intense exercise and natural production of human growth hormone. The good news is that very intense anaerobic exercise give you the same natural HGH boost as an injection.
Campbell has a training system that relies on extreme exertion. He often uses sprinting because he professionally coaches athletes who want to run faster, but his technique can also be applied to exercise bikes and other training apparatus. It is very simple: you go all out for 30 seconds, rest for 90 seconds, then go all out again for 30 seconds. Until you have done 8 reps. He says if you can do more, you aren't going all out. Mercola says in the last few seconds of these reps he was "nauseous" and "almost unconscious."
What Campbell advocates is at the root of all types of anaerobic training and has a sound physiological basis. It might sound extreme, but it's really not. You might feel very uncomfortable, but it's only for a short time, and there's a big payoff. You cannot stop the body changes that come with aging, but you can slow them.
So an aerobic/anaerobic balance is good for you. Yesterday, I enjoyed a leisurely trail run. The weather was clear and beautiful. I always run a few days a week. It releases endorphins giving me the runner's high, and my slow twitch muscles love it.
Today, it's snowing. Perfect for a fast twitch day.
Our bodies have three types of muscle fibers: slow, fast, and faster. These descriptions have nothing to do with how fast they contract, but the amount of time it takes for them to fatigue. Slow twitch are mobilized during aerobic exercise -- jogging, rowing, cycling -- and rely on oxygen. The fast twitch are mobilized in the transition from aerobic to anaerobic -- sprinting and intense weight lifting -- and rely on both oxygen from your blood and glycogen, stored in your muscles. The fastest fibers, which are mobilized for only a few seconds of the most intense exertions and called white muscle fibers, rely solely on glycogen.
Unfortunately, if you only do aerobic activities, your fast twitch fibers sit idle and unused. You might wonder so what? Because you are compromising your long term health and well-being. They play a vital role in your health by helping your body naturally produce human growth hormone (HGH), which is especially important to a TOJ.
Once we pass our twenties, our bodies start to produce about 14% less human growth hormone per decade, a process that is called somatopause. This leads to a host of potential long term health problems. The most visible one is the tendency to carry more fat in your belly and hips. But the less visible ones are more serious, including loss of muscle mass, cognitive decline, decreased bone density, decreased totally body water, and insulin resistance, to name a few.
Watch this informative discussion between Dr. Joseph Mercola, a burnt-out runner, and Dr. Phil Campbell, trainer and author of Ready, Set, Go! Synergy Fitness. Campbell provides an insightful explanation on the role of intense exercise and natural production of human growth hormone. The good news is that very intense anaerobic exercise give you the same natural HGH boost as an injection.
Campbell has a training system that relies on extreme exertion. He often uses sprinting because he professionally coaches athletes who want to run faster, but his technique can also be applied to exercise bikes and other training apparatus. It is very simple: you go all out for 30 seconds, rest for 90 seconds, then go all out again for 30 seconds. Until you have done 8 reps. He says if you can do more, you aren't going all out. Mercola says in the last few seconds of these reps he was "nauseous" and "almost unconscious."
What Campbell advocates is at the root of all types of anaerobic training and has a sound physiological basis. It might sound extreme, but it's really not. You might feel very uncomfortable, but it's only for a short time, and there's a big payoff. You cannot stop the body changes that come with aging, but you can slow them.
So an aerobic/anaerobic balance is good for you. Yesterday, I enjoyed a leisurely trail run. The weather was clear and beautiful. I always run a few days a week. It releases endorphins giving me the runner's high, and my slow twitch muscles love it.
Today, it's snowing. Perfect for a fast twitch day.
Food, Fitness and Fat
"The experts are always telling us to 'Listen to your body!' But if I listened to my body, I'd live on toffee pops and port wine. Don't tell me to listen to my body...It's trying to turn me into a blob!"
-- Roger Robinson, New Zealand Masters Runner ***
I guess lots of Amercians are listening to their bodies. Recently the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published a study which projects that by 2020, 75% of Americans will be overweight or obese. The OECD is concerned about this because obesity has a direct impact not just on the individual, but on rising healthcare costs. Overweight has a causal connection to cancer, heart disease, diabetes and a host of skeletal problems. In fact, obesity can shorten a life by 8-10 years.
