Exercise as Life Lesson: 3 Essential Pieces

Exercise as Life Lesson: 3 Essential Pieces

You heard it before. 

“No pain, no gain.” 

“That which does not kill me makes me stronger.” 

My phrasing would go as follows:

To increase his strength, a man must push against an opposing force.

So, how does exercise work, and why do we do it? 

Exercise comes down to three things: (1) Stress, (2) Damage, and (3) Recovery

 

Stress

You push your muscles beyond what they are optimized for.  If it is not stressful, you are wasting your time.

Damage

You body gets micro-injuries during and after the workout.  Muscles get micro-tears and micro-injuries.

Recovery

The point of recovery is to build back the muscle stronger than it was before the workout began.  We call this improvement. 

The finest athletes competing at the highest level have very fast recovery times, which allow them to begin the next workout sooner, and, thus, get more fit than we mere mortals.

What is the problem most people have who workout?  Recovery.  Some of us who do hard workouts for more than 45 minutes need to pay close attention to recovery.  If you workout for more than an hour, it is even more important.

What often happens from a bad recovery?

•  Sore muscles
•  Hunger cravings for bad food (potato chips, cookies, cakes, etc)
•   Headache
• Fatigue
•  Lethargy
• Mental slowness
• Next-day despondency

What to think about for improved recovery:

•  Get at least 8 hours of sleep – you are not going to improve with only 6 hours.
• Adequate fluid intake – measure your water consumption in milliliters with a measuring cup.
•  Eating before the workout – you body needs fuel!  (Try Amino Energy)
• Increase your workload by no more than 20% from previous week – do not over-challenge yourself just to prove you are a “badass.”
• After a high intensity workout (1 hour + or HIIT) you must replace your muscles’ depleted stores of glycogen.  Eat a banana or some chocolate milk if you do not have a formal plan from an established source like Chris Carmichael or Joe Friel.

Suggested Resources

The Cyclists Training Bible

The Time Crunched Cyclist

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Freddy Martini

freddymartini@earthlink.net

How to Eat for Hard Workouts

How to Eat for Hard Workouts

What do you eat during workouts so you do not feel like crap?  You went hard at a workout but that was yesterday, and today you feel anemic, slow, or burnt.  Well, if this is happening to you, you need to design a strategic nutrition plan because your body is not getting what it needs to sustain and recover from the stress of a hard workout.

So, you are discussing a million dollar business proposal with your colleague, and your brain feels like it needs more caffeine.  You slept well, but you did a hard workout last night.  Welcome to the club.  You are not alone.  We will help you.  I swear.

A lot of us dudes discuss this stuff around the water cooler or during lunch time.  There are some rules of thumb.  Here is your strategy in visual form:

 

Pre-Dose

·         About four hours before your workout, you need to get some water into your system.

o   Drink about 250 milliliters of water every hour until about one hour before your energy drink Pre-Dose

·         Eat a nutritious meal of half meat and half vegetables.

·         Drink a twelve ounce Pre-Dose workout drink.

o   Example: 4 scoops of Amino Energy in 12 ounces of water

       

Workout

Conventional wisdom from the experts suggests that if you are going for one hour, all you need is water.  If you are going for over an hour, you will need some source of carbohydrates like with an energy drink because your muscles need to replace the depleted stores of glycogen.

I sometimes eat a banana between sets.  I drink water as needed on short workouts. 

For long bike rides, I will pack 12 ounces of an energy (2 scoops of Amino Energy) drink for about every hour of effort.  I will definitely eat something about the size of a banana every hour or hour and a half.

Recovery

Conventional experts say you should consume a recovery drink and recovery food within 30 minutes of finishing up a hard workout.

My favorites within 30 minutes:

• Banana
• 250 milliliters of milk with ½ teaspoon of cocoa.

You may have to increase your dosage depending on how hard you worked.  Eat a healthy meal within two hours.

There you go.  This should be a good start.

What do you do?  Leave comments.

Freddy Martini

freddymartini@earthlink.net

The Secret Ride by Tyler Hamilton

The Secret Ride by Tyler Hamilton

He rode with Lance Armstrong during the Tours de France of 1999, 2000, and 2001.  He became so good, Armstrong saw him as a rival.  He eventually beat Lance Armstrong.  He rode in the Tour de France with a broken collarbone and still scored near the top.

