I received some really nice gifts from my family this Christmas. One I'm enjoying learning about is a Nike+ unit. I'm looking forward to using this to track my walks/runs and compare it to readouts on the treadmill. I'm at my in-laws house today in Memphis, TN. I took my first walk this morning. I slipped out before anyone else got up and walked to Starbucks. The stats are recorded on my iPhone as I walk and a summary report is given at the end. Today was 26'42" for a walk of 1.52 miles. According to the report I burned 240 calories. That seems high to me (check some of my earlier posts about the calories count issues with treadmills - looks like it might apply to Nike+ as well.
I can see interesting possibilities using this. I can instant, accurate records of all my cardio workouts, even on the treadmill.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Sauna
The fitness center has a (large and working) sauna. I really enjoy using the sauna after an intensive set of HITTs. At the fitness center where I formerly had my membership, the sauna was small (three people was about all it could accommodate) and often broken down. This sauna is spacious and hot! I'm having to acclimate myself to the heat.
There are definite advantages to using the sauna. One is that it helps reduce muscle soreness from a hard workout. Another is that it helps rid the skin of free radicals. Sweating also moves excess salt out of your body (when I've been using a sauna regularly I can tell when I've eaten salty food - I can taste it in the sweat that runs across my lips). And finally, if it is quiet in the sauna, the combination of heat and solitude can be very relaxing.
The big myth is that weight can be sweated off in a sauna. There is a slight boost in metabolism that would mean a small increase in calories burned, but nothing worth building a weight reduction plan on. Sweat, no matter what circumstances produce it, does not come from fat. It is not being melted off. Sweat comes from fluidic the blood and that fluid is replaced the next time you drink water or do anything else to hydrate.
The sauna is enjoyable with definite benefits, but it is no substitute for the hard work of strenuous exercise.
There are definite advantages to using the sauna. One is that it helps reduce muscle soreness from a hard workout. Another is that it helps rid the skin of free radicals. Sweating also moves excess salt out of your body (when I've been using a sauna regularly I can tell when I've eaten salty food - I can taste it in the sweat that runs across my lips). And finally, if it is quiet in the sauna, the combination of heat and solitude can be very relaxing.
The big myth is that weight can be sweated off in a sauna. There is a slight boost in metabolism that would mean a small increase in calories burned, but nothing worth building a weight reduction plan on. Sweat, no matter what circumstances produce it, does not come from fat. It is not being melted off. Sweat comes from fluidic the blood and that fluid is replaced the next time you drink water or do anything else to hydrate.
The sauna is enjoyable with definite benefits, but it is no substitute for the hard work of strenuous exercise.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Liar, Liar
I started using computers back in 1989. They were a bit more primitive back then (and the first nominee for understatement of the year is . . . ). I used Word Perfect for my writing projects. I remember how sometimes to get the settings to work right I would have lie to the computer, tell it a paper size or a margin was different from what it actually was. That was a liberating realization. It kept from fighting with the computer and allowed me to get my way.
Treadmills are notorious for over estimating the number of calories burned in a session. They give a false sense of accomplishment, making the user feel that he has worked harder than he actually has. But there is a way around this flaw.
Lie.
Select a treadmill that takes weight information. That data is figured into the treadmills computer to gauge calories burned during a workout. For a given speed, the higher the weight entered when the workout began, the higher the number of calories shown as burned. So at the beginning of my treadmill workout I will enter a lower weight than I actually weigh. The final number of calories burned will not be inflated.
This doesn't make the "calories burned" count accurate, but it will avoid the reporting of the unduly inflated number of calories burned.
So how much lower should the weight number be? My guess is about 20%. I'll try to look into that and get a more "fact based" estimate. My personal practice is to put in the weight I want to be, not the weight I am. That gives me some idea of how hard I will need to work to burn a set number of calories. It's still off, but it's a good starting place.
One more note: incline makes almost no difference, though it should. I've experimented with this on a few treadmills, keeping speed the same, but trying various incline settings. I really can't see that there is anything in the treadmills computer function that takes into account steeper inclines resulting in harder work and more calories burned.