The obesity epidemic is occurring mainly in the industrialized world. The causes are well known. Too much poor quality, cheap fast food, too much sitting in cars and subways, too much sitting in front of computers and school desks, too much eating.
The flip side of these "too much's" is too little -- too little exercise, too little eating of more nutritious foods, too little eating of smaller portions, too little rest, too little suport in the workplace for wellness. It was disappointing to see a NY Times article this week reporting that after two decades of federal programs to encourage Americans to eat more vegetables, only 23% of Americans eat even one vegetable with their meals when french fries are excluded.
Luckily, once you get on the path to fitness you start to realize that years of brain-washing by our culture and advertising make it necessary to reconsider all our assumptions about food and our cravings. The food industry, indifferent to the effects of their industrialized products on your body (they leave it to the healthcare system to deal with it), has made it necessary to become more picky about exactly what your body does listen to.
Most Americans are addicted to sugar and fat before they are teenagers (I speak from experience). Our bodies are the product of evolution. Not that long ago, when our ancestors were hunter-gatherers, fat and sugar were rare commodities. Our body needs both, but not in the amounts and forms heavily marketed nowadays. We crave them naturally, and the food industry stands ready to satisfy our cravings at a nice profit.
But once fitness becomes a focus in your life, so does food. Strength, endurance, reflexes, balance, ability to rest and sense of well being are all affected by food choices. For a TOJ, food is even more important to ensure muscles receive adequate nutrients to repair and grow and to maintain a strong immune system as the body is subjected to the stress of exercise.
When you exercise frequently and hard, you also begin to rewire your cravings. You become less satisfied by consuming empty calories with few nutrients. Soda pop, burgers, fries and soft serve ice cream pass into history like your youth.
*** Quote from "The Quotable Runner" edited by Mark Will-Weber
-- Roger Robinson, New Zealand Masters Runner ***
I guess lots of Amercians are listening to their bodies. Recently the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published a study which projects that by 2020, 75% of Americans will be overweight or obese. The OECD is concerned about this because obesity has a direct impact not just on the individual, but on rising healthcare costs. Overweight has a causal connection to cancer, heart disease, diabetes and a host of skeletal problems. In fact, obesity can shorten a life by 8-10 years.
The obesity epidemic is occurring mainly in the industrialized world. The causes are well known. Too much poor quality, cheap fast food, too much sitting in cars and subways, too much sitting in front of computers and school desks, too much eating.
The flip side of these "too much's" is too little -- too little exercise, too little eating of more nutritious foods, too little eating of smaller portions, too little rest, too little suport in the workplace for wellness. It was disappointing to see a NY Times article this week reporting that after two decades of federal programs to encourage Americans to eat more vegetables, only 23% of Americans eat even one vegetable with their meals when french fries are excluded.
Luckily, once you get on the path to fitness you start to realize that years of brain-washing by our culture and advertising make it necessary to reconsider all our assumptions about food and our cravings. The food industry, indifferent to the effects of their industrialized products on your body (they leave it to the healthcare system to deal with it), has made it necessary to become more picky about exactly what your body does listen to.
Most Americans are addicted to sugar and fat before they are teenagers (I speak from experience). Our bodies are the product of evolution. Not that long ago, when our ancestors were hunter-gatherers, fat and sugar were rare commodities. Our body needs both, but not in the amounts and forms heavily marketed nowadays. We crave them naturally, and the food industry stands ready to satisfy our cravings at a nice profit.
But once fitness becomes a focus in your life, so does food. Strength, endurance, reflexes, balance, ability to rest and sense of well being are all affected by food choices. For a TOJ, food is even more important to ensure muscles receive adequate nutrients to repair and grow and to maintain a strong immune system as the body is subjected to the stress of exercise.
