Q: What is the Minimum Effective Dose (MED) for any given exercise, or my whole workout?
A: Good question, as this isn't necessarily clear in The Four Hour Body. The answer is that there is no explicit answer or formula to come up with the answer for any given situation.
The MED for you will be dependent on what you're trying to achieve, where you're starting from, and what you're doing. For example, Tim Ferriss talks about doing a weight lifting routine where he works his muscles to exhaustion, and that's his whole workout - a few exercises done to the point of failure. He does go over how many sets and reps to do if this is your approach, and shares his specific workout, but the amount of weight used, which exercises done, and your own muscle endurance will mean that your MED for this exact workout may not be the same as his.
Instead of sweating the mathematics of determining your MED for a given workout, focus on the concept of the MED, which means following Principle 5 - "be smart about it". A good example I often use is in cardio workouts. I see so many people set the equipment to manual mode, dial in a set resistance level, open a magazine or put a show on the TV, put on their earphones, and turn into a workout robot for the next 30 minutes. Instead of that 30 minute workout, they would probably get the same from a 15 minute interval workout with the magazine closed, shows off, and their mind focused on really pushing themselves during the sprint or high intensity periods.
The same goes for weights. Doing 20 reps of low weight across 5 sets takes much longer than doing a pyramid (10-12 at 50-60% of your max, then 6-8 at 65-80%, and then 2-4 at 85-95% of your max).
This is what the MED is all about - using the biology and chemistry in your body to your advantage. The body will actually keep burning calories for quite a while after working out, and this 'while' is significantly longer when you train with intervals than with a constant resistance and output. So you don't need to go as long since the magic of biology will keep you burning calories from your workout more than long enough to offset the shorter duration of your workout.
This is all part of what I mean by "enlighten.your.body" - get smart about what you're doing by using your mind to change your body.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Monday, July 30, 2012
Q: Why Did You Create The trackbodi.es iOS App?
Q: Why did you create the trackbodi.es app for the iPhone? Aren't there already lots of great workout apps?
A: Great question, and one I've been meaning to write about for a while. The basis of trackbodi.es is about the first principle of my 10 Principles - "track it". 'It" can be anything, which is the whole point. trackbodi.es is meant to be a way to track performance in any situation - both for working out and for your body. That's where its name came from. It's not just a tie into newbodi.es, but all about tracking your body - whatever it is about your body you want to record and track.
There are apps that are single-minded that are great that I recommend to lots of people - RunKeeper, Nike+ Running, etc. They are meant to track one thing (in their cases, running), and do it well with lots of tools (GPS w/ mapping, pedometer, calorie counter, real time feedback on performance) and a whole ecosystem around them. But if you want to do a different exercise, they either don't work at all (like for weight lifting) or are sort of half-baked (like for biking - it works, but it calls it a run, the whole lingo is off and it may miss some key metrics while recording others that are irrelevant). They also don't do anything with or for your body metrics - like tracking weight loss, body fat percentage changes, blood pressure, heart beat rate, changes in skin caliper readings, circumference of key spots on your body, etc. If your goal is physical fitness and health, you should track both what you're doing and what it's doing for you in moving you toward your goals.
There are apps that are meant to be all things to all people. I've looked at quite a few, and spoken to some of their developers about working together. When I say, "all things," what I have really seen is, "many things." I don't see any that cross workouts and body stats beyond maybe a place to put in your weight. Weight is good to track in some cases, but it's irrelevant in others. I watch mine, but my goal has nothing to do with it, and I could just as easily throw it out. I need something that records body fat, circumference (of five locations) and skin caliper pinches (three different spots). As for what's out there, they are just not clean or easy to use, in my opinion. User interfaces are confusing, look and feel is very much overdone (lots of beveling and bling to the look, which just doesn't feel at home on iOS, and only adds to the clutter and confusion). I have tried to use several and, after investing a lot of time building a workout, I couldn't find how to get back to the point where I enter performance or use the workout I just spent a ton of time building. And after all of that, they still lacked the body metric component.
So, I wanted something that could be applied to any situation for workouts and for tracking your body. I wanted something clean and simple looking and as easy to use as possible. Is it as good at X as a dedicated app? No. Is it as feature rich as some of the generalist apps? No. I don't want it to be.