Treadmills are notorious for over estimating the number of calories burned in a session. They give a false sense of accomplishment, making the user feel that he has worked harder than he actually has. But there is a way around this flaw.
Lie.
Select a treadmill that takes weight information. That data is figured into the treadmills computer to gauge calories burned during a workout. For a given speed, the higher the weight entered when the workout began, the higher the number of calories shown as burned. So at the beginning of my treadmill workout I will enter a lower weight than I actually weigh. The final number of calories burned will not be inflated.
This doesn't make the "calories burned" count accurate, but it will avoid the reporting of the unduly inflated number of calories burned.
So how much lower should the weight number be? My guess is about 20%. I'll try to look into that and get a more "fact based" estimate. My personal practice is to put in the weight I want to be, not the weight I am. That gives me some idea of how hard I will need to work to burn a set number of calories. It's still off, but it's a good starting place.
One more note: incline makes almost no difference, though it should. I've experimented with this on a few treadmills, keeping speed the same, but trying various incline settings. I really can't see that there is anything in the treadmills computer function that takes into account steeper inclines resulting in harder work and more calories burned.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Treadmill Redux
Coming back around to using a treadmill in my fitness quest. I'm a fan of P90X and sane nutrition, but there is a dynamic for me I using a treadmill that helps keep me motivated with exercise and nutrition. And, not to belabor the point, there is nothing passive about the way I use a treadmill.
I practice high intensity interval training sets on a treadmill (HIITs for short). There are several approaches to this, but the basic premise is that the intensity of the workout is varied from moderate to exhaustion through several cycles. When I was doing this regularly and running on the treadmill I would start with a slow warm up for 5 minutes, gradually picking up my speed and breaking out onto a jog. Then I would begin increasing my speed by intervals of 2 every 30 seconds until I reached exhaustion, at which point I would drop back down to my jog speed. After just a minute to rest I would begin increasing my pace again, but by intervals of 3, and continue until I reach exhaustion again. I would repeat that until I reached intervals of 6. After reaching exhaustion on that set I would start going back down in numbers (intervals of 6, 5, 4, 3, 2). I would consider it complete when's had reached the last set of intervals of 2. I'm not a fast runner, so my goal was augmented with the objective of running 3 miles in 30 minutes. The fitness variable was getting as much speed as possible before exhaustion.
Here I am now starting over again (I quit the pathetic fitness center where my membership was and tried to supplement it with walking around my community - not the same thing / same results at all). I'm having to start over walking on the the treadmill but I'm still practicing intense intervals, but with modifications until I'm running again.
I start off with a lower body stretch. I would always do. I like the experience of feeling my body becoming increasingly limber. I jumped on the treadmill once a few years ago, thinking I really didn't need to stretch that day and ended up with a pulled muscle. The pain of that experience has made me a confirmed stretcher for before and after each treadmill session.
I then do the slow warm up on the treadmill. When I'm ready to start I initiate the settings. Since I'm walking during my HIITs right now, I'm incorporating the use of steep inclines and make them the major variable. I set the speed at 3.5 (a good moderate pace) and the incline at 4. For each minute I increase speed and incline by intervals of 1 and continue until I' be reached maximum walking speed (right now 4.5 at lower inclines, less at higher inclines). After reaching maximum walking speed I continue to increase incline until I reach exhaustion. Then I drop back down on speed and incline, but not quite as far down on the incline (maybe only as far as 5.0, an increase of 2 intervals). I repeat the process until exhaustion, then start again at a higher incline.
I never start running. I make myself work harder by walking fast at a steep incline. Try this and you can get yourself I to a dripping mess, which, of course, you really want to do. People who never break a sweat using a treadmill really aren't accomplishing much. You will be able track you increasing fitness by using HIITs on a treadmill. And by the way, no holding on to the front or side hand holds. Walk with your hands swinging. That increases the level of your "work" while you're on the treadmill. At lower speeds you can also occasionally lock your hands behind your head, elbows high, for a workout of your abs.