When you exercise frequently and hard, you also begin to rewire your cravings. You become less satisfied by consuming empty calories with few nutrients. Soda pop, burgers, fries and soft serve ice cream pass into history like your youth.
*** Quote from "The Quotable Runner" edited by Mark Will-Weber
CrossFit: Short, Intense, Effective and Cool
My daughter, who has run triathlons and marathons, let me come observe her CrossFit class in Bend, Oregon. With two kids and demanding work hours, she found herself not always having the time to go on one or more hour runs so was looking for an alternative that maintains fitness in less time. The Bend CrossFit is located in a warehouse outfitted with lots of chin up bars, free weights, kettlebells, still rings for arm dips, crunch back supporters and other basic, first rate training gear. I liked it immediately because it had the feel of a place where people go to exercise hard, not smell the ferns, share stock tips and drink carrot juice.
As anyone who reads this blog knows, there's a paradigm shift underway as to what is the best combination of exercise to maintain and improve fitness. Since the running boom started in the 60's, exercise, especially for cardio benefits and endurance, was synonymous with aerobics. However, in the mid-90's, the near cult of aerobics started to come under scientific scrutiny.
One of the first to produce evidence to challenge aerobics was Izumi Tabata, a physiologist at at Japanese institute, who proved that a person sprinting for 20 seconds at high intensity, then resting for 10 seconds, then sprinting again for 20 seconds, resting again for 10 seconds, and repeating this pattern for a total of only 4 minutes improved in both VO2 max., a key measure of cardio capacity, and in anaerobic capacity far beyond persons who run 1o times as much at a slower (aerobic) speed. (Go here to find out more about Tabata and his training routines because they are worthwhile.)
However, since the 90's, the empirical studies about exercise have gone way beyond Tabata's narrowly focused study. In many ways, CrossFit, a trademarked name for a system, is a culmination of those studies. When you visit their web site, you'll see that they intend to provide a comprehensive system that includes not only cardio benefits, but strength, stamina, balance, power, and flexibility. The system really places an emphasis on functional strength and endurance, what you need in everyday life and as the foundation for any athletic discipline. This TOJ was especially attracted to the truth in this line in the website: "The needs of Olympic athletes and our grandparents differ by degree not kind." That is at the heart of a TOJ's philosophy.
One of the first things you notice at a CrossFit class is that people are warming up seriously. I saw people stretching, running brisk laps around the building, doing sit ups and pull ups, dropping into squats, starting to bead up with sweat. People said hello to one another, but they quickly got absorbed with preparation. The CrossFit gym seems pretty B.S. free. Another thing you notice is that most of the people look already lean and muscular (people not as fit could find intimidating, but wouldn't for long because fitness comes fast at that intensity level).
The class was conducted by two trainers who looked like they walked the talk and were nice enough to say hello and introduce themselves when I came in. They called everybody together and outlined the day's workout, which is always deceptively simple, very strenuous and done in the shortest time in which the athlete/person can complete the entire routine. The routine that day was 10 sets of 10 sit ups, 10 squats, 10 pull ups, and 10 dips. Routines change each session to work different muscles and provide variety. Usually people attend a class 3-5 times a week.
When the trainers looked at the stop watch and said start, the dozen participants went to various apparatus and worked out continuously. No talk, no breaks, lots of grunts and hard breathing, a little water for a couple of them. The trainers would go around and help correct posture, get someone settled into an assistance band (dips and pull up equipment had elastic foot loops to help those still who needed assistance to lift their full body weight that number of reps), and encourage the good effort being made, especially in those last few reps that looked like killers.
One by one each of them completed the routine, usually between 20 and 25 minutes. When one of the guys came to get his water bottle near where I was standing, I said, "Looks like fun."
He smiled and said, "It really is, when it's over."
This TOJ believes him. There are lots of fads in the exercise business, but this isn't one of them. They are on to something.
As anyone who reads this blog knows, there's a paradigm shift underway as to what is the best combination of exercise to maintain and improve fitness. Since the running boom started in the 60's, exercise, especially for cardio benefits and endurance, was synonymous with aerobics. However, in the mid-90's, the near cult of aerobics started to come under scientific scrutiny.