A: Great question, and one I've been meaning to write about for a while. The basis of trackbodi.es is about the first principle of my 10 Principles - "track it". 'It" can be anything, which is the whole point. trackbodi.es is meant to be a way to track performance in any situation - both for working out and for your body. That's where its name came from. It's not just a tie into newbodi.es, but all about tracking your body - whatever it is about your body you want to record and track.
There are apps that are single-minded that are great that I recommend to lots of people - RunKeeper, Nike+ Running, etc. They are meant to track one thing (in their cases, running), and do it well with lots of tools (GPS w/ mapping, pedometer, calorie counter, real time feedback on performance) and a whole ecosystem around them. But if you want to do a different exercise, they either don't work at all (like for weight lifting) or are sort of half-baked (like for biking - it works, but it calls it a run, the whole lingo is off and it may miss some key metrics while recording others that are irrelevant). They also don't do anything with or for your body metrics - like tracking weight loss, body fat percentage changes, blood pressure, heart beat rate, changes in skin caliper readings, circumference of key spots on your body, etc. If your goal is physical fitness and health, you should track both what you're doing and what it's doing for you in moving you toward your goals.
There are apps that are meant to be all things to all people. I've looked at quite a few, and spoken to some of their developers about working together. When I say, "all things," what I have really seen is, "many things." I don't see any that cross workouts and body stats beyond maybe a place to put in your weight. Weight is good to track in some cases, but it's irrelevant in others. I watch mine, but my goal has nothing to do with it, and I could just as easily throw it out. I need something that records body fat, circumference (of five locations) and skin caliper pinches (three different spots). As for what's out there, they are just not clean or easy to use, in my opinion. User interfaces are confusing, look and feel is very much overdone (lots of beveling and bling to the look, which just doesn't feel at home on iOS, and only adds to the clutter and confusion). I have tried to use several and, after investing a lot of time building a workout, I couldn't find how to get back to the point where I enter performance or use the workout I just spent a ton of time building. And after all of that, they still lacked the body metric component.
So, I wanted something that could be applied to any situation for workouts and for tracking your body. I wanted something clean and simple looking and as easy to use as possible. Is it as good at X as a dedicated app? No. Is it as feature rich as some of the generalist apps? No. I don't want it to be.
The only way I could get what I was looking for, was to build it myself. I hope everyone will at least try the free version of trackbodi.es, and it will help them watch what's important as they go for a new goal. Tracking your progress toward health is the single most important step as you enlighten.your.body.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Success Needs No Apologies
Q: I didn't totally follow your advice exactly. I did lose X lbs this week, but I guess I messed up.
A: You have it all wrong. You didn't mess up. You succeeded. You may not have followed exactly what I suggested, but you don't have to. There are a few lessons in this question.
- You should not apologize to anyone else for what you're doing or what you achieved - there is only one person you are doing this for and to whom you answer - you.
- Advice is just that - a set of suggestions from someone who (hopefully) cares and (hopefully) knows what they're talking about, but ultimately isn't you, and isn't living your exact situation.
- Focus on the right things - you made forward progress toward your goal.
Let's look at each of these points in turn.
First, if you made progress toward your goal - whether a lot or a little - don't ever feel bad. If you moved backward, yet know why, what you will do going forward, and are still committed, don't feel bad. If you totally failed and don't care or want to try again or harder, only feel bad if you wish it were otherwise.
You can tell me that you thought you might get closer to your goal, but that you made progress. I will then cheer you on and commend the great work you did while helping you figure out how to keep moving forward. If you didn't make progress or moved backward, we can talk about why (it may even be a good thing - maybe you started lifting weights, so your weight went up, but your body fat went down, so why be upset about that?), and then talk about the next move to get to your goal.
In the end, you don't have to apologize. All you have to do is keep going at it. Remember Principle #3 - Don't Question It. If you're apologizing, you're questioning.
You owe me nothing. You owe you everything. Don't live by other people's expectations, demands or rules. You're an adult who has committed to your health, and are doing it with tools and support, but you are doing it. No one else.
