Range of motion

In the gym at work I witness an incredibly broad spectrum of interpretation of how to use the machines and weights. From the guy that uses only the last 4-6 inches of a 30 inch range-of-motion (ROM) exercise, to the guy that creates a full body exercise in the (improper) use of a machine designed for 25-30 inches of ROM.

When doing resistance training, it's very important to be conscious of a few items. These will not only maximize the benefit from your training, but also help prevent possible injury, as well as the belly laughter from people watching while you do something truly silly.

1) Understand what you want to gain. If you are looking for muscle peak and size, then you can concentrate on just a short ROM with maximum weight, muscle failure, and low reps. If you are looking for strength for sport, a longer ROM with more reasonable weight, rep, and set selections may be a better choice.

2) Think about natural body movements. If you have selected a reasonably movable weight, it shouldn't cause immediate pain to do the exercise. If you do experience immediate pain, either lower the weight, or re-evaluate the motion and cycle used. ALL resistance/weight training should be done with smooth and controlled motion, never whipping or transferring shock through the body. If you can't do the motion slowly at the weight, lower the weight. It's okay to use explosive movements, but don't throw your back out trying to do 220 lb lat pull-downs by jerking on the bar with everything you have in your entire body.

3) If training for a sport, think about the ROM the sport requires and tailor exercises to target weak areas. Swimming and running are large ROM sports, so their corresponding resistance training should largely be full ROM. Pinball requires a very small ROM, so train accordingly. (nerd)

4) What kind of improvement are you looking for? For endurance training, I recommend about 65% max weight at most, for 3-4 (or more) sets, and 15-20 reps. For general strength, I like 75-80% max, 3-4 sets, and 10-12 reps. Size and power get into a grey area, in my opinion. There are techniques like descending number of reps on sets with increasing weight, ascending number of reps on sets with decreasing or constant weight, or just 90-95% max weight for as many reps as it takes to muscle failure, for 3-4 sets. It's hard to nail down precisely how the fibers will react. Which is a segue to...

5) Mix it up! There's a reason we do track workouts, intervals, hill repeats, sprints, and other crazy exercises in running, cycling, and swimming: muscles will adapt to constant demand for identical performance. You will simply plateau after a while if nothing changes. With resistance training, I have found good benefit from changing things up about every month to 6 weeks. And the changes can be sets, reps, weight, or some combination of any of it. Also, go from slow and controlled movement to explosive contraction and slow retraction, or vice versa.

If in doubt, find someone that appears to be working out fairly well, has good balance of muscle tone, and also appears to have a sensible routine they are doing. Then ask that person, or an employee if at an attended gym, how to properly do an exercise. Hopefully they will steer you in the correct direction. When all else fails, get a trainer for a month or so to get an idea of what the basics are.

Sites like this may be helpful in explaining things and providing examples.

Whoops, I forgot one important thing: if you enter into a resistance/weight training program, you will almost invariably have to increase the amount and quality of protein you intake, just as Fian recently discovered. You are stressing and damaging muscle fibers, and without acceptable levels of protein to repair them, you won't spring back, may lose motivation, will likely be sore, and could starve other parts of your body as the machine inside scavenges for what it needs.

Back in black

Sometimes I hate technology. Usually it's when I've overlooked some simple setting or procedure, and I'm dead in the water. Such is the case with the recent wireless connectivity issue; all I had to do was reassociate the wireless router with the DSL modem, and we were in business. Instead we spent day after messing around, demanding a new modem, resetting and reconfiguring both units, and swearing. Hey, we're both sailors! What do you expect?

It's good to be back, though. I had missed out on Tour de France updates also, though it's shaping up to be very forgettable with all the cheating dopers and teams pulling out in shame. Sad state of affairs. But more than that, I missed hanging out (virtually) with all you weirdos. :-)

I've been hitting the training hard of late. I feel lazy if I only do one thing in a day, and the increase distances are getting easier. Notably, I knocked out a half marathon in 1:46:27, am swimming 1500yds consistently around 1:40/100yds with consistent 500yd splits, and was 1 second off my PR for my standard 4.28 mile loop with a 6:44/mile pace. Uh oh, am I neglecting the bike? Yeah, maybe. I did do sick hill repeats the other day, but need to do a brick and a long ride really soon. Anyway, I'm feeling good and think completing the SC HIM is a real possibility at this point. I'm looking forward to my next tri in just under a month, since it will be a short 400m swim, nice 25K bike, and 5K run.

Tonight Grace and I had an awesome "date". Mendy was working the baseball game, volunteering on behalf of the Navy Reserves in the concessions. I wasn't going to be able to squeeze in a run, so I took Grace to the Mexican place. Can you believe they still don't have any Dos XX? WTH? But, we had fun, and went to the store to get some delicious frozen dairy product afterwards. That's where she decided to lose a pound or two into her pull-up. Yay! Changed it redneck style in the car, and we were on our way home. Got a chance to briefly catch up with some of you guys, and am now headed back to check the rest.

The PRs continue: crush those times!

I went out for my hard core lunchtime brick today. The sun was out, winds low at 6-10 mph, and the weather was perfect for a heat monger like me: 81-83 or so. My normal route is a rolling hill 14.7 mile route with only a few stop lights and signs, and a couple of semi-decent climbs. Nothing too serious. The run is a 2.4 mile route with about 1000 total feet of climbing that is great for the transition. I try to do this once a week at least.

Today I rolled out the "chariot of dreams" (aka my tri bike) with the training wheel set and a non-aero helmet. I didn't even use the aero water bottle that lets me stay on the bars. I rocked the ride, got in for a decent (but slightly long) transition, and then shot out for the run.
Last week my times were:
Bike - 44:09 (20.03 mph avg) Run - 17:49 (7m 25s pace)
This weeks times:
Bike - 41:55 (21.04 mph avg) Run - 17.38 (7m 21s pace)

That's right, sports fans! I knocked 2m 14s off my TT on the bike (that's with switching back to regular wheels and non-aero helmet) and a measly 11s off the run. But, I felt better after the run, and could have pushed harder. At any rate, I'm excited about the bike time/pace.

I realize I need to get some more distance in with running and biking, and really need to get in some running speed work. Bricks are quickly becoming my favorite, though; I really feel like I'm pushing myself closer to the limit, and I like that. Better, stronger, faster, more! I haven't lifted in months, other than a couple of low weight/high rep swimming workouts, but I don't really care to build more fast twitch muscles. It's all about endurance, baby! And the less bulk I have to move around, the faster I go. Power to weight over distance.

It's been less than a year since I started biking seriously. I hammered myself last year, though, and the improvements have shown. I did have the benefit of 15 years of exercise and running as a base, however, and that has helped me. This is a new level of intensity for me and I feel great for it. I'm pushing back the hands of time. This ROCKS!