One of the first to produce evidence to challenge aerobics was Izumi Tabata, a physiologist at at Japanese institute, who proved that a person sprinting for 20 seconds at high intensity, then resting for 10 seconds, then sprinting again for 20 seconds, resting again for 10 seconds, and repeating this pattern for a total of only 4 minutes improved in both VO2 max., a key measure of cardio capacity, and in anaerobic capacity far beyond persons who run 1o times as much at a slower (aerobic) speed. (Go here to find out more about Tabata and his training routines because they are worthwhile.)
However, since the 90's, the empirical studies about exercise have gone way beyond Tabata's narrowly focused study. In many ways, CrossFit, a trademarked name for a system, is a culmination of those studies. When you visit their web site, you'll see that they intend to provide a comprehensive system that includes not only cardio benefits, but strength, stamina, balance, power, and flexibility. The system really places an emphasis on functional strength and endurance, what you need in everyday life and as the foundation for any athletic discipline. This TOJ was especially attracted to the truth in this line in the website: "The needs of Olympic athletes and our grandparents differ by degree not kind." That is at the heart of a TOJ's philosophy.
One of the first things you notice at a CrossFit class is that people are warming up seriously. I saw people stretching, running brisk laps around the building, doing sit ups and pull ups, dropping into squats, starting to bead up with sweat. People said hello to one another, but they quickly got absorbed with preparation. The CrossFit gym seems pretty B.S. free. Another thing you notice is that most of the people look already lean and muscular (people not as fit could find intimidating, but wouldn't for long because fitness comes fast at that intensity level).
The class was conducted by two trainers who looked like they walked the talk and were nice enough to say hello and introduce themselves when I came in. They called everybody together and outlined the day's workout, which is always deceptively simple, very strenuous and done in the shortest time in which the athlete/person can complete the entire routine. The routine that day was 10 sets of 10 sit ups, 10 squats, 10 pull ups, and 10 dips. Routines change each session to work different muscles and provide variety. Usually people attend a class 3-5 times a week.
When the trainers looked at the stop watch and said start, the dozen participants went to various apparatus and worked out continuously. No talk, no breaks, lots of grunts and hard breathing, a little water for a couple of them. The trainers would go around and help correct posture, get someone settled into an assistance band (dips and pull up equipment had elastic foot loops to help those still who needed assistance to lift their full body weight that number of reps), and encourage the good effort being made, especially in those last few reps that looked like killers.
One by one each of them completed the routine, usually between 20 and 25 minutes. When one of the guys came to get his water bottle near where I was standing, I said, "Looks like fun."
He smiled and said, "It really is, when it's over."
This TOJ believes him. There are lots of fads in the exercise business, but this isn't one of them. They are on to something.
The Discomfort Zone
Another new study shows that you can gain significant cardio benefits from intensity (interval) training in as little as ten to twenty minutes a few times a week. In this study, all it took was ten to twelve one minute sessions on a stationary bike, alternated with a seventy second recovery period.
In a fast-paced, time-conscious world like we live in, you have to wonder why aerobic exercise like running and biking still remain much more popular than intensity training. The reason is likely that, for short periods of time, it hurts.
Intervals push you into your anaerobic zone, where your heart approaches it's maximum rate. You enter a state that is not dissimilar to being in the high altitude death zone climbers experience as they near the summit of Mt. Everest, where they experience a condition known as hypoxia, which is dangerous when endured for a long period (hours) of time.
Most of us don't venture into that zone for an extended period of time, but even if only for a matter of seconds (like when you sprint a quarter mile around a track), it's very uncomfortable as you struggle for breath and lactic acid starts to burn in your muscles, like a self-defense mechanism for you to slow down, whether you want to or not. Being mostly pleasure seekers, we don't go looking for discomfort.
But, more and more, the scientific evidence shows repeatedly going into the discomfort zone for a minute or two is good for your heart and lungs, burning calories, and metabolic efficiency. Interval training is not inherently any more dangerous than long distance running if you don't have serious heart disease (and even then it can be good for you - discuss it with your doctor). Here are some good examples from exercise.com.
