I always liked the concept of the Presidential Physical Fitness Test. I liked the fact that once a year the whole school population was dragged out to see how fit or unfit they were compared to their peers. I think this idea would be far more effective as an adult. Currently I’m out of shape compared to where I probably could be, but I have no benchmark of where I should be compared to my age group. I think benchmarks are important because it draws that line in the sand of how far you should let yourself go.
The presidential physical fitness benchmarks stop after school age. After that there wasn’t any data to find out what percentile you should be in. However I just recently discovered this benchmark in the Washington Post. Shazam, just what I’ve been looking for. I’ll post up my results soon. Feel free to put up your stats as well.
I was always told by every doctor, coach, trainer, athlete, and fitness guru that lactic acid build up is what causes your muscles to burn and eventually quit during exercise. The theory is that lactic acid is a poisonous byproduct of exericise. When one’s exercise intensity gets too high (lactate threshold), your body can’t remove the lactic acid fast enough from your muscles. Eventually the lactic acid levels get too high and your muscles lose power and are forced to stop. A whole industry is built around selling heart rate monitors and training aids to keep you from going anaerobic and exceding your lactate threshold. Turns out that theory is probably false. Lactic acid is actually fuel for your muscles not a poison. At least that’s what a May NY Times article says.
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So my friend Louis and I were talking Giro D’Italia talk. Basso looks indomitable and we’re both apprehensive that he’s going to ruin cycling like Armstrong did for the next five years. I don’t mean to upset the yellow bracelet army, but let’s face it, Armstrong killed the TdF as a spectacle for 7 years. Basso will probably win the TdF in a walk, but we believe his greatest competition is Jan Ullrich. People have written him off as a has been, but what’s remarkable about him is what he accomplishes without really trying. (more…)
Through the power of GTD, I’ve become much better at following things through. So this year I’m setting concrete doable New Year’s goals and I’m going to broadcast them so you out there in blogland will keep me accountable.
- Visit friends and family in Pittsburgh. I’ve been meaning to do this for years, and I never get around to it because I don’t make a point of planning and seeing it through. This is the year to do it. I have no excuses. I’d also like to visit Falling Water along the way.
- Get my Will written. I have some serious assets now, and someone’s got to take care of my bicycles and cats when I die. This was on my list of things to do before I die, but now it’s getting escalated to this year.
- Pick up a creative hobby. I used to draw and sometimes write or watercolor. I used to make my own birthday and Christmas cards too. As I got busier I stopped creating my own art and just started consuming it from others instead. So this year I’d like to get back in the habbit of doing something creative that has nothing to do with being productive at work or home. I think taking time out of the day to make art is really important, and it’s something that I’d like to get back into the habit of doing. Any suggestions?
- Become a regular card writer. I don’t write thank yous and get well cards. It’s something all people used to do but seems to be a dying out as email replaces all of our communication.
- Get in the habit of planning the next day the night before. It’s not that hard, and I always have a better day when I do it.
- Complete coach Hatch’s squat program. I don’t know if I’ve ever completed a lifting program ever in my life. Well this one is 12 weeks long and dead simple. One of these days I’d like to be able to power clean my own body weight.
- Complete at least three things from my 43 things list
Well that’s it folks. I think it’s all doable and not that hard. The problem is reviewing and sticking with it.
I think most adults put on a few pounds during winter. You’re inside more often and your metabolism slows down a bit. Unfortunately I’ve been noticing that the winter weight I put on, I haven’t been losing in the Spring. It’s easy why many people wake up in their 40’s realizing they’re about 20 lbs. heavier than what they were in college. As a result I’m trying to pick up a winter activity to help me stop the slow progressive adipose gain. I’ve never cared for treadmills, stationary bikes, etc. Frankly they’re just too boring. So this winter I’m experimenting with Olympic weightlifting. The kind you see on TV where some impossibly small guy/gal suddenly throws three times their body weight over their head. I’ve always been bored with weightlifting, but Olympic style is very challenging and fun. It requires power, flexibility, and balance. So far I’m just starting out by building a base with the front squat, back squat, and deadlift. Eventually I want to move to power clean and possibly the squat clean. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do the competition lifts: the snatch and the clean and jerk. I’d love to actually train with someone who knows what they’re doing. Anyone know any Olympic lifting coaches in South Central PA?
Well I haven’t decided if I want to use the main crossfit’s WOD schedule or if I want to use crossfit Philly’s WOD. Today I decided to use an older WOD from crossfit Philly. Basically it was n+2 kettlebell snatches where n starts at 2 until I got to 20, and do n-1 pushups in between the snatches where n starts at 20. I was using a 16kg kettlebell and I had no problem doing the snatches. The pushups on the other hand… I started with 20 but had to drop to 10 after doing a set of 17. So all in all I did 110 snatches and 119 pushups in 16 minutes. Next time I think I’ll do this workout with pushups n-2 where n equals 20.
Well I’ve decided to take a stab at getting back in shape. This time I’d like to do things a little more scientifically. I figure blogging might help keep me more accountable. So before I start I thought I’d do a benchmark to see where I am now. So I thought I’d take random sample of various activities and see where I stand in 8 weeks.
- Resting Heart Rate = 61bpm
- 1km time trial on Concept 2 Dyno = 3″47s
- Hang Power Clean 1 rep max = 105 lbs (thats fairly wimpish)
- Dumbell Military Press 1 rep max = 90 lbs
- Pullups 1 set max = 7 (also fairly wimpish)
- 1km swim = 19″20s
- waist size = 33″
A couple of details. The swim was timed in 25m lap pool, and I didn’t do racing turns (can’t do’em without water in my nose). The dyno time trial, pullups, and power clean were done in the same workout. I didn’t put up my weight because I don’t think net weight gain or loss tell me anything useful. I’m going to try using the crossfit method for training. Their workouts are extremely difficult so I’m going to probably halve their recommendations for their workouts of the day. Wish me luck.