More on Interval Everything

Yesterday I wrote about how pretty much all our workouts have, inherently, a relationship with interval training.  I gave some examples of what that might look like, but today I want to talk a little more about how we might use the concept when we work out.

When we are doing our strength training, the exercises we do lie on a continuum from simple to compound.  The more joints we are using, the more compound the exercise.  The more compound the exercise, the more muscle groups we are using, the more calories we are burning, and the more body parts we need to coordinate to move successfully.  In our analogy to interval training, then, our most compound exercises are our intense intervals and our simpler exercises are our periods of relative recovery. 

 

In practice, this can take a variety of forms.  One way to structure our intervals would be to superset an exercise with a more unstable version of the same exercise, such as regular squats followed by BOSU squats, or deadlifts followed by single-leg deadlifts.  Another way to create this kind of interval is to superset a compound exercise with a simpler one, like following squats with bicep curls or Arnold presses with hamstring curls.  (Note:  when doing strength training, there is also actual rest that has to happen.)

 

In Pilates, our interval training would likely take on the character of doing related exercises that build toward a more complex version, followed by an easing off.  So we might begin with chest lift and explore our way along until we are doing something like the long stretch series on the reformer or hamstring 3 on the chair or any of the tendon stretch versions, ending with something that brings us into extension like the rolldown reach on the spine corrector.

 

The common element here is that we understand and plan around the natural flow of our energy to get the most out of our workouts.

 

Go play.

It's all intervals

Over the last long time, I’ve written a lot about interval training because it really is good for us.  (Quick review:  in interval training for cardio, we work really hard for about a minute and then work less hard for as long as it takes us to get our heart rates down a bit.  Then lather, rinse, repeat until we are done with our workout.  It burns more calories in less time and produces quicker results in terms of cardio fitness than steady-state cardio.)

There is an underlying principle, though, that I’m thinking about today.  We can’t always go to 11 (no matter what Spinal Tap says).  This is a built-in condition in interval training.  Our bodies simply can’t go at maximum intensity for more than about a minute because we run out of ATP and have to use slower energy pathways.  (Sorry about the biology flashbacks.  I promise there won’t be a quiz.)

 

When we are doing other kinds of workouts, we have the same limitations on our energy, which is one reason why we rest between sets when we lift weights.  But it is not just our energy systems that max out.

 

A few examples.  Let’s say we’re lifting heavy.  We are unlikely to set new personal records for more than one lift in any workout.  Our bodies use up our energy and strength and general oomph as we go along and toward the end we are not making as much progress.  This is also a good reason to mix up our workouts so that we don’t always do the same thing first.

 

Or let’s say we’re doing Pilates.  While we need to concentrate on what we’re doing throughout our Pilates work, some exercises are more complex than others.  We want to ensure that we have the attention and energy to concentrate on those, so we want some exercises in our series that have a lower cognitive and/or physical load.

 

The short version is that we need to allocate our mental and physical resources wisely as we work out.

Monday Workout: Across and Asymmetric

This week we’re doing some things across the body and asymmetrically, so we get bonus points for core and balance.  Three rounds.

 

ball kicks	30
flies	20
curls	10
alternate knees	30
bench press	20
db thrust	10
1 arm clean and press	30
rows	20
pretty princesses	20

 

Thursday List: 1?

If we find that we want to change our goal, what do we do?  Here’s a list:

 

1.     Change it.  It’s ours.  We can do whatever we want with it.

Shift

Things change.  (I know.  I should dress up as Captain Obvious for Halloween.)  But sometimes we kind of freak out when they do.

Let’s say we’ve imagined ourselves in an ideal future where we’ve met our goals (like I talked about yesterday).  We’ve been working along toward making that real.  And then something happens.

 

Sometimes what happens is a bad thing, like getting injured or needing to care for a family member.  Sometimes it’s a good thing, like getting whisked off to Paris by a handsome partner for a month of debauchery.  Sometimes it’s just… different.

 

When the changes are good or bad ones that happen in our circumstances, we know pretty much how to adjust.  But when we’re trucking along toward a goal and the goal turns out to be not what we want after all, sometimes we get stuck.

 

It is okay to change the goal.  I’m going to yell it:  IT IS OKAY TO CHANGE THE GOAL.

 

We don’t need to justify it.  We don’t need to rationalize.  We just want something else now, something different. 

 

When that happens, go for it.  Change that goal.  Do you.

Vision and Goal

Halloween week is a great time to pretend.  Everybody’s doing it!  Your kids are dressing up as anime characters you’ve never heard of.  Your boss is pretending to be Glinda the Good Witch.  The guy who delivers your packages is wearing bunny ears.

We can do all those things, but I’m suggesting that we pretend in a different direction.

 

We’re going to pretend we have reached our personal goals.  (If your goal is to be Glinda the Good Witch, that’s awesome and I probably can’t help with that.)

 

Take a few minutes.  Get quiet.  Maybe grab some paper if you’re a person who likes thinking by writing or drawing.  Take a couple deep breaths and let them out.

 

Now:  imagine.  You have achieved it!  You’re whatever it is you wanted to be.  How does it feel in your body?  Warm?  Cool?  Relaxed?  Powerful?  Purple?  (No, I don’t know what purple feels like, but I wanted to make sure that everybody knows that what it feels like in your body only has to make sense to you.)

 

What does this newly achieved world look like?  Calm and peaceful?  Joyous and noisy?  Lively?  Natural?

 

Who is with you?  Are they the folks who have been cheering you on?  Cool people you met along the way?  Are the haters there, sufficiently cowed by your new awesomeness?

 

Roll around in all this a bit.  All this stuff is the fuel that will get you to the reality.

Monday Workout: Halloween!

It’s festive, right?  (It’s not my fault that no exercises start with N and that I had to cheat a little on the E.)  Happy Halloween!  Three rounds.

 

H	high knees	30
A	Arnold press	10
L	lunge	20
L	lateral raise	10
O	oblique crunch	10
W	woodchopper	30
E	extend triceps	20
E	elbow plank
N	narrow squats	20