The best way to approach interval training is to go slow and gradually build up both the intensity (a heart rate monitor is nice, but you don't need one - you know when you are running out of breath and your heart is pounding) and duration (one minute intervals are a good place to begin). Whether you are going to sprint quarter miles or pump an elliptical, make each repetition slightly harder than the first. On the last few, see if you can spend most of the time in the top end of your discomfort zone because that's where you derive the benefits.
As this TOJ has rhapsodized many times, in the case of running there are other benefits that often puts it at the top of my exercise choices because of the runners high (a real phenomenon) and joy of being outdoors. Plus endurance running, where you go five, ten or more miles, presents its own kinds of pain to conquer in the leg muscles, joints, and feet. And if you race, the discomfort is guaranteed.
Intensity training offers only indirect benefits in any specific sport. Whether road running, trail running, bike racing, or cross county skiing, you have to spend most of your time training the specific muscles used in that sport. There is absolutely no substitute because optimum performance relies on specificity training. Lance Armstrong is a great bike racer, but a mediocre marathoner. Michael Jordan was a great basketball player, but mediocre baseball player. Neither spent the time training in their second sports as they did in the ones they dominated.
A TOJ is interested in good health more than athletic goals. Intensity training is short, sweet, and good for you, and afterwards you can enjoy a beer.
In a fast-paced, time-conscious world like we live in, you have to wonder why aerobic exercise like running and biking still remain much more popular than intensity training. The reason is likely that, for short periods of time, it hurts.
Intervals push you into your anaerobic zone, where your heart approaches it's maximum rate. You enter a state that is not dissimilar to being in the high altitude death zone climbers experience as they near the summit of Mt. Everest, where they experience a condition known as hypoxia, which is dangerous when endured for a long period (hours) of time.
Most of us don't venture into that zone for an extended period of time, but even if only for a matter of seconds (like when you sprint a quarter mile around a track), it's very uncomfortable as you struggle for breath and lactic acid starts to burn in your muscles, like a self-defense mechanism for you to slow down, whether you want to or not. Being mostly pleasure seekers, we don't go looking for discomfort.
But, more and more, the scientific evidence shows repeatedly going into the discomfort zone for a minute or two is good for your heart and lungs, burning calories, and metabolic efficiency. Interval training is not inherently any more dangerous than long distance running if you don't have serious heart disease (and even then it can be good for you - discuss it with your doctor). Here are some good examples from exercise.com.
The best way to approach interval training is to go slow and gradually build up both the intensity (a heart rate monitor is nice, but you don't need one - you know when you are running out of breath and your heart is pounding) and duration (one minute intervals are a good place to begin). Whether you are going to sprint quarter miles or pump an elliptical, make each repetition slightly harder than the first. On the last few, see if you can spend most of the time in the top end of your discomfort zone because that's where you derive the benefits.
As this TOJ has rhapsodized many times, in the case of running there are other benefits that often puts it at the top of my exercise choices because of the runners high (a real phenomenon) and joy of being outdoors. Plus endurance running, where you go five, ten or more miles, presents its own kinds of pain to conquer in the leg muscles, joints, and feet. And if you race, the discomfort is guaranteed.
Intensity training offers only indirect benefits in any specific sport. Whether road running, trail running, bike racing, or cross county skiing, you have to spend most of your time training the specific muscles used in that sport. There is absolutely no substitute because optimum performance relies on specificity training. Lance Armstrong is a great bike racer, but a mediocre marathoner. Michael Jordan was a great basketball player, but mediocre baseball player. Neither spent the time training in their second sports as they did in the ones they dominated.
A TOJ is interested in good health more than athletic goals. Intensity training is short, sweet, and good for you, and afterwards you can enjoy a beer.
