Flexibility

One component of health many neglect is trying to maintain flexibility. As you age, things will definitely go south if you don't do anything about it. Some people are naturally more flexible. However, this will degrade too with age and with no action.

I feel we are more advanced with respect to flexibility training than 20 years ago. Stretching the muscles cold? That used to be standard when I was in high school. Stupid. Never stretch a cold muscle. We also over did it as well with respect to how hard we stretched. All I can say is we were sure ignoring common sense back then.

Do you incorporate regular flexibility work into your training? If you don't, you should! There are so many resources for flexibility make sure you weed out the bad versus the good. Try not to go on information overload. Simple tends to be good. Remember that. It doesn't have to be complicated, take 2 hours a day, and cost an arm and a leg to come up to speed on a good basic flexility program.

Overtraining

I am in the midst of again coaching the throws during high school track season. We have averaged (so it seems) three meets a week. Very tiring even for the coach! Both my daughter and son throw. What is interesting is the recovery aspect of their training. The fact is that if someone knew the exact recovery formula and could predict overtraining to the minute, they would be a millionaire! I do believe though that it is better to be slightly undertrained than overtrained. Especially if you are a competitive athlete. Injury will often accompany overtraining and then the athlete is forced to rest. The last thing an athlete wants to do is overtrain. Sleep is often underrated for recovery. You cannot burn the candle at both ends and expect to be able to recover.

This year I have actually tried to be more aware of total body fatigue and try and put in more rest. There are plenty of factors that cut into recovery as well. Not just the training itself. When in doubt, an extra day or two rest will never kill your progress.

Intensity by Bill PIche

I guess you can probably call this cardio experiment Part II.

Fred and I have been talking back and forth or at least probing between the two of us on intensity of exercise, duration, etc. Don't let anyone tell you it's an exact science or that they know exactly the formula. The fact is, no one does. Which is why there continues to be studies coming out. I can tell you that you can wear your body out. Why wouldn't you be able to? Think about it. What I can tell you is you need to recover. And, I also believe there are different recoveries associated with the body. The nervous system is a whole animal that gets neglected because you cannot see it. But, it's the electrical system that drives the body including the muscles.


Overtrain or tax that nervous system and no matter if your muscles feel fine, you won't be firing on all cylinders. I did an experiment yesterday and until I follow through with it I won't be able to draw any sort of conclusion. I have not pulled my sled all winter. I jogged instead. I could easily jog a mile even at once a week without feeling too taxed at the end. Yesterday, I did two up and backs in my normal sled run and was sucking major gas. I was just walking fast. What gives?! The intensity of effort was much higher muscularly. No doubt. What I am going to do is drop the jogging and go to sled pulling only again. Then, go back and try and jog/run a mile. I'll give it a month. Now, if anyone cares to remember, Arthur Jones decades ago said that proper weight training done with minimal rest is the ticket.

A Little Cardio Experiment

Fred Fornicola and I recently had a discussion on exercise frequency. We talked about how often one should work out and also the possibility of working out being a detriment to your body. I did a little experiment this past week. Partly because I am strapped for time anyway. I did a jog of about 1 mile a week ago. I did not do the jog again until a week later (yesterday). I wanted to see how I felt with 6 days in between. Would I suck gas? Would I feel de-trained. Would I actually feel stronger than last week?

The answer is: I basically felt the same. Maybe a hair better than a week ago. This little experiment is another data point that backs up what I said that people don't need to freak about missing a workout or two. Or, taking a week off to rest and recoup (like a vacation!).

That's not to say I am going to decrease my exercise to once a month now! It was just an experiment to again let people know that it's ok if "&##$# happens" and you miss a workout.

On to another topic.

You should not get injured strength training. Let me say this once more...you should not get injured strength training! You should not get injured PERIOD in your exercise. If you do, you are doing something WRONG! The point of exercise is to BUILD the body. Not break it down and actually BREAK it as well! Now, if you do get injured, you better take a HARD look at what you are doing. You better find ROOT CAUSE. A lot of times it's just pushing the body for too long and too hard. This gets back to the rest part and the point I made above. You also need to identify exactly what exercise caused the injury and avoid it. At least for awhile. Sometimes if you made a big enough mistake you may have to totally dump them. Don't be foolish and continue to do an exercise that might be one to cause you injury over and over.

The Body Remembers - Part 2

The good news is the body remembers muscle and strength too. If you have put in the time for many years under the bar consistently, you'll reap these benefits even after you switch goals such as myself. I am more concerned about longevity and health rather than how much I can bench press. And, bodyfat levels and keeping muscle. Due to recent time constraints, I am probably averaging 1.5 workouts per week. No, I am not shrinking up. I still have my bicep peak and I do little direct arm work. Again, the body and it's memory. If I have carried extra muscle for 30 years out of 46 years of my life it makes sense. So, what's my message here? Well, don't freak out when you miss a workout. Or two. Or three. You'll gain it back and probably more!

The Body Remembers - Part 1

The body is amazing. It's memory is long lasting. It resists changing. So, once you obtain that lower level of bodyfat and re-program your the body memory it can work for you just like it works against you when trying to lose fat. I've continued to be amazed at how I can cheat and not gain bodyfat or bodyweight AS LONG AS I don't do it such that the body gets reprogrammed with a new memory.

Donators Area Upgrade

We are working trying to upgrade the donators area. Thanks for your patience!