Day 93 - Core Blimey!

Core Strength

Why do we all work so hard on 'core strength'. Core strength and Abdominal Strength, two very different things...I intend to get to the bottom of this.

Abdominal workouts, do exactly as prescribed - they work your abdominal muscles. These are not to be confused with core strength. Core strength does way more for your body.

Core work incorporates literally dozens of muscles, and improves strength and flexibility in your hips, pelvis, lower back, and abdominals. There are many reasons why a developed core is better than just developed abdominals. Such as:

Agility

Core muscles allow you to react faster, with greater strength. Core strength also lets your body distribute stress evenly, absorbs shock more effectively and contribute to your balance, coordination, flexibility and self awareness.

Power

Believe it or not, performing Squats and Dead Lifts with proper technique will develop your core, increasing your power but most importantly it will stabilise and protect your lower back. This type of conditioning develops your muscles, via your core, to allow your body to develop a good foundation for heavier weights and prevents injuries.

Posture

A good core workout will centre your spine and this will enable you to stand and sit with better, more erect posture. I've noticed huge development for my own posture in the past 90-odd days. The main thing here, is if you want a 6 pack or good looking abs, then posture development strengthen the lower back. You even appear taller / slimmer!

Weight Loss

Strong core equals less fatigue and reduced effort in performing daily activity. This reduced effort and fatigue directly translates to more available energy to put into gym time, running, cycling etc. You'll also be at a reduced risk of injury when you're carrying less weight, and reduced risk of exhaustion because you have the additional energy to sustain you!

Way More than a 6 Pack

I've realised from the women in my life, that strong cores as a foundation mean gym work is made far easier. I didn't realise that such a large portion of the male population don't even consider core training, and solely focus on muscle development. This often means the obliques, lower back, hips get less of a workout (if at all) and often just get pounded with heavy weights! It is the recommendation of most fitness professionals to develop core strength FIRST, to gain strength and stability to allow you to do the muscle building activity later.

But Why?

When is Core Strength useful to me, and why haven't I been doing it...Well, I actually have been. I was bashing away in the gym, decided at about 10 weeks (if I recall correctly), that my workouts would include more endurance (abs between weights), and that my weights workout since week 8 (I think) have been predominantly compound instead of isolated. Endurance training and working in the abdominals intensified and added some spice to my weights regime. Compound training added the base core work, required me to drop to smaller weights and develop better technique. I stuck with it, and now I feel particularly strong, in comparison to this time a year ago. I feel fitter today, than ever before. Good reason to kick start your routine into adding more core and compound training? I think so! 

Core strength is integral in my marathon and triathlon goals. It is pivotal in my overall development since I need to maintain a strong core so I can pound my body over 42km. I need to load my muscles with memories of endurance, strength training and the kilometres in my legs. All of this contributes, and as my core has developed (slowly), I've noticed that my running technique has improved. I was omnipresent this evening as I straightened my posture, well noticed that it was more erect as I put a swift 5km on the treadmill.

WOD

My Workout Of the Day, as created by me, was to replicate this core strengthening, and keep my legs from taking a break.

I started with 30 minutes of abdominal weights training, focusing on core alignment, and not just the abdominal workout. I then proceeded to do a 30 minute core crushing kettle bell circuit. I transitioned between medium and heavy bells, and worked different parts of my core. I also included a swift 5km treadmill run, which had me running at around 5min/km, for 25 minutes. My heart rate peaked at 143bpm and I focused on twisting my core muscles and keeping a straight posture as I ran. It felt good!

