Weekend Warrior

Avoid “weekend warrior” behavior-consistent moderate exercise over the entire week is more beneficial than intense activity all done in a day or two. Exercise should be moderate. Consistency is more important than intensity. Use the point system below-your goal is to accumulate points throughout the week so that your seven-day total is at least 100 points.

EXERCISE TABLE ACTIVITY POINTS

• Walk briskly (3-4 miles per hour) 25 for over 45 minutes 15 for half an hour 5 for 15 minutes
• Conditioning or Calisthenics 25 for over 45 minutes 15 for half an hour 5 for 15 minutes
• Home care and general cleaning 10 for over 45 minutes 15 for half an hour or less
• Mowing the lawn 20 for over 45 minutes Golf, carrying own clubs 10 for 18 holes 5 for 9 holes 3 for driving range
• Home repair 25 for vigorous labor 15 for moderate labor 5 for general labor
• Gardening 25 for vigorous labor 15 for moderate labor 5 for light gardening
• Cycling moderately 20 for over 45 minutes 10 for half an hour 5 for leisure cycling
• Dancing vigorously 25 for over 45 minutes 10 for half an hour
• Actively playing with children 20 for over 45 minutes of physical play 10 for half an hour 5 for carrying child throughout the day
• Singles tennis 20 per 3 matches
• Doubles tennis 10 per 3 matches Racquetball 25 per 2 matches
• Squash 25 per 2 matches
• Sex 25 for over 45 minutes 15 for half an hour 5 for 15 minutes Walking the dog 10 for over a mile 5 for ½ mile
• Bowling 10 for 20 frames 5 for 10 frames
• Frisbee 25 for ultimate game 10 for over an hour of catch
• Jogging, moderate effort 15 for over 3 miles 5 for less than 2 miles
• Show shoveling 25 for over half an hour 10 for 15 minutes
• Climbing stairs instead of taking elevator 1 floor=3 2 floors=6 3 floors=9 4 floors=12

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“Knowledgeable athletes train by doing a hard workout…”

As a road cycling enthusiast, Gabe Mirkin, M.D. is always looking out for RBR’s readers. For years he’s shared useful advice and perspectives on performance factors such as exercise intensity and recovery.

At age 75, the doc practices what he preaches when he says, “Knowledgeable athletes train by doing a hard workout that damages muscles, feeling sore the next day, and then doing easier workouts for as many days as it takes for muscles to heal.

“We can tell muscles are healed when the soreness goes away. Obviously, the faster we can recover from hard workouts, the sooner we can do the next hard workout and the greater our gain in endurance, speed and strength.”

And essential to quick recovery is post-ride nutrition.

That’s no secret if you’ve been reading this newsletter (see “Glycogen Replenishment” in No. 451). To drive home the point, Dr. Mirkin explains one reason why immediately eating a meal high in carbohydrate and protein after a long or intense ride is so beneficial.

“Sugar and other carbohydrates cause a high rise in insulin, which drives the protein building block amino acids into damaged muscle cells to help them heal faster, so we can ride hard again sooner.”

That’s good, but it gets better.

“When you exercise, contracting muscles remove sugar from the bloodstream rapidly without needing insulin,” Dr. Mirkin explains. “The harder you exercise, the more effective your muscles are in removing sugar from the bloodstream and the longer they can continue to do so.”

Health benefits?

“Intense exercise is far more effective in preventing and controlling diabetes than exercising at a leisurely pace. Furthermore, high-intensity exercise maximally improves every conceivable measure of heart function and heart strength.”

The doc can cite studies to back up these statements. “The key,” he says, “is to take your sugar-protein meal when your muscles are most sensitive to insulin — during the last part of your intense workout or no longer than one hour after you finish that workout.” The sooner the better.

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Dramatic Improvements in a Short Period of Time

If you want the benefits of long, steady endurance exercise, but lack the time for such workouts, interval training may be a great alternative or addition to your current routine. Intervals or sprints can be done while running, cycling, swimming, or almost any other type of cardiovascular exercise. Sprint training can offer an option for those that don’t have much time for exercise but still want to improve their cardiovascular system. Although this type of training is demanding and requires a high level of motivation, it can lead to dramatic improvements in a short period of time.

Evidence shows that short, high-intensity sprint workouts improve aerobic capacity and endurance in about half the time of traditional endurance exercise.

Recent studies of sprint training with cyclists showed greater cardiovascular results in less time. In fact, one study found that just six sessions of four to seven all-out thirty-second sprints (with four minutes of recovery between sprints) could be as effective at improving cardiovascular fitness as an hour of daily moderate-level aerobic exercise.

It’s always a good idea to vary your routine every few months. This type of workout is intense, and you may need to take a break and perform some long slow workouts for a while. Try it, you may find that you like it!