Second, I'm only sharing advice based on what you tell me going in and what I know and have observed. You are a human - your body is different from every other body out there, and the exact food you eat at the exact times you eat it relative to the exact motions you use to expend it are particular to you and only you. Advice isn't perfect or omniscient. It will lead to results tending toward what it is aiming for in most cases, but it won't be exact, and it won't always win. Sometimes we need a little trial and error to figure out the biology and what your life will accommodate. The closer you stick to the advice, the easier it will be to fine tune, but you are smart and motivated and might know what's best for you and your situation better than I do or than I could given how you explained it to me. Tweak, interpret and go for it.
One thing I keep telling people I work with is that they have to make this sustainable. I don't advocate the short term diet or exercise approach. I don't like the idea of getting fit for some event (e.g., wedding, high school reunion, etc). I only advocate being healthy for life. If you have some medical condition that means you need to get X in your diet, and my advice suggests omitting X, then we best keep X in. Even Tim Ferriss talks about how he has a glass of wine each night despite knowing he'd be better off without the sugar. He is a wine lover, and has decided that the trade off is worth it for him. From my experience, grain-based carbs (bread, pasta, pastries, cakes) are the most detrimental to success for me. Would a slice of multi-grain bread with lunch ruin everything? Probably not. Would it slow down results more than if you skipped it? Most likely. If that's all you have access to for lunch, should you skip it? No.
See, you need to figure out what is sustainable relative to the advice you get. While I can help you fine tune the advice to be sustainable, only you can ultimately judge what you can really keep up with.
Lastly, what are you apologizing for when you make progress? This is very simple - don't apologize. Ever. Understand why you didn't get where you wanted to get, and then get there next time thanks to your learnings. But to be sorry for moving ahead only works against the reinforcing energy of success.
So, don't apologize. Appreciate. Understand. Move ahead.
Enlighten.your.body.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Why a Minimal Runner Can Go Minimalist Faster
I've been reading a ton on running styles and shoes, and spoke to a friend who is both a runner and physical therapist about minimalist running. One thing keeps hitting me as totally against my experience - that you need a lot of time to adjust to minimalist running style (something other than heel striking, such as midfoot or, better yet and what I do, forefoot striking).
For me, the first time I ran in Vibrams, I was forefoot striking, and, while I was a bit achy in my calves for a few days, it wasn't this agonizing pain that people seem to be warning of. I would likely have had other muscle pain (and lots of joint pain) had I used a heel strike, the preferred form for most runners since most runners use traditional, raised-heel, cushioned shoes.
So how come I was able to jump right in and forego this adjustment phase? I think the answer is that I didn't really have anything to adjust from. I didn't run. Period. I didn't even really run down the block, save for darting after my son here or there for 20 feet. So I had no pre-existing notion to overcome on how to run, nor did I have any built-up muscle memory to unlearn.
These are both really powerful factors one needs to face when making the transition, and I think both are used as excuses by so many as to why minimalist style running (or barefoot running) "doesn't work" for them. The reason - they have existing barriers to entry, if you will.
It's like a business strategy case where you want to compete in a space where it's hard for others to come due to some barriers to entry (e.g. high regulatory costs like in pharmaceuticals, expensive equipment needed to get going like in aerospace or automobiles, limited resources like in mining, etc). For minimalism to break into the economy of your workout, it needs to overcome your comfort with what you already developed for running style both mentally and physically. That's a tall order. But it is doable.
While I don't want to be too preachy or forceful about it, I do think people need to approach it with an open mind and at least try before simply dismissing it as something that "can't work" because of XYZ that's specific to them. Just be sure if you do try that you really try. "Try" doesn't mean take off your shoes and run the way you always have (i.e., with a heel strike) and then stop and say it isn't for you. "Try" means running with a midfoot or forefoot strike, with your feet acting like a spring or really good set of shock absorbers. If you heel strike barefoot, you will definitely be worse off since not only is your skeleton taking some serious impact and translating it into your ankles and knees, but it's now not getting the benefit of the force disipation that the cushioning of your traiditional running had been providing.
Get minimal, get springy, give it a go, and see what you think. You just might love it.
For me, the first time I ran in Vibrams, I was forefoot striking, and, while I was a bit achy in my calves for a few days, it wasn't this agonizing pain that people seem to be warning of. I would likely have had other muscle pain (and lots of joint pain) had I used a heel strike, the preferred form for most runners since most runners use traditional, raised-heel, cushioned shoes.