My WOD - Part 1 Abdominals: (3x15reps)

1. Standing Weighted Cable Pulldown Crunch
2. Kneeling Weighted Cable Pulldown Crunch
3. Palof Press
4. Landmine 180's
5. Plate Twists
6. Plate Side Bends
7. Kettle Bell Figure 8 Crunches

Part 2 Kettle Bell Circuit: (30second intervals x 3reps) - Odd Numbers Heavy, Evens Medium Weight

1. Goblet Squat
2. Around Body
3. Bent Over Row
4. Figure 8 (in bent over position)
5. Single Leg Dead Lifts
6. Windmills
7. Shoulder Press
8. Half Get Ups
9. Step Ups
10. Squat Swings

Treadmill Run: 5km, 5min/km, 25 minutes

Stretches, Side Plank Pulses, V-Sits, Figure 4 Abs & Thigh Crunches to finish me off.

Day 92 - Balls, Bells and Bars...

Variety 

The spice of life and the means to staying focused on my journey from fat to fit. I like to mix things up, and apparently, its good to do so. This week, being the crazy last week of my leadership course is a bit messy and getting into my normal routine is getting harder as the week progresses toward graduation. I decided to mix it up again tonight....but why?

Variety, or, the quality or state of having different forms or types can be important within a strength and conditioning program. Triathletes and cross-fitters tend to need a variety in their program to develop different physical qualities. My variety of strength, endurance, speed, stamina....run, swim ride and sports seems to be the go here!

Athletes must incorporate variety in their regime to become more complete. There is no single exercise or piece of equipment that will create the complete athlete. In order for muscles to increase strength, the workload must be greater than normal. I've noticed that since I started mixing things up, even as early as when I started to train for triathlon (instead of just running) I got stronger sooner. By overloading the muscles, your body adapts by growing stronger. Once the body adapts, a new stimulus is required to continue the reaction. Workload must progressively increase to make gains in strength and endurance.

Variety is a method of adding tools to your toolbox to facilitate your progression.

Tuesday night football..

Almost certainly its harder to play, or more intensive to play indoor football on a full size court with less people. Tonight there was 5 of us! 3 on 2 was the order of play - so lots of running and stop/start sprints, changes to direction was in order. For the first 30 minutes my game was all over the place. Mr Peds reckoned my skills were better when I took a few moments to stop and think, prior to taking shots or passing. This actually seemed to be true...I missed, hit the post and crossbar...I hit the ball wide by the narrowest margins and somehow couldn't find the back of the net. On taking those moments to think, I went from hell to high scoring! I even knocked 3 long-range (from our goal area) shots into their net! I really started to score all over the place, even nut-megged the keeper three times. Such fun.

After 75 minutes I was pooped, needing to change the pace for gym time!

Bells and Bars...

Tonight I opted for the mammoth session - Back and Arms. I reduced the number of exercise variants, but pushed hard to make the ones I was doing count. My dead lift technique has definitely improved, and I feel stronger for it. My rows were all a good show of my developing back strength. I concluded back with 3 sets of 3 unassisted chin ups...and my gosh I was trying hard!

I moved into Biceps and then Triceps. I was feeling the burn by now, 45 minutes in and that was my cue to finish off with a kettle bell circuit. Qinno joined for a bit and we did some basic run throughs. I've been intensifying the kettle bell circuit and 15 minutes is pretty tough....for me!

After all the hard gym work, I think my back deserves a good relax on the foam roller tonight. Looking forwards to that!

Day 87-91 - Kettles, Bars, Bricks and What?

Bells, Balls, Pucks, Weights and lots of sweat.

Another mad-crazy week, filled with multiple workouts. It has been a busy week work-wise too (hence my lack of posts).

I've done some interesting preparations to enhance my training for the marathon; working on core and strength with weights workouts, endurance with kettle bells and agility, power and speed with run sessions, and triathlon brick training sessions.

Thursday I put myself through a 45 minute kettle bell workout, targeting all of the major muscle groups. I also chucked in some barbell training to deepen the efforts on my core muscles. After, I did a triathlon brick. This particular brick involved a 20 minute spin, with a cadence of 100rpm. This speed and duration meant I could knock over a 10km spin, I averaged about 28kph, which is a nice speed for me. After the spin, I jumped onto a treadmill to do a quick run. I was running at 5:40 per km for 28:24, and that allowed a good 5km run at 10.6kph.

