10 March 2007
Not much posting, but… lots of exercise.
Posted by Brad Hefta-Gaub under: Cycle; Fitness; Marathons; Run; Strength Training; Weightloss; blogging; exercise.
I just realized that seeing how it’s the first week and a half of March, it’s interesting that my posting frequency has dropped off so significantly. I’ve still been exercising, and doing a lot of work, so the blog has taken a hit and I’ve neglected it. The funny thing is I have about a half a dozen posts I want to write. But I haven’t gotten around to it, and as the time passes some seem less relevant.
Here’s a quick summary…
1) Running Slow - I’ve been trying to run slower lately as part of my “base training”. I partly got this idea from some conversations I had on Chilly Hilly but also because of some comments that John Rankin made about “less is more”. It’s been a real challenge to slow down, my body just wants to run slower. I did manage to run an 8mile run at about a 9:30/mile pace and end up with an average heart rate of 132bpm… which certainly seemed like accomplishing the goal. But I’ll admit that I’m still struggling with the value of this approach. If I had run that same run at a 7:30/mile pace, I am sure I would have felt fine, although my HR would have been more like 158bpm, but my perceived level of effort would still have been relatively low. Anyway, I think I need to do some more research into why this slow running is useful.
2) Tyler’s “Hard Core” Back Workout - On Tuesday night, Tyler came over for a much ballyhooed “killer back workout”. It was fun, and although it didn’t seem that killer while we were doing it, except for the dead lifts, which I had never done before… I was nice and sore the next couple days. I’m really happy with my new 3x week strength training routine. I know it’s not my do something everyday plan I had earlier in the year, but with Tyler coming over and pushing me, I feel like I’m getting quality workouts on a regular basis. I also feel like I’m getting some good muscle definition. Also, my weight is down to under 140lbs again… even with the muscle definition… so that’s a good direction to be heading in. We’ve added a more regular abs workout to our routine which we are doing every workout. Crunches and declined ab twists with a bar… I’m not sure what the proper name for it is, but it’s a hell of a workout.
3) Soy Protein vs. Soy Powder (vs. Whey Protein) - I ran out of Soy Protein this week, and we couldn’t find any more at the store, and ended up buying some Soy Powder instead, which includes the fiber, carbs, and fat of the soy bean as opposed to being only the extracted protein. I haven’t tried it yet, and I was thinking about doing some research into the differences between these products. Do any of you know what the pros and cons of these different nutritional supplements are?
4) Rain in Seattle - What! Yep, it’s been raining a lot this week. Which means I’ve had to cancel several planned group rides. I still go for a ride in the rain, but too many of my fellow cyclists are apparently made of salt… they’d melt if they rode in this stuff. Oh well… mine is a lonely road.
6 Comments so far...
Not much posting, but… lots of exercise. « ZappoMan.wordpress.com - Fitness Blog Says:
[...] Here’s a quick summary… (Read the rest of this article on ZappoMan.com…) [...]
IronMed Says:
Glad to hear you’ve still got some good workouts in. I’d be interested to hear the details about the “killer back workout” sometime. Type up rough drafts of the posts and save ‘em, that way the thought doesn’t leave. Any recommendations for a fixie?
zappoman Says:
I should get Tyler to document it, and explain why he wanted to do each of these various exercises. But here is the headline…
1) Seated Cable Rows - wu:15@70lbs, 4×10@90-100lbs
2) One Arm Dumbbell Rows - wu:15@25lbs, 2×12@40lbs, 2×12@55lbs.
3) Wide Bar Lat Pull Downs- wu:15@70lbs, 4×10@90lbs
4) Bent Over Bar Bell Rows - wu:15@30lbs, 2×10@50lbs, 2×10@70lbs
5) Deadlifts - wu:15@50lbs, 4×10@80lbs. - I can’t really recall the weight on this, I know it didn’t seem like much weight and I breezed through it pretty easily, Tyler couldn’t do them because his hammys were freakin out.
Then we wrapped up with abs… All of this was continuous..
* decline crunches x25
* decline ab twists with bar x50
* decline crunches x 10
* fall over and puke
As I mentioned, at the time, the back workout didn’t seem like much… It seemed like a lot of very similar exercises. But the next couple days I could feel all these little muscles throughout my back and sides that were definitely hit by the workout.
I definitely feel like a side effect of my strength training is better core strength. I don’t have a six pack or anything, but I feel stronger on my bike and my run… my whole torso just feels more supported. That’s clearly a plus… so I’m going to try to stick with this program.
Oh, on the fixie question… couple suggestions: If you want to build one yourself, then either go on ebay/craigslist and search for frames, or you can check out a couple of manufacturers that are building frames designed for fixies (here’s one I found recently… http://irocycle.com/iro/) But if you just want to buy a bike that’s already built, add it to your collection, and start riding the joy of fixie-ness, then there are several manufacturers building complete bikes for the $500 price point. I got a Redline 925. But there are several other manufacturers out there competing at this price point. They are building bikes that are more “commuter” and “road” friendly, as opposed to super aggressive track bike geometry and gearing. So for example, you can pick up a 42/18 gearing instead of a 48/16 that you’d see on a track bike. Anyway, needless to say I’m addicted to mine.
ZappoMan.com - Fitness Blog : Thoughts on Fitness, Health, Diet, Marathons, Triathlons, and Ironman by Brad Hefta-Gaub » Week 10 Report Says:
[...] - 1 hour (1 Session) - This was the famous “Tyler’s Killer Back Workout”. I mentioned the details in this post, but I’ll recount the specifics here again. For our back workout we [...]
WitheHorse Says:
Hi all!
I like this forum!!
Brad Hefta-Gaub Says:
For the life of me, I can’t figure out why this post is so popular…
Any ideas?
Maybe it’s the much ballyhooed “Tyler’s Killer Back Workout”… But if you like that, then check out my revenge…