So how come I was able to jump right in and forego this adjustment phase? I think the answer is that I didn't really have anything to adjust from. I didn't run. Period. I didn't even really run down the block, save for darting after my son here or there for 20 feet. So I had no pre-existing notion to overcome on how to run, nor did I have any built-up muscle memory to unlearn.
These are both really powerful factors one needs to face when making the transition, and I think both are used as excuses by so many as to why minimalist style running (or barefoot running) "doesn't work" for them. The reason - they have existing barriers to entry, if you will.
It's like a business strategy case where you want to compete in a space where it's hard for others to come due to some barriers to entry (e.g. high regulatory costs like in pharmaceuticals, expensive equipment needed to get going like in aerospace or automobiles, limited resources like in mining, etc). For minimalism to break into the economy of your workout, it needs to overcome your comfort with what you already developed for running style both mentally and physically. That's a tall order. But it is doable.
While I don't want to be too preachy or forceful about it, I do think people need to approach it with an open mind and at least try before simply dismissing it as something that "can't work" because of XYZ that's specific to them. Just be sure if you do try that you really try. "Try" doesn't mean take off your shoes and run the way you always have (i.e., with a heel strike) and then stop and say it isn't for you. "Try" means running with a midfoot or forefoot strike, with your feet acting like a spring or really good set of shock absorbers. If you heel strike barefoot, you will definitely be worse off since not only is your skeleton taking some serious impact and translating it into your ankles and knees, but it's now not getting the benefit of the force disipation that the cushioning of your traiditional running had been providing.
Get minimal, get springy, give it a go, and see what you think. You just might love it.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Q: I see you hit your goal, how much bigger will the next goal be?
Q: Wow, you hit your goal weight. How much lower will your new goal weight be?
A: This particular question could have been generalized to any goal - losing weight, lifting some amount of weight, running a mile in a certain amount of time - you name it. I'll answer the weight loss question, but the principle applies more broadly. It all boils down to the power of proper goal setting in the short and long term, as I discuss in my 10 Principles.
That principle is simple - goals are only useful to the point where they're motivational and sources of positivity in your life. If you set them so that you end up obsessing, they aren't goals - they're problems. See the difference? It's not as simple as word choice. The word goal carries with it positive connotations. Problem carries with it nothing but negative connotations.
Want to argue against me that a problem can be good because it causes you to rise to the occasion and overcome it? No, that's a challenge. A challenge gets you to rise up and do better than you would otherwise do so you can overcome it. It's something tough to do. A problem is something that's wrong.
So, this all started as I've been posting about my weight loss journey over the past year. My goal was to go from 222 on July 1st, 2011 to 180 by July 1st, 2012. I did it, but it was more like November of 2011, so well ahead of schedule. I set a new goal for the remaining time of 10% body fat or below (I was at about 13% when I hit 180).
I've kept posting my weight and weight loss whenever I reached new personal records, but also noted when I didn't find this to be a good thing. For instance, on July 12th, 2012, I hit 169.8 lbs, for a total weight loss of 52.2 lbs. That is lower than I want to be, and it's not good for two reasons:
A: This particular question could have been generalized to any goal - losing weight, lifting some amount of weight, running a mile in a certain amount of time - you name it. I'll answer the weight loss question, but the principle applies more broadly. It all boils down to the power of proper goal setting in the short and long term, as I discuss in my 10 Principles.
That principle is simple - goals are only useful to the point where they're motivational and sources of positivity in your life. If you set them so that you end up obsessing, they aren't goals - they're problems. See the difference? It's not as simple as word choice. The word goal carries with it positive connotations. Problem carries with it nothing but negative connotations.
Want to argue against me that a problem can be good because it causes you to rise to the occasion and overcome it? No, that's a challenge. A challenge gets you to rise up and do better than you would otherwise do so you can overcome it. It's something tough to do. A problem is something that's wrong.
So, this all started as I've been posting about my weight loss journey over the past year. My goal was to go from 222 on July 1st, 2011 to 180 by July 1st, 2012. I did it, but it was more like November of 2011, so well ahead of schedule. I set a new goal for the remaining time of 10% body fat or below (I was at about 13% when I hit 180).