Saturday, I did a 35 minute intensive (no rest) kettle bell workout with my amazing wife, at the Bond Street Fitness First. I got a real good sweat on and had fun training with Winnie. It is the favourite part of my weekend. Winnie and I always train so well together, she truly is my soul mate and training buddy!

Today was a great day for leadership training. Today our instructor (Leut. Johno) took us to the gym to play 'handball - It's good to be king' and a 30 minute deck hockey game. I was team captain for team blue. I picked an awesome squad and we actually won 4-1! Two games that we can play with our sailors at sea, both pretty fun, full-on activity.

Deck hockey is a sport that has been played on ships at sea, since the 1800's and I would like to think that I could keep that piece of history as I progress my career. Here's hoping - and my new ship has a pretty massive deck!

After the 60 minutes of team games, I headed into the gym. Working out with Qinno was a good change of routine. We did a good hour of chest and some shoulders - working hard, and using a spot is a nice way to push yourself! After this workout I got stuck into a 30 minute cardio-strength burnout using my new favourite toys - the kettle bells. I incorporate step ups and box jumps to build on the cardio and agility.

Day 86 - Faster, Faster!

As I woke this morning I could tell that my body was in need of a little rest or a slower pace today. Today's leadership classes were fairly sedate and that provided the well needed recharge. As the day proceeded, I realised that I was gearing up to do my first proper speed session after work.

Speed Sesh...

My Speed Session, can be reviewed in detail on this link: Speed Session: 3 x 1km and there you'll see I ran off the beaten track (well its a gravel path around the back of the Creswell gym, and what you can't see is the gradient of  the slow climb I was running on. This was an added element into the session that wasn't necessary, but a challenge regardless.

I planned, and executed 3 sets of 1km fast runs. By fast, this is my slightly faster than race pace, which really got me going. The distance, although low, is actually far enough to give me a good workout.

Overall, with warm up and cool down I covered a mere 3.46km in 20:10, which yields an average pace of 5:50min/km, but if you look more closely the average included the warm up and cool down! A true test of how hard I was working was my heart rate. I was working with a training effect of 3.2 (improving category), which meant an average heart rate of 149bpm (81% of max), and a peak heart rate of 170bpm (92% of max) - which is pretty good. Lap times were:

Lap 1 - 4:39:80

Lap 2 - 4:15:00

Lap 3 - 4:32:60

On completion of this training session I felt smashed, yet exhilarated for completing the running exercise. I had a good cardio and run training session, that had me out of my comfort zone for a few moments of each set - the hill that leads up to the main gangway (main gate).

After I had quickly recovered from the running, I started a new element to my training, Kettle Bell workouts, done my way.

I covered pushups, goblet squats, military shoulder press, one leg dead lift, kettle bell swing, Floor chest press, pirate ships (kettle bell's version of landline 180s), floor pectoral fly, and some abdominal work. My abs are still so sore from the caving yesterday.

Today I learned that rest, planning and a new routine does help keep you motivated, challenged and interested in what you're doing.

Oh and go the Blues...NSW finally win Origin!

Day 85 - Caving Activity

What a day. I think that today has been one of the most challenging days for me; from a physical and mental point of view. Today our class went on a caving trip, to develop our leadership and offer a different setting for some self-development and reflection.

Caving

So, having done lots of tight spaces in the diving sense, in wrecks and caverns all over the world, I was feeling pretty confident about today's challenge. Still it pays to go with an open mind, because every day we can find learning opportunities in almost everything we do.

The caving was carried out at Bungonia National Park, NSW...3 hours away from Jervis Bay. In the middle of nowhere, we were there learning about leadership and crawling around like rats!

