Intensity, Never Just Go Through The Motions

Intensity has always been a pretty major buzz word in fitness. The only problem is it is hard to define making it hard for people to know what it means to be intense. To some it means grunting loudly, nostrils flaring, veins popping. To others it means going as hard and as long as you can possibly go. I hope to cover something in the middle of those two examples.

For this purpose, intensity refers more to how hard you are pushing yourself, whether it be cardio or strength training. As the title states, more often it seems that people simply go through the motions. Oh, I was at the gym for 45 minutes I must have done something good. I just did 20 reps that must mean that I did it right. People simply go through the motions of working out. They hop in their car, drive to the gym, and spend their allotted time. Few people in the casual group of fitness really focus on what it is they are doing.

To get the most benefit out of your cardio workout, it isn't about going longer it is about going harder, or more intense. You will burn more calories running/biking going nine mph for 10 minutes as opposed to doing the same motion but only getting up to five mph. The point is to push yourself just hard enough to make sure you are focused on what you are doing. This means, put down your magazine, stop the chatter with your friends, and for 15 minutes focus on what you came to do in the first place.

I like the idea of interval training and there are many different types to do. The basic premise to all of them is, go hard and then ease up and repeat. I typically like to do a minute of as hard as I can go, followed by two minutes at about 70%. Other way's to do it are short 30 second sprint bursts followed by 10 seconds of a slower speed. Whatever you choose to do, just make sure you are present in your workout meaning your thoughts are on is this too easy or should I speed my pace up.

Lifting weights follows the same concept of cardio intensity. Looking back on how I started my lifting I can remember trying to lift too heavy of a weight and only getting in half repetitions. I thought I was doing something good since I was there and I was lifting a decent amount of weight. Now after all I have read on lifting I know that I was doing myself a disservice. I wasn't getting a full range of motion nor was I using good form in my lifts, I was just going through the motion. This is where intensity fits into the equation.

First for most guys, check your ego at the door, it doesn't belong in a gym. After that, for your lifts, find a weight that you can actually lift, all the way through your repetitions, and with good form. This is where being present will benefit you as well. Lift with intensity meaning thinking about good form, powering through your entire range of motion getting the most benefit from each movement that you do. Like with cardio, doing 10 solid reps with the proper weight and good from will be much more beneficial than doing 10 half reps with a weight you can not lift.

Intensity is what will get you through your plateaus. If you aren't happy with your weight loss then run harder, faster, you will see improvements. If you aren't getting stronger, lift with a purpose and you will see improvements.

Keep on going no matter what, good things are just a day away, 365 Fit will always be along for the ride. Good things.

The Snooze

I am writing this to you today, well this should have been my Tuesday post, so you will get two lovely postings today to makeup for me not doing anything yesterday.

No the snooze is not some ultra cool person that everyone should know. Although it is an ultra cool something that everyone does know. I am sure that every person at some time in their life has hit the snooze button, again, and again, and again, unless you don't own an alarm clock, or were somehow blessed with some waking up ability that I am not. The snooze seems like a necessary evil that no one really wants to have as intimate relationship with, and yet ultimately we do.

I have read a few different articles concerning this snooze button and whether or not we should use it. Like my water article there is no real good answer. Physically I know that it does us no good. Getting that 9 minutes or however long your snooze is set for, is probably more detrimental than helpful. Psychologically however the snooze button can be a god send. It gives us that little chance for hope that our day is going to be that much better or we will somehow be that much better by preserving our present state of comfort and mostly unconscious state.

I hit the snooze button way more than I should. Lately, and by lately I mean the last three days, I have been doing a better job. I know that isn't very long, but at least its a start, and like all good things it has to start somewhere.

I have also read some tips on the snooze button. Namely for me the ones I like are having a reason to get up in the morning and getting enough sleep at night. I have been getting up at five in the morning to go workout. I lay in bed and I want to hit the snooze button, i truly do, but I do not hit it because I know that I need to get up and go workout.

A viable alternative to the snooze is using two alarm clocks. The first thing you do is find out when you should get up. You can figure this out by using this general rule. Your body goes in sleep cycles lasting approximately an hour and a half. So with that in mind you plan accordingly. I need to get up at 5 a.m.. I want about eight or so hours of sleep. So if I go to bed about 9 p.m., I would set my first alarm for about 4:30 a.m. which would be in the seven and a half hour range of sleep. I set this alarm really quiet in the hope that at that time I will be ready to wake up and the little noise from the alarm will be enough to wake me up. The second alarm you setup farther away from you at the absolute last time you can get up and use this as your last resort. This system is supposed to help you wake up naturally and allow a safeguard to make sure you get up in time for your day.