This is where I'm starting as I work toward getting back up to running my HIITs on the treadmill again. In a few days I'll have to be on the road and away from my fitness center. The advantage of what I'm doing now is that I can still go out and just walk the neighborhood in order to keep my conditioning on track.
Remember, your goal is to work out on the treadmill, not just ride it. No matter what your fitness level, there is a way forgo to use a treadmill that is challenging and will improve your physical condition.
I practice high intensity interval training sets on a treadmill (HIITs for short). There are several approaches to this, but the basic premise is that the intensity of the workout is varied from moderate to exhaustion through several cycles. When I was doing this regularly and running on the treadmill I would start with a slow warm up for 5 minutes, gradually picking up my speed and breaking out onto a jog. Then I would begin increasing my speed by intervals of 2 every 30 seconds until I reached exhaustion, at which point I would drop back down to my jog speed. After just a minute to rest I would begin increasing my pace again, but by intervals of 3, and continue until I reach exhaustion again. I would repeat that until I reached intervals of 6. After reaching exhaustion on that set I would start going back down in numbers (intervals of 6, 5, 4, 3, 2). I would consider it complete when's had reached the last set of intervals of 2. I'm not a fast runner, so my goal was augmented with the objective of running 3 miles in 30 minutes. The fitness variable was getting as much speed as possible before exhaustion.
Here I am now starting over again (I quit the pathetic fitness center where my membership was and tried to supplement it with walking around my community - not the same thing / same results at all). I'm having to start over walking on the the treadmill but I'm still practicing intense intervals, but with modifications until I'm running again.
I start off with a lower body stretch. I would always do. I like the experience of feeling my body becoming increasingly limber. I jumped on the treadmill once a few years ago, thinking I really didn't need to stretch that day and ended up with a pulled muscle. The pain of that experience has made me a confirmed stretcher for before and after each treadmill session.
I then do the slow warm up on the treadmill. When I'm ready to start I initiate the settings. Since I'm walking during my HIITs right now, I'm incorporating the use of steep inclines and make them the major variable. I set the speed at 3.5 (a good moderate pace) and the incline at 4. For each minute I increase speed and incline by intervals of 1 and continue until I' be reached maximum walking speed (right now 4.5 at lower inclines, less at higher inclines). After reaching maximum walking speed I continue to increase incline until I reach exhaustion. Then I drop back down on speed and incline, but not quite as far down on the incline (maybe only as far as 5.0, an increase of 2 intervals). I repeat the process until exhaustion, then start again at a higher incline.
I never start running. I make myself work harder by walking fast at a steep incline. Try this and you can get yourself I to a dripping mess, which, of course, you really want to do. People who never break a sweat using a treadmill really aren't accomplishing much. You will be able track you increasing fitness by using HIITs on a treadmill. And by the way, no holding on to the front or side hand holds. Walk with your hands swinging. That increases the level of your "work" while you're on the treadmill. At lower speeds you can also occasionally lock your hands behind your head, elbows high, for a workout of your abs.
This is where I'm starting as I work toward getting back up to running my HIITs on the treadmill again. In a few days I'll have to be on the road and away from my fitness center. The advantage of what I'm doing now is that I can still go out and just walk the neighborhood in order to keep my conditioning on track.
Remember, your goal is to work out on the treadmill, not just ride it. No matter what your fitness level, there is a way forgo to use a treadmill that is challenging and will improve your physical condition.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
A Challenging Philosophy
Five principles for success
1) Show up.
2) Get outside comfort zone
3) Take the necessary actions to move forward
4) Get the social support you need
5) Never give up.
Outside comfort zone = Dramatic steps forward.
I can think of several areas of my life where I could pursue this advice to my advantage. I'm going to do that and report back on what the outcomes are. I could apply this in my teaching, my personal business, my church work, my health goals, my writing, etc.
So, along with all the rest, here goes.
I Thought Trigger Was A Horse!