The first cave was a great warm up, a great lesson in communication, some tricky traverses but mostly a simple enough cave to get through. The lights out exercise, resonated with me. It reminded me of night diving skills, but the conversation was interesting. When people were asked about their fears, or anxieties before the cave one person spoke up....whether this was fear of embarrassment or otherwise, the result when asked in the dark was more people talking about the same subject. In my humble opinion, this was a really good exercise in Honesty. It was startling how much more honest people were, when they couldn't see your face, or you theirs. It actually pulled the team together almost instantly and that was staggering. Know Yourself, Know Your People. Be honest.

The second was a little more tricky. There were squeezes, tight ones, propelling along ledges attached to chain, climbs, belays, you name it we were in it. There was a silt out caused by movement, dust and that was hard (on the lungs and the mind). The climbs weren't easy. They required some strength in your upper body and your legs. The crawls were hard your knees, elbows and core - especially the squeeze through sections! I got stuck a few times, still working on reducing the 'Bateman Belly', but at 94kg I'm happy to be doing it after losing some weight! Getting stuck didn't bother me, that was just a logical puzzle to solve. 

Fears, Self-Control and Thinking Too Much

I took more from today, than I have ever on a leadership or development course before. When I was placed at the back of the group in the second cave, I began getting concerned about the people I couldn't see. Coming from the diving world of guiding divers, accounting for them and leading them from the front, put me well out of my natural comfort zone in this case! In the 'cement bag' silt out I couldn't see or hear people for a few moments. I was not worried about myself, per say, just how my team mates were doing, then I started to think...and this situation that can be deadly. I started to think about how deep underground, how the air was dense with silt, how hot I was getting, how my breathing rate was increasing....then it hit me.... focus on your dive training. I regained control of my breathing, and remembered something Winnie wrote on a dive slate: "Keep Breathing, Love Winnie" and that helped, but surprisingly the think that changed it was when I saw one of the staff members Chief Blowie.... I said "talk to me chief" (I was trying to distract my thoughts)...to which he replied "you're a dickhead"... which made me laugh, and remember that comedy or keeping things light can control a situation. 

I was carrying a trusty little rock in my pocket. In the moments where there was inactivity, where I had the potential to think (or over think) I started scratching the rock surfaces. I found I was writing the words "Winnie, Win Gaz, and Batman" quite a lot..... I always find that thinking of Winnie calms me down, make me see sense etc. She's always there, even when she's not!

Later on after getting stuck again, I was actually first going through a very tight crawl-squeeze. I didn't like how tight it was, and almost started thinking again, but using self-control and the knowledge that I was with a great team (My buddy was Mr Protein) and a few reassuring words (that I didn't need as it happens) had me scooting through in no time. I was saying to myself JFDI! It helped.

Physical Training

Caving, Climbing and working your way through the tight spaces is a pretty tough workout. Im so glad my endurance training has been going on. It really did prepare me for the cross-fitness of climbing, sliding, squatting, pulling myself along or up, belaying and carrying equipment. I did a little research on getting home, and a day of caving/climbing burns between 3000-4000 Calories. Which is testament to the continuous whole-body workout that I had received today.

Happy Faces....

Day 84 - Week 13 Commences.

Moving Forwards...

I love this quote.

I know, of late, I've not been as active with regard to my gym usage and blog uploads but in actual fact my training in coming into quite an important phase - Strength Training for the Marathon. 

My decision to participate in a marathon has been something I initially set as a goal, but something that has the potential to facilitate my long term health and fitness goals. I love fitness and being healthy, and I really want to keep this passion by means of gym work, yoga, running, cycling, swimming (and scuba of course). I signed up for the marathon as my main goal for 2014, and I want to be ready from a physical and emotional sense. I want my muscles and joints to be prepared. To that end I've been spending a lot of my free time reading and researching different methodologies (old techniques and new).