I've kept posting my weight and weight loss whenever I reached new personal records, but also noted when I didn't find this to be a good thing. For instance, on July 12th, 2012, I hit 169.8 lbs, for a total weight loss of 52.2 lbs. That is lower than I want to be, and it's not good for two reasons:
- I don't think that's the optimal weight for my build, age and activity level
- It was largely achieved vs the 175 steady-state I've been at due to atrophy after having double hernia surgery. Hitting a weight loss target by 'letting yourself go', as it were, is not something to cheer about. I can assure you, I'd much rather be 185 and toned and fit than 170 and not reaching my potential.
So, an old college friend keeps posting "Go for 150!" on Facebook when I post my personal records. It always irks me (that may be his intent) because this a) sends the wrong message to people about smart goals, and b) totally plays into the inane social construct that thinner is inherently better. If I were to hit 150, I would likely need medical attention, or at least to be plugged into an IV several hours a day!
No, no, my 'new' goal has nothing to do with any body metric at all. And this is my point. Set a real challenging goal that you will have to work to achieve. But once you get there, maintaining it and building off what hitting that goal does for you is a far nobler and wiser goal than just doing 10% better or something.
I took my own advice to heart and have set my new goal as doing five 5K races by the end of next summer. It's caveated on my back being able to handle it since I had back surgery and re-injured my back just before going out for my hernia surgery. This goal is about using what I achieved with my body in hitting my goal for the past year to do something. That's powerful, inspiring and positive. If instead I said "Get to 160lbs and <7.5% body fat," then what do I achieve other than concerning my wife that I am not obsessing about my weight? What does that get me? Nothing.
Goals are achievements. If hitting a goal gets you nothing, or gets you worse, it's not a goal.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Nike+ SportWatch GPS Review
The build up
I am a gadget guy, and also big into tracking things (heck, "Track It!" is the first of my 10 Principles), so the Nike+ SportWatch GPS was a shoe in for me to want to try out. Not only that, but I'm totally hooked on NikeFuel and the Nike+ ecosystem (despite not really enjoying working out in Nikes anymore since I went toward the minimalist route).
I've been eyeing the watch for months, but the $199 price tag always put me off. Well, two things happened - 1. they lowered the price to a more palatable, though still high $169, and 2. CitySports (which I love - great store with a great Outlet section online) gave me a $40 off coupon for spending too much money with them too frequently. OK, three things happened - my wife also went out of town, so I could get away with buying this without too much scrutiny. So I took the plunge. For the price, you get a Nike+ shoe sensor ($20 value), and a USB extender chord thing to make charging easier.
This review comes on the back of some fast walks rather than runs as I'm recovering from surgery and haven't been cleared to run yet. No matter, I got a good feel for what the watch can do and how it will work in my workout routine. In a word, well. In two words, very well. I could keep going and adding the word 'very' more. You get the idea.
What it is
So, what is it. It's a watch that is really not ideal for every day use as your core watch. It could work, but it's not ideal in my eyes. More on that in a minute. It's a wide, plastic band that has a large LCD face that displays the time on two rows in very big type. It looks bulky but doesn't feel bulky once on (it's really rather light), but can be a little annoying to get on due to the USB connector and built in cap on the end of the strap that I always seem to struggle to get through the closure mechanism. Once on, it's all good, though. It comes in all black, black with bright fluorescent yellowy-green, bright fluorescent yellowy-green with black, or black with light blue. I'd have liked a more LIVESTRONG-esq yellow, and maybe a black with red and black with white option. I got the black with yellowy-green. I wanted to be bold but not 'yellowy-green with black' bold.
What makes it tick (no pun intended) is two things - one is that it packs a GPS receiver from TomTom, plus the smarts to know what the signal means to calculate things like pace, distance, speed, etc. It goes a step further by letting you mark laps, auto-marking laps at distance intervals, or giving you a worthlessly hard to hear beep at some time interval (which you can customize for rest and sprint timings if you're into interval/HIIT/Tabata training, as I am). If you plan to use headphones while you run, don't plan on hearing the beeps. They're actually audible, but I can't imagine relying on them. (I use the app Seconds Pro for the iPhone to do my interval timing instead, and built a custom interval program for my runs). It also has an alarm clock and stop watch, plus a backlight, which is necessary for LCD watches since there are no hands to glow in the dark to show you the time. I like being able to see the time in the middle of the night without having to fire up the backlight on my watch, and you can't do that since this thing has an LCD. No day-glow hands here.
