Athlete In The City

Short on time, but want a fairly simple, full-body workout?  Here’s one I used to do at the end of a day at the rock climbing gym to provide exercise to complementary muscle groups.  Since rock climbing is mostly pulling, pushups work great.

First, I want you to focus on good pushup posture.  Keep your low back rounded, never arched.  If you’re not ready to do pushups from your toes, use your knees instead.  Once you can complete the 21 sets from your knees, you’re ready to start from your toes.  Ok, what’s the challenge?

Start by doing one pushup, walk the length of the room, and back to that same position.  Now do two pushups.  Walk the length of the room and back again, now three pushups.  Keep doing these sets, increasing by one pushup each time.  Since you’re only giving your muscles 15-20 seconds rest each time, this gets progressively harder.  My old gymnastics coach used to say if you can do all 21 sets, you’re hardcore!  Haha well once I reached that, I started doing the 21 sets with 5-10lbs in a backpack.  Now that is tough.

What I like about this exercise is that it provides it’s own built-in warmup.  The first few sets are very easy.  It also builds confidence, allows your muscles to warm up, and gets you into the spirit of it before the tougher sets.  It works the triceps, the deltoids (shoulders), abdominals, and hip flexors.
When you’re finished you’ll have completed 231 pushups in about 10 minutes. For extra challenge, as I noted above, add weight, or work your way up to 25 pushups.  If that’s not enough, try doing them all as clap pushups, or even better, one-arm pushups!!

Now of course being the good personal trainer I’m gonna ask that you please stretch your shoulders before doing this exercise.  I know how you all love to stretch right?  I’ll be posting a discussion just about shoulder stretching soon enough.

I’ve been debating buying a a Xvest or other weight vest for some time. The good ones are pretty expensive from $150 to as much as $300, and honestly I didn’t know how much I’d really train with it.

I knew I could use a water pack, aka Camelbak, so I went shopping at Paragon here in NYC. Ok, short answer, this was a really good idea.

Truth is anyone who runs for more than 20 minutes is probably slightly dehydrated, and this affects your energy and performance. If you run for an hour without water you’re probably really dehydrated. Camelbak, problem solved. But it also means you’re running with weight, not too much, but a bit to push the envelope.

Not enough you say, throw in a couple of 2.5 or 5lb wrist weights in the back. Water by itself is 2.2lbs per liter, and this pack holds 3 liters, so that is 6.6 lbs gradually decreasing as you run. Throw in another 2-5lbs, and this is ideal. These things cinch perfectly across your chest, and belly, making them really hold nicely.

During my mid-run weight training work, I do 5x sets of 10 pullups, 20 pushups, and parallel bars training. Usually combinations thereof. Plus the Camelbak makes it easy to carry a jump rope, therabands, or other equipment you might want to have. The added weight when doing pullups and pushups really helps challenge you if you’re already reaching competence with these exercises.

I’m wondering now why I hadn’t thought of this before.

I’d still say for intense weight above 15lbs you’ll probably want to get an Xvest. Also for inversions, such as handstand pushups and so forth, it definitely won’t match a real weight vest. For starters though, the Camelbak is really perfect.

Here’s a first look at the Mac OS X application that comes with the Forerunner 305 GPS Runner’s watch. I can’t say enough good things about this product.

I suspect avid runners will immediately see the usefulness of all this data. Most often when you go running, there are highs and lows, dips and peaks in your energy levels. Is it hydration? Is it my breathing? Or am I just running faster or slower, or at a gradient?

This kind of data will answer most of those questions. It’s amazing. You can see exactly where your heart rate is, and Mph speed.

Here’s an example. A few months back I was doing a week of Bikram Yoga. As an added bonus, on some days I would do a double session, and go running *after* the bikram yoga. I found that my heart rate was elevated, to around 152 bpm all the time, and yet my running speed was actually slower than usual. It just amounts to general exhaustion. Another example, when it is extremely humid out, I go running, and bring extra water. I run slower, but find my heart rate stays high.

Most watches with a heart rate monitor just keep the min, max, and total for the run. So all that time in the middle you know nothing about. Here the watch is collecting hundreds of little data points, and syncing them to your computer when you come back home. Graphing the whole thing is like turning on a light in a dark room. Now you can see everything!

It is really staggering how much there is out there on the web now. It’s so difficult to keep track of. I keep my sights fixed on fitness related content, so hopefully I can help you find some of interest.

Here’s one, the Fitness Toolbox from Mashables.com. It boasts 60 plus sites related to health and fitness. Yum yum!

Want to find out your body mass index? That’s easy go to Body Mass Index Calculator. Want some new workouts, head over to this site (yeah, I love the name too!) Gimme 20.

From health and fitness loggers and journals, to diet trackers, it’s all here. Enjoy!

One of the first things you should be doing when you start training regularly is keeping a journal. It is fairly fundamental. If you set goals for weight loss, muscle gain, or endurance, how else will you know when you reach them without a journal to look at?  Such a journal can be as simple or as sophisticated as you like.

If you are interested in real numbers, a heart rate monitor is really essential. Polar makes some great ones, though there are many other brands to choose from. I’d recommend one of these for everyone anyway, as it’s the best way for you to see how much your workout exerts your heart. It will also help you avoid under training if that’s your tendency or over training as some of us are prone to. Some of these heart rate monitors come with a history function, so you can save past performance profiles. The best ones even allow you to sync that information with your computer.

Well if that idea has piqued your interest, take a look at what Garmin has come out with. These Forerunner watches are the proverbial kitchen sink of workout data collectors. They’ve managed to fit GPS receivers in these babies providing you with precise information on how far you ran. They also feature AutoPause a technology which notices when you slow down or stop at a traffic light. Couple these amazing features with the usual heart rate monitor, and stop watch and you have an incredible device. But with these at-your-wrist computers, you can also set a distance and pace, and have the watch push you like a personal trainer would. Top all that off with a USB syncing feature that brings all this data into your computer, and you’ll have endless new training data. They even have a website Motion Based which will let you upload your data, and provide you with workout analysis.

If you’ve reached a wall with your workout routine, this device will surely assist you in pushing past it.

Thanks Noorin.