I've read that combining, equally, running with weights is the best way to prepare your body. I've read that developing a strong core is not all you need. You also need to develop strong glute muscles, good hip extension strength are important too. The definition of Core Strength is how well you can stabilise your upper body on your lower body; in other words how much rotation you've got whilst keeping your trunk stable. Maintaining a strong, stable core will stop you from leaning forwards, arching your back, and in therefore will stop your hip activity from being inhibited. I read that if you inhibit your hips, you end up inhibiting the muscles inside you shins and feet too. I've learnt that this is all down to posture. So, in the gym, out on runs, and basically all other times I need to be working on keeping a good posture to allow my muscles to work as they're meant to.

According to one paper I read, runners need four important things:

1. Postural Alignment
2. Specific Stabilisation
3. High Strength
4. The ability to produce strength quickly  (High Power)

Another reason to incorporate weight training into my regimen for running a marathon is that I want to maintain lean muscle mass, and if I don't train the endurance will eat away at the muscle I've worked so hard to build.

I'm learning, now more than ever to not over exert and to take more rest, including rest days from both gym and run. Since recovery will determine how the preparation builds and how strong overall I become. If I never give my body time to recover, I'll never develop. It also means not doing gym and long runs on the same day, over exertion will just sap my body's resources and leave me feeling wasted all the time. Prior Preparation and Planning, to Prevent Poor Performance!

The Run Element

The plan with the running is not to run 100's of kilometres per week, in fat its quite the opposite. I'm going to employ a variety of cardio components in conjunction with long runs to build my muscle strength and endurance plus condition my soft muscle tissue to the long endurance of a marathon. I'll be doing short quick runs (tempo runs), middle distances at a conversational pace, and intervals (including hills). I will build to around 35km then taper back as race day approaches.

The Strength Training Element

This will be a core stabilising and strengthening combined workout, incorporating compound exercises, the endurance work I've been doing and will be made up of light (ish) weights, high reps and no more than 2-3 sets per exercise. I test ran a workout like this tonight, and it took exactly 1 hour, so that was also a bonus. In sequence, tonight's workout trial consisted of:

• Barbell Chest Press
• Rest: Bottoms Up Abdominal raises 
• Barbell Bent Over Rows (reverse grip)
• Rest: Plank Holds
• Barbell Shoulder Press
• Rest: Side Plate Bends
• Smith Machine Squats
• Rest: Bicycling Abdominal Crunches
• Smith Machine Lunges
• Rest: Leg Raise Holds
• (Heavy) Barbell Dead Lifts
• Assisted Chin Ups
• Rest: Retractors
• Push-ups suspended on Kettle Bells 
• Kettle Bell Swing Twists

The Nutrition Element

Vital to my endurance, health and well being is what I actually put into my mouth. So, I've been going good so far, eating clearer, reduced my gluten intake to almost zero (you can never tell what sneaky companies use thickeners, and I'd be lying if I said it was 100% gluten free - not sure its even possible)...Reduced alcohol consumption to almost zero and good supplementation to back up a healthy diet.

I need to improve the balance of my carbohydrates, proteins and fat intake. I've read that it needs to shift to 60% Carbohydrates, 20% Proteins, and 20% Unsaturated Fats, and I've been working to 50% Carb, 30% Protein and 20% Fat. Carbohydrate loading in food will be a challenge for me, so I'll keep you all posted on how I get there with that one!

The New Training Program

The Marathon is actually 14 weeks away, but my honeymoon is a 2 week period where I will likely be resting more than running, although I'll be working on core, strength and stability wherever I can. So, I have 2 weeks, a 2 week demi-rest, then 10 weeks to bring me over the line. A major milestone in that time frame is that 8 weeks from now I will be running the City2Surf with Winnie. This is a good time to ensure my training is going good - essentially its midway between here and the main event. I can check all the elements are working as they should and I can make sure my mind and body are set up for this.