Looking into the reasons I am overeating I came across a website (http://www.medicinenet.com/emotional_eating/article.htm) that offered this observation: there are certain events/settings that trigger overeating. Here is the list offered on that web page:
SOCIAL: Eating when around other people. For example, excessive eating can result from being encouraged by others to eat; eating to fit in; arguing; or feelings of inadequacy around other people.
EMOTIONAL: Eating in response to boredom, stress, fatigue, tension, depression, anger, anxiety or loneliness as a way to "fill the void."
SITUATIONAL: Eating because the opportunity is there. For example, at a restaurant, seeing an advertisement for a particular food, passing by a bakery. Eating may also be associated with certain activities such as watching TV, going to the movies or a sporting event, etc.
THOUGHTS: Eating as a result of negative self-worth or making excuses for eating. For example, scolding oneself for looks or a lack of will power.
PHYSIOLOGICAL: Eating in response to physical cues. For example, increased hunger due to skipping meals or eating to cure headaches or other pain.
So, I see more than one trigger for me here and maybe some that are hard to classify in this list. Like an alcoholic who drinks alone I find that alone I like to eat. I don't think it is a response to loneliness. I'm comfortable being with people or being by myself. Maybe it is more like I can eat without shame if no one is around. But it's not always that. When others are around I am motivated to do more. When no one is around I let myself off the hook for responsible behavior. Is anyone else like that? But what is it about no one around that triggers the over eating?
Sometimes, at school I get a craving for a honeybun. That's over 500 calories by itself. That's equal to three Shakeology shakes. But when I get one, I don't want anyone to know. I go to the snack machine and slip it into my pocket after I buy it. Then walk back to my room or to the kitchen, get a cup of coffee and in just a couple of minutes the honeybun is gone. It just makes me feel good afterward. Is that the trigger in that circumstance: believing that it will make me feel better?
Eating large portions of comfort food is also something I do. Pastas are a problem area here. I am comforted by the warm feeling I get from eating a hot pasta dish.
Okay, there may be several triggers for me, and I eat like a horse or with a s little sense as a horse when I get a trigger in my routine. So two things coming from this: first, how do I manage the triggers and, second, what does the lack of motivation have to do with this. More to come.
SOCIAL: Eating when around other people. For example, excessive eating can result from being encouraged by others to eat; eating to fit in; arguing; or feelings of inadequacy around other people.
EMOTIONAL: Eating in response to boredom, stress, fatigue, tension, depression, anger, anxiety or loneliness as a way to "fill the void."
SITUATIONAL: Eating because the opportunity is there. For example, at a restaurant, seeing an advertisement for a particular food, passing by a bakery. Eating may also be associated with certain activities such as watching TV, going to the movies or a sporting event, etc.
THOUGHTS: Eating as a result of negative self-worth or making excuses for eating. For example, scolding oneself for looks or a lack of will power.
PHYSIOLOGICAL: Eating in response to physical cues. For example, increased hunger due to skipping meals or eating to cure headaches or other pain.
So, I see more than one trigger for me here and maybe some that are hard to classify in this list. Like an alcoholic who drinks alone I find that alone I like to eat. I don't think it is a response to loneliness. I'm comfortable being with people or being by myself. Maybe it is more like I can eat without shame if no one is around. But it's not always that. When others are around I am motivated to do more. When no one is around I let myself off the hook for responsible behavior. Is anyone else like that? But what is it about no one around that triggers the over eating?
Sometimes, at school I get a craving for a honeybun. That's over 500 calories by itself. That's equal to three Shakeology shakes. But when I get one, I don't want anyone to know. I go to the snack machine and slip it into my pocket after I buy it. Then walk back to my room or to the kitchen, get a cup of coffee and in just a couple of minutes the honeybun is gone. It just makes me feel good afterward. Is that the trigger in that circumstance: believing that it will make me feel better?
Eating large portions of comfort food is also something I do. Pastas are a problem area here. I am comforted by the warm feeling I get from eating a hot pasta dish.