How you use it
You don't set many things up on the watch itself, but instead use Nike+ Connect for Mac or PC to do a lot of customization and settings management. You also charge the watch this way. You can have the time auto-set or set it manually, do 24 hour time, units (miles vs km) and then you can customize the heck out of the running display. There are a lot of metrics to choose from - pace, average pace, distance, elapsed time, time, calories and distance.
You have to choose between pace (in minutes per mile or km) or speed (in mph or km/h) in the Connect app, too. I don't really understand why you have to make this choice. If you choose speed, then you can see speed and average speed as two stats. If you choose pace, then you can see pace and average pace as two of the stats. Why can't I see my speed and my pace? Why are these mutually exclusive? I'd like to see both. If you're thinking to yourself, "Then that would be too much info to have to scroll through," I'd say, "No, dude. You're wrong. You get to select what info you want the watch to display, so you could just choose not to show one of those, and all would be well again." But, you didn't say that, so I didn't say anything back.
You get to see 2 things at once on the Run screen, so you choose which you want to see in the big section (I like average pace), and then you can scroll through all other stats in a smaller area at the top of the watch screen. You also set the details on whether you want to be able to mark laps manually, automatically or not at all, or if you'd rather have the watch give you interval markers. I'm not sure why you have to choose one or the other, but this is typical of Nike. In their great (in my view) Nike+ GPS running app you can get info about progress, pace, etc every X minutes or X miles, but not both. I want both, dammit!
My impressions
So, how did I like the watch when running, err walking fast? I loved it. While I like the Nike+ GPS app on my phone, taking the phone out of my pocket, or bending my shoulder weirdly to read it while it's lashed to my bicep just isn't a great option, and the app doesn't give me feedback enough for me to adjust my pace proactively enough to get the performance I'm trying to get. The watch changes that. I had constant feedback on my average pace - the key metric I try to manage) totally on demand. I ended up shaving a half minute off my pace today as a result. That's huge. I also found it more motivating to get the real time, on demand feedback, and ended doing another half mile on my walk. Yes, it was a bit of gamification as I was using the stats and feedback to try to outdo my performance, and that's a very powerful and increasingly popular technique to get people to work out (and one that is at the heart of Nike+ and NikeFuel).
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It can also connect to a heart rate monitor. I didn't test this out, but I've seen people comment about this working well. Since I didn't try it, I'm not sure where this info is presented, but I'd guess it's one more stat you can cycle through during your run. It's really easy to cycle through stats, and the watch is responsive and moves quickly through things which is critical to give you the info you need quickly so you can get back to focusing on your run.
After the run, the watch stores your stats, which you can review from your History screen. It also gives you some motivating words at the end of your run - very Nike+ to pat you on the back for everything you do. It can also remind you to run if you haven't in awhile - also very Nike+ to try to get you active. It also tracks personal records (PRs), and obviously syncs all of this back to Nike+ so you can track your progress more richly, share your performance with friends, Twitter, Path, Facebook and on Nike+ itself. It also translates the GPS data into a map, showing where you ran, and color coding your path based on pace. If you marked laps, it will also denote those on your run route. I like it quite a bit. This is also where it adds NikeFuel to your data (the watch now 'does' NikeFuel after a recent update, but it really doesn't as Fuel doesn't show up anywhere on the watch - what's 'doing' Fuel is the Nike+ website).
My depressions
I have only two gripes. The first is the forced trade-offs, which is sort of a Nike+ issue overall. The GPS app does it by forcing you to get info spoken to you at distance or time intervals, but not both. The watch forces you to choose between speed or pace for no apparent reason, and also makes you choose between intervals or laps, but not both. Why can't I mark a lap and get chimes for interval markers? This is by no means a deal breaker, but it's also something I'd imagine Nike could fix with a software update. So, Nike, since I'm sure you have nothing better to do than read my blog, can you change this, please? (I was serious - I really don't think Nike is too busy with running their multi-billion dollar company or anything. Lots of idle time on their hands, I reckon. OK, I wasn't really serious.)