Rope Jumping: Floating Like A Butterfly
If you didn't learn how to jump rope when you were a kid, you had a deprived childhood. And if you don't do it once in a while now, you have a deprived adulthood as well. Jumping rope is one of this TOJ's favorite exercises because it has so many physical benefits and can be enjoyed by people of all ages, anywhere, anytime. And it's cheap and safe.The physical benefits are as good as they get, whether you jump aerobically or anaerobically. It gives you a top cardio workout; involves the total body; stimulates strong bones because you are pushing directly against gravity; promotes timing and coordination; and it has about half the impact of running because you land on the ball of your foot instead of your heel so it's easier on you joints and spine.
The real reward of rope jumping does to the complex of muscles, tendons and ligaments in the foot, ankle and lower leg. The rapid mini-jumps required by rope jumping stimulate tremendous muscle elasticity and balance. The mini-shocks of landing strengthen the entire suspension and stabilization system that supports the rest of your body. All power from your body -- whether running, pumping iron, swinging a bat, throwing a ball -- originates from your feet. It's no coincidence it's a standard practice in a prize fighter's workout.
Rope jumping is an intense, vigorous activity, and ranks among the highest calorie burning exercises of them all. Consider that a 155 lb. person jumping a rope at a moderate rate (100+ jumps/min.) burns 844 calories per hour. A runner of the same size moving at at 10 min. per mile pace burns 704 calories per hour. You burn these calories jumping just an inch off the surface.
I workout with a jump rope at least once a week. Sometimes I just jump continuously for 20-25 minutes. I jump forwards and backwards on both feet, side to side with both feet (like skiing), alternating two jumps more heavily on the right foot then two more heavily on the left, and switching one foot forward and one foot back. I'll follow this with light upper body weight lifting or calisthenics.
Most times I do an interval workout using a heart rate monitor. I jump for two minutes, then rest for one minute. The interval is performed with equal weight on both feet. In the two minutes, I skip steadily faster over the first minute and a half, then as fast as I can for the last half minute. I aim to get my pulse up to at least 80% max (calculate 220 minus your age times .8) the last few seconds. During the one minute rest period, I expect my pulse to drop 30 or more beats, which is a good indication of a decent level of fitness and ability to recover; the more and faster it drops, the better. When your pulse no longer drops less than 30 beats during the one minute rest period and remains elevated is a sign you are fatigued and it's time to stop. You can get a great workout doing just 6 to 10 intervals, and that's perfect if you are pressed for time.
If you haven't jumped rope lately, ease into it. Just do a few minutes a day at a slow pace until you get the hang of it and strengthen your feet and ankles. A good warm up is to stretch your calf by keeping your foot flat on the floor and pushing your knee forward (works good leaning against a wall) and also putting your feet should width apart and springing very lightly with the balls of your feet never leaving the ground. Also rotate both your arms, forward and backwards 10x in a windmill motion, then just shake your hands with your wrists loose. You'll be ready to go.
Invest in a decent rope made of plastic/vinyl. As exercise gear goes, they're inexpensive. Avoid cotton rope (too light) or leather (wears away at the handle). Get the right size by standing on the middle of the rope with one foot and see if the handles just reach your armpits. A pair of cross training shoes, well padded in the forefoot, are nice to have too, though not absolutely necessary.
You can jump on any surface, but it's best to have a little flex like you get on a wooden deck or with a thin practice mat or carpet scrap on a hard surface, especially concrete.
You can jump on any surface, but it's best to have a little flex like you get on a wooden deck or with a thin practice mat or carpet scrap on a hard surface, especially concrete.
I'm not sure why so many people stop rope jumping when they grow up. You wonder if it's because they associate it with kid's games and fun and a long time ago when they had incredible physical energy, before kids, jobs, and pot guts. Don't be fooled. You can do it at any age. Just pick up a rope and start jumping. It'll take a few weeks, but you'll discover the energy is still there.
I used to marvel watching Muhammad Ali in his prime. A large, powerful man, he moved with such grace and agility, round, after round. To prepare, he spent a lot of time rope jumping. That's how he was able to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.
New Mantra: Faster, Harder, Shorter
The "faster, harder, shorter" mantra, aimed at people of all ages who wish to achieve quick results on the road to fitness, is spreading like the H1N1 virus.