Okay, there may be several triggers for me, and I eat like a horse or with a s little sense as a horse when I get a trigger in my routine. So two things coming from this: first, how do I manage the triggers and, second, what does the lack of motivation have to do with this. More to come.
Hitting HIITs Again
I went to Coop's today (an area fitness center) and started using the treadmill. I will probably walk for a week or more before I start running on the treadmill doing HITTs. It's been since about February of last year since I've done this. That is when I let my membership at ZX expire. I was pit out with the filth and broken machinery. I started aggressively riding the bike, but that never equaled the amount of activity I had put out by going regularly to the fitness center. I walked 5 miles up hill (20% to 60% grade) with the pace mostly between 30 and 40. My BPM ranged from 130 to 150. I walked 5 miles like this. It took 90 mins and supposedly I burned 531 calories.
So the debrief: how does this help, why has not doing it hurt, what's the dynamic? My first impression is the power of the "calories burned" read out. I did all that and only burned 531 calories. I would have to do,that every day to burn a pound's worth of calories off. That sure puts me in a frame of mind to maintain the gains. It is a motivator in itself.
My plan is to walk and then begin the HIITs. Running more will burn more calories faster, but not really significantly so. When I was doing this before I would have to push 45 mins to approach burning 500 calories, but I was so done for that it was difficult to reach that number.
Now to find the motivation to add the P90X back in.
So the debrief: how does this help, why has not doing it hurt, what's the dynamic? My first impression is the power of the "calories burned" read out. I did all that and only burned 531 calories. I would have to do,that every day to burn a pound's worth of calories off. That sure puts me in a frame of mind to maintain the gains. It is a motivator in itself.
My plan is to walk and then begin the HIITs. Running more will burn more calories faster, but not really significantly so. When I was doing this before I would have to push 45 mins to approach burning 500 calories, but I was so done for that it was difficult to reach that number.
Now to find the motivation to add the P90X back in.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Painful Honesty
Time to get honest with myself. Something just isn't working here. I'm not staying with the program. I'm eating like I don't have a care. Discipline is non-existent. Weight is way up, clothes are too tight.
What's going on! It seems rational that having had the victories I've had in this battle I'd be able to stay the course. I know the change in my schedule has been a problem. I've even is cussed that with my two support buddies at work. We would take some time every morning to up chat each other and motivate ourselves to stay the course. We would make our commitments for the day and then hold ourselves accountable for them. We all miss the benefits from those talks, those support systems.
But I can't lay it all to blame there. This trend started last April when stress at work went up. I don't handle stress very well. I eat to ease the stress. I need to do some research on how to handle that.
Also I had some big challenges going on back then that schedule changes ruled out. At least I let the schedule changes rule them out. Maybe I need my big challenges again.
One thing that left my regular discipline schedule was running my HIITS. My old fitness center closed and I tried substituting bike riding. Today I'm going to redeem a gym membership I won at a new local gym. I'm going to start the HIITs again.
I've also got to get back in touch with my BeachBody coach and let him know what's going on. Also contact my success buddy and make myself accountable there as well. Honesty hurts, but time to get honest. Way past time.
What's going on! It seems rational that having had the victories I've had in this battle I'd be able to stay the course. I know the change in my schedule has been a problem. I've even is cussed that with my two support buddies at work. We would take some time every morning to up chat each other and motivate ourselves to stay the course. We would make our commitments for the day and then hold ourselves accountable for them. We all miss the benefits from those talks, those support systems.
Also I had some big challenges going on back then that schedule changes ruled out. At least I let the schedule changes rule them out. Maybe I need my big challenges again.
One thing that left my regular discipline schedule was running my HIITS. My old fitness center closed and I tried substituting bike riding. Today I'm going to redeem a gym membership I won at a new local gym. I'm going to start the HIITs again.
I've also got to get back in touch with my BeachBody coach and let him know what's going on. Also contact my success buddy and make myself accountable there as well. Honesty hurts, but time to get honest. Way past time.
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