One last thing that I saw that intrigued me. I am not sure how effective it works but it is an alarm clock that has wheels on it. Named, Clocky, it is literally an alarm clock with wheels. It allows you to set the length of your snooze from 0 to 9 minutes. If it is set for 0 you have no snooze and it just will get off your table and start cruising around your room. Again, I am not sure how well it will wheel around, but the notion that you have to get out of bed to chase this alarm clock sounds comical at least.

The snooze is great, but for us here at 365 Fit it needs to be done away with. I will leave you with this thought taken from an interview over at ESPN with Tiger Woods. He was asked how he is able to have done so many great things but doesn't feel like hitting the proverbial snooze button and take a break or a day off. His response was, the way I look at life is: the greatest things about tomorrow is that I will be better than I am today. That is some powerful words and if that doesn't motivate you to be 365 Fit, I don't know what will. Good things.

Strength, Flexibility, Balance

Strength, flexibility, and balance are all parts of your one whole. Without one the other three are ultimately doomed to fail. If we are not strong then we can not possibly balance ourselves when we are lifting for strength. If we are not flexible then we can not possibly move within our full range of motion getting the optimal benefit from whatever fitness move we are trying to do. If we are not balanced, then we will fall when we lift and when we stretch.

It seems like we fall into one category or another, but mostly into the strength or flexible category. Often we will see mostly men lifting to get strong, often neglecting certain areas that should be worked more than others. With women we see the opposite and they usually go the flexibility or balance route more so than the strength route in fear of becoming bulky.

In all fitness we need to have all three. I have been working on a plan to incorporate all three of them. I have taken ideas from articles I have read and past experiences and this is what I have come up with.

In the mornings three days out of the week comes my strength. I am trying to build up to more complex movements, but mostly focus on my main areas of my body. My chest, back, shoulders, quadriceps/hamstrings/glutes. I do dumb bell bench press to isolate each arm separately to work my chest and upper arms. I do leg press to focus on my quads/hams/glutes. I also know that squats may or may not be better for me, but this is what I choose to do for now. I do bent over dumb bell rows again to isolate my arms and to provide a wider range of motion for my lats. I finish with pull ups/chin ups to work basically everything, my shoulders, biceps, triceps, lats, traps, delts, and even a little of my abs for good measure.

In the evenings I take a chapter from yoga/pilates and work on conditioning my core and lengthening and stretching my muscles as well as adding flexibility. I like to do this in the evenings as it tends to relax me a little more and it's not as intensive. I try to do this every day, especially on my strength days to help get the tension out.

Balance is going to be coming by way of Ray Allen and men's fitness. I read an article about him and it shows him doing different things for balance. I found it interesting looking at him standing on one foot usually with a band around his quads, knees, or ankles and then throwing him things, medicine balls and the like. I think doing some off balance things such as using a wobble board, or a bosu ball, or just standing on a pillow once or twice a week and just moving will help to incorporate some of the smaller stabilizer muscles. I know that you shouldn't be doing everything with an aid ( bosu ball ) since you won't be getting the strength bang for your buck as you can not lift as much weight, but once or twice in a week should help out your balance.

I know this one is lengthy and technical or at least more technical than previous posts, but I wanted to share a little insight on where I was in my 365 Fit goals and plan so that you can see that I am a real person, doing real things, just like you. In the following days/weeks I will be going a little more in depth on each of the three areas, strength, flexibility, and balance and will hopefully clear up things, or add too things as we go along.

Here is to all of you doing your thing and getting 365 Fit, even if the rest of the world isn't. Good things.

Just A Little More

I have been playing around with the notion of, "just a little more." Lately it seems like if I just gave a little more I would be more productive in all areas of my life. If I would just stay on task at work a little more, or if I would cleanup after myself just a little more, or if I would be fit, just a little bit more, who knows where I would be today.

It is easy to be lazy. I am not sure why it was made that way, but for most that is true. Now I know that there are people out there that will go crazy if they have to sit still for more than five consecutive minutes, but it seems like to me as a whole that most people are inherently lazy. If we would take a couple minutes on a daily basis to be just a little bit more, fit, productive, or what have you, that we would all be better off.

I end with this as I have done just a little more. I know that this is just the beginning of 365 Fit, and no one has read this but people I know, but if I am able to give advice, then I should be able to take my own. It is late, or at least later than I would like it to be and I could have gone to bed instead of writing today's post ( even though it is Sunday now, this is Saturday's post ), I took it upon myself to be diligent in my efforts and post something. I feel better now that I have and it took just a little more effort on my part to do the right thing.

I hope that all of you fictional readers take this to heart and every day do a little bit more. I hope this finds you well, and will help you get a little closer to being 365 Fit. Good things.