· How Often?

Perform sprint workout routines three times a week with plenty of rest between workouts. Because of the intensity of these workouts, most athletes shouldn’t do sprint work more than three times a week.

· Warm up.

Before sprints, warm up thoroughly with easy exercise for 5-10 minutes. Perform the same exercise you will be using for your sprints.

· Sprint.

Perform your first sprint at about 60 percent max intensity. If you feel any muscle tightness or joint pain, back off and continue to warm up.

· Recover.

Recover for 2 minutes by slowing to a comfortable pace, but keep moving. This can be an easy jog or a walk, depending upon your fitness.

· Sprint.

Perform your next sprint at about 80 percent max intensity.

· Recover.

Recover for 2 minutes.

· Sprint.

Perform the remainder of your sprints at 100 percent max intensity or all-out efforts of 30 seconds. You should be pushing yourself to the max for each one.

· Recover.

Recover for 2 to 4 minutes after each sprint to allow your breathing and heart rate to slow to the point that you can hold a conversation without gasping.

· Repeat.

Repeat the sprint/recovery routine 4-8 times depending upon your level and ability. For your first workout, you will want to stop at 4 sprints. That’s fine. Try to build up to 8.

· Workout Goal.

The goal is to do this work out six times in two weeks and then back off to twice a week for maintenance for six to eight weeks before you change your workout.

· Rest and Recovery.

Allow at least one to two days of rest or other easy exercises between sprint workouts.

_{Kirsten A. Burgomaster, Scott C. Hughes, George J. F. Heigenhauser, Suzanne N. Bradwell, and Martin J. Gibala. Six sessions of sprint interval training increases muscle oxidative potential and cycle endurance capacity in humans. Journal of Applied Physiology, February 10, 2005;}

_{Burgomaster KA, Heigenhauser GJ, Gibala MJ. Effect of Short-Term Sprint Interval Training on Human Skeletal Muscle Carbohydrate Metabolism During Exercise and Time Trial Performance. Journal of Applied Physiology, February 2006.}

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Deadlifting

Instructions:

Visit the YPB Training Studio YouTube channel to watch our How to do a Dead Lift video!

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Increase Your Energy

Exercise has been proven to increase overall energy. When someone has been sedentary for a long period of time, it takes a bit of work to get rid of the inertia that accompanies this lifestyle. Getting started on a regular exercise regime can seem daunting at first. The only way to generate energy is to begin to MOVE your body.  The more sedentary and lazy we are, the more tired we become.

Exercise is something a lot of people dread, but everyone loves the results.   Getting started is truly a case of mind over matter.  The mind must be motivated to move the body to dislodge the matter that is clogging up our bloodstream and our cells. The cells must be freed to produce energy. Once we begin moving, our bodies begin to work the way they were created to work.

ATP

A quick physiology lesson:  The body creates energy a variety of ways.  ATP (adenosine triphosphate) relies on glucose (i.e. carbohydrates) as its energy source.  When you do things like sprint quickly, you are using the ATP, which is produced from the anaerobic system.   ATP is basically to your body what gasoline is to your car. There is a limited supply.  When you run out of ATP the system moves over to the aerobic system.  The aerobic system produces more ATP than the anaerobic system.  The aerobic system relies mainly on fatty acids, glucose and glycogen as its source for energy.

Fat produces 9 calories of energy per gram, while glucose only yields 4 calories per gram.  You can see why you get more energy and burn more fat with aerobic training. The more you exercise, the better your body is at producing more ATP and, therefore, you have more energy.  The more fit a person becomes, the greater the ability to burn fat.  When you are exercising consistently, your heart can pump more blood and it can also extract more oxygen from the blood pumping through your body.  So get moving.  Start slow and remember, in time, you will feel energized!

A few simple tips to get you going:

Drink Up. Even a little dehydration can sap your energy, so keep a water bottle handy and sip it throughout the day, drinking more when you exercise.

Eat Up. Isn’t it nice to be told to eat? Your body needs fuel and fuel is food. Many people respond well to eating 5-6 small meals (around 200-400 calories, depending on your size) throughout the day to stimulate the metabolism. Skipping meals or not eating all day long can make you sleepy.

Sleep Up. You need at least eight hours of sleep a night. Am I telling you anything you don’t know? Hit the sack!

Exercise. It’s a dirty word, isn’t it? But, working out doesn’t have to be a miserable experience. Try to be more active every day; walk the dog, cut the grass, park far away and take the stairs. Or start an exercise program. You’ll feel better and have much more energy.

Have Some Fun. Whatever happened to fun? Fun is something you used to have back when you were a kid, remember? It’s time to re-visit your childhood and spend some time doing something utterly pointless.

http://exercise.about.com/cs/exercisehealth/a/couchpotatoes.htm

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