Rest Days: 1-2 per week

Gym: Combined Weights Workouts / Circuits: 3 per week upto an hour

Non-Run Cardio:  Swim / Spin / Cycle / Football or sports activity: 2-3 per week

Running: 5-6 per week

1. Speed Sessions (multiple short, sharp runs out of comfort zone)
2. Medium Distance Runs (10-20km build up)
3. Easy Runs (5-10km for recovery)
4. Tempo Runs (fast pace)
5. Fartlek Runs (speed-play workout) 
6. Long Run (Slower pace, 13-35km build up, then taper back)

Days 81-83 - Weekend Fun

Home at last. Friday afternoon was spent driving back up to Sydney. Friday night I relaxed, enjoyed my rest with Winnie and prepared for a big weekend of sport, fun and training.

World Cup Football 1

Saturday I planned to get up early, watch Australia vs Chile in the World Cup, then study, then train in the gym (a quick 30 minute session) with Winnie on her lunch break, since she was working all weekend.

I did all as planned. I'm liking sticking to my plans, it lets me see how organised I am plus I feel satisfied that I achieved all I set out to do.

Micro Circuit

30 minutes in the gym is not long to get a good workout, but never the less we gave it our best. It seemed logical to get a few pre-loaded barbels and head to the circuit/cross-fit area of the gym. There we proceeded to run 2 minute intervals of bicep curls, shoulder press, overhead tricep dips, push ups, sit ups, v-sits, lunges, squats, track-starts. After, noting the time we did 4 sets of the big rope, making waves with it for 2 minute intervals with 20 second rests between. After we raced the sled things - mine had a 25kg plate on it, Winnie was using an empty one. We were pushing, not pulling, the sleds up and down the astro-turf area. This was how we finished.

A micro circuit, I need to work on making the best use of time, but it got a sweat on us both and we got to spend some time together...which is what it is all about!

Roosters vs Knights

Saturday evening Winnie and I went to see the Sydney Roosters play against the Newcastle Knights. This was a pretty good NRL game. Sydney were losing, then in the second half they stomped all over the Knights. The Roosters ended up winning 29-12 in a really good game. The weather was pretty chilly, which meant lots of cuddles for the wife - again another reason to go to Friday night NRL with Winnie! Plus its pretty good entertainment....

World Cup Football 2

This morning I woke up extra early to set myself up to watch the Three Lions take on Italy in their opening game of the world cup. At the same time, my sister called me on FaceTime - we were then able to watch the game together. Is it me or is technology making the world seem a lot smaller - AWESOME! A devastating first game in terms of the result for England, but a few good lesson learnt. I look forward to the next game!

A Little Run

This morning, post football, I headed out into the wind and rain to run another long distance training run. I was aiming for 25km. I planned to run from my house to La Perouse, around past Bare Island, and then up Anzac Parade to Maroubra....and back the way I came.

This was a tough run, the wind was sapping my energy, the rain made me feel heavy. Then there were the long hills, short steep hills and half way I realised I had only had a smoothie for breakfast! Lucky I stocked up on electrolyte gel products this weekend.

This run I was trialling a new product, called Clif Shot Bloks. There's 6 in a pack, thats the equivalent gel of 2 liquid gel sachets. I used 3 bloks during the run, staggered over the 158 minutes of running. I did as recommended and sucked the yummy black cherry flavour gel blocks and chewed little slivers as I ran. This reduced the workload on my gut as I ran.

Post-run I smashed a protein shake with added L-Glutamine, and chased it with an electrolyte gel. This was another new product, made by Torq Nutrition. This gel was recommended to me over the weekend, so I gave it a try. It was wicked, great tasting, easy to swallow, less thick than any of the gels I've tried thus far. The real benefit was the less-artificial tasting flavour, which was Rhubarb and Custard. I was very impressed, and my stomach has had no signs of being affected by this or the Bloks.

 My stats for the run were interesting.  Average Heart rate was 148 bpm, the average pace being 6:04 minutes per km and the time, 02:38:58. My speed / pace was a lot slower than normal, but there could be many reasons why and I'm not too bothered. I burned something close to 2500 calories, and needed to eat a fair amount before I felt satisfied tonight!