Who is this guy?  He is one of the titans of cycling. 

He is Tyler Hamilton.  He wrote “The Secret Ride,” along with Daniel Coyle.

Purchase the book at Amazon here. 

Stone Cold Killers

To Lance Armstrong, winning was not everything; rather, no alternative was ever considered.  This probably led to some paranoid thinking on Lance’s part.  Once, Tyler overheard Lance calling his cycling rivals as “stone cold killers.”

Private Investigator Hackers and Stalkers

During the FBI investigation in to doping allegations on Lance Armstrong, Tyler Hamilton decided to cooperate with the FBI.  Then he noticed some strange things happening.  He saw strange people watching him when out on the roads, strange people watching him at restaurants, strange phone calls with no answer, and his computer began to act strangely as if some hacker was getting into his computer.  He mentioned this to the FBI investigator, who replied that he was not surprised that this was going on and that if Hamilton at any time felt physically threatened, he could inform the FBI and they would provide assistance.

Bags of Blood

After several days of high level cycling, the red blood cell count in the bloods stream would be greatly decreased.  The solution was to withdraw some blood from the cyclist several weeks before the event, store it, and then re-infuse this blood to the athlete after the few days of severe depletion from the first week of cycling.

The trick was to make sure that the bags of blood were clearly labeled and taken care of.  If the blood was accidentally switched with another cyclist of a different blood type, someone could die.  If the red blood cells were not kept at the proper temperature, this could either make the cyclist very sick or even kill them.

Tyler once received a blood transfusion from a bad bag of blood.  He became violently ill and vomited for hours afterward.

Old Bikes

Tyler recalls that during the Tour de France with the US Postal Team, Lance used new bikes while the other members of the team were given old bikes.  This sounds strange since for such a large dollar event like the Tour de France, one would expect the entire team to have the best and the latest equipment.

Broken Collarbone

Tyler was so tough that he was riding in the Tour de France, and several people along with him crashed.  He broke his collarbone.  But, he kept on riding.  He says that one of his strong points was the ability to handle an enormous amount of pain. 

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There is much more.  Read about:

• Confrontation with Lance at a Denver restaurant.
• Chris Carmichael, Lance’s coach, once called Tyler a “crazy mother@#cker” after seeing the superhuman feats that Tyler could do on a bike.
• Learn about pushing beyond the wall when you think you cannot push any harder.

It is a fun and easy to read book.  I highly recommend it.

Freddy Martini

Get a Heart Rate Monitor

Get a Heart Rate Monitor

 These days, heart rate monitors are cheap.  Today at Amazon, the Timex brand is $59.99.

Do you do Zumba?  Insanity?  Boot camp?  Cycling?  Running?  Read on.  You will want to.

I purchased a Timex a few months back to begin training for some long bike rides coming up this summer.  I liked it so much that I got one for my wife so she can do Zumba and Insanity and track her intensity. 

What do you need in a heart rate monitor?

(1)   Average Heart rate

(2)   Maximum heart rate

The Timex model my wife and I have gives the following:

• Total Exercise Time
• Time In Zone (in your target heart rate zone)
• Average Heart Rate
• Maximum Heart Rate
• Calories burned
• Alarm beeps when you are outside your Target Heart rate zone

The benefits of this type of information are large.  How much do medical bills cost?  Well, when you consider that medical bills can be in the tens of thousands of dollars, the cost of a $60 heart rate monitor is miniscule.

When I begin my workouts, I hit the “go” button.  After I am done, I hit the “stop” button.  I record in my exercise journal all the information I described above, and compare that over several days and several weeks to monitor my progress.  I can also gauge during exercise whether I am not going hard enough or whether I am going too hard.

For example, during a bike ride, I may want to go up a steep hill for sprint training.  Well, I get at the bottom of the hill and let my heart rate slow to below 115.  Then, I begin the ascent, and monitor my heart rate as I climb.  Unless I get close to the max heart rate, I know I can push hard and not stop.  Knowing this is golden!

Freddy Martini