My last blog was about some anti-runners who recommended a grueling, once per week, 12 minute routine in which you do extreme resistance (weights or machine) exercise to the point your muscles fail. Half their book was a dire warning that running will debilitate or kill you.
Then I got an email from Al Sears, MD, who promotes a copyrighted program called PACEBOOK (I bought a copy and found some good stuff) that recommends short, intense, progressive interval training, which can be sprinting, biking, swimming, lifting, jump roping, etc. Like his book, his email had more dire warnings about jogging/running. Check out: http://www.alsearsmd.com/jogging-injuries.html
So I cringed when I picked up the the August issue of Trail Runner magazine (in which you'll find a snatch of poetry about running in mud they printed from my April 2009 blog) to see an article entitled "The Fabulous 4 (Minutes) - The Short - Intense - Workout That Delivers." It is about a system developed Izumi Tabata, at a Japanese sports institute in the early 90s, that involves sprinting as hard as you can for 20 seconds, then resting 10 seconds, then sprinting again. You do this eight times. Tabata discovered that this painful regimen can confer tremendous improvements in aerobic and anaerobic capacity. (I'd be wary of any regimen developed in Japan because, even today, it will be influenced by medieval samurai culture, which places a high value on suffering.)
I think there are great benefits to be gained from interval training. I do sprints once or twice a week. But it should be noted that the only injury I've had this year was a pull in the lower left Achilles tendon that occurred when -- sprinting! The anti-runners always offer scientific studies to support their attacks on jogging/running, however, often these studies are flawed or incomplete. If you want to read a good blog, with solid scientific thinking, that questions these broad claims for interval training over running, go to http://frayedlaces.blogspot.com/2009_06_01_archive.html.
If you haven't done intervals in a long time, start very slowly and build up. There is no hurry to get to "fitness." The journey itself is the goal. Start with the slow gentle approach to interval training recommended by Covert Bailey.
My last blog was about some anti-runners who recommended a grueling, once per week, 12 minute routine in which you do extreme resistance (weights or machine) exercise to the point your muscles fail. Half their book was a dire warning that running will debilitate or kill you.
Then I got an email from Al Sears, MD, who promotes a copyrighted program called PACEBOOK (I bought a copy and found some good stuff) that recommends short, intense, progressive interval training, which can be sprinting, biking, swimming, lifting, jump roping, etc. Like his book, his email had more dire warnings about jogging/running. Check out: http://www.alsearsmd.com/jogging-injuries.html
So I cringed when I picked up the the August issue of Trail Runner magazine (in which you'll find a snatch of poetry about running in mud they printed from my April 2009 blog) to see an article entitled "The Fabulous 4 (Minutes) - The Short - Intense - Workout That Delivers." It is about a system developed Izumi Tabata, at a Japanese sports institute in the early 90s, that involves sprinting as hard as you can for 20 seconds, then resting 10 seconds, then sprinting again. You do this eight times. Tabata discovered that this painful regimen can confer tremendous improvements in aerobic and anaerobic capacity. (I'd be wary of any regimen developed in Japan because, even today, it will be influenced by medieval samurai culture, which places a high value on suffering.)
I think there are great benefits to be gained from interval training. I do sprints once or twice a week. But it should be noted that the only injury I've had this year was a pull in the lower left Achilles tendon that occurred when -- sprinting! The anti-runners always offer scientific studies to support their attacks on jogging/running, however, often these studies are flawed or incomplete. If you want to read a good blog, with solid scientific thinking, that questions these broad claims for interval training over running, go to http://frayedlaces.blogspot.com/2009_06_01_archive.html.
If you haven't done intervals in a long time, start very slowly and build up. There is no hurry to get to "fitness." The journey itself is the goal. Start with the slow gentle approach to interval training recommended by Covert Bailey.
A TOJ knows that all physical activities come with some risk of injury. So what? To a TOJ, the real problem with the 4 minute this and 12 minute that is he or she enjoys exercising too much to be subject to time limits. Life's too short as it is.
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