My other gripe is that I can't use this as my only watch, so I have to put it on and take it off since I want to see the time at night without bugging my wife with some garish backlight (the backlight works really well). Gripes others seems to have consistently are around trouble getting a GPS lock. I got satellite signal lock literally in under 5 seconds every time. And I never lost the signal once, despite walking under trees for a few hundred feet. I didn't through tunnels or anything like that, so maybe that's what I needed to do to 'break' the signal. No, my trouble was with the shoe pod, and it's likely user error. I couldn't get it to be recognized by the watch. Now, I don't know if the thing is asleep or what. Supposedly it wakes up when it's moved around, but that didn't work. So I tried the sleep/wake button (there's no light or anything to tell you a) that pressing it worked or b) whether you just put it to sleep or awoke it). There's nothing in the instructions about needing to use that the first time, but not using it wasn't working, so I figured what the heck. Well, that didn't work either. This means that I was totally reliant on the GPS. The shoe pod is meant to let you get going while you wait for satellite lock and to help when you lose the signal (like going through a tunnel). It also allows you to use the watch on a treadmill. So far, I don't have those options. I doubt it's the watch, though.
To buy or not to buy?
So overall, I'm very much a fan, and really glad I got it. Now, I ended up paying $108 because CitySports gave me the box to their demo unit, so when I came back to the store to get a box with an actual watch inside, they gave me $21 back for my troubles (thank you for that!) on top of the $40 I had already saved. To me, it's a no brainer at $108 if you are a runner, into stats, and, well, have $108 you can part with and still pay your bills and eat. At $169, I would have to seriously think about, but would still probably go for it after forgoing a few other purchases or trying to cut back for a little while to justify it to myself. At $199, I'd say no way. There are other options out there for $99, and they seem to be well-reviewed (Garmin has a wide range of options starting around $99, for example - I know some folks with them that really like them). For me, I think the Nike+ SportWatch was the right move because I'm bought into Nike's ecosystem for tracking things. It's probably not as hard core as the Garmin stuff, and you're definitely paying for 'style' and brand here. But that doesn't make it bad.
I found this watch to be a great way to track your exercise. Another great way is with trackbodi.es - our iOS app that's all about tracking your workouts, fitness, body stats, etc easily and clearly. Check it out at http://www.trackbodi.es! You can use the data from the watch as your running stats in a cardio workout - that's what I do with it.
I am a gadget guy, and also big into tracking things (heck, "Track It!" is the first of my 10 Principles), so the Nike+ SportWatch GPS was a shoe in for me to want to try out. Not only that, but I'm totally hooked on NikeFuel and the Nike+ ecosystem (despite not really enjoying working out in Nikes anymore since I went toward the minimalist route).
I've been eyeing the watch for months, but the $199 price tag always put me off. Well, two things happened - 1. they lowered the price to a more palatable, though still high $169, and 2. CitySports (which I love - great store with a great Outlet section online) gave me a $40 off coupon for spending too much money with them too frequently. OK, three things happened - my wife also went out of town, so I could get away with buying this without too much scrutiny. So I took the plunge. For the price, you get a Nike+ shoe sensor ($20 value), and a USB extender chord thing to make charging easier.
What it is
So, what is it. It's a watch that is really not ideal for every day use as your core watch. It could work, but it's not ideal in my eyes. More on that in a minute. It's a wide, plastic band that has a large LCD face that displays the time on two rows in very big type. It looks bulky but doesn't feel bulky once on (it's really rather light), but can be a little annoying to get on due to the USB connector and built in cap on the end of the strap that I always seem to struggle to get through the closure mechanism. Once on, it's all good, though. It comes in all black, black with bright fluorescent yellowy-green, bright fluorescent yellowy-green with black, or black with light blue. I'd have liked a more LIVESTRONG-esq yellow, and maybe a black with red and black with white option. I got the black with yellowy-green. I wanted to be bold but not 'yellowy-green with black' bold.
What makes it tick (no pun intended) is two things - one is that it packs a GPS receiver from TomTom, plus the smarts to know what the signal means to calculate things like pace, distance, speed, etc. It goes a step further by letting you mark laps, auto-marking laps at distance intervals, or giving you a worthlessly hard to hear beep at some time interval (which you can customize for rest and sprint timings if you're into interval/HIIT/Tabata training, as I am). If you plan to use headphones while you run, don't plan on hearing the beeps. They're actually audible, but I can't imagine relying on them. (I use the app Seconds Pro for the iPhone to do my interval timing instead, and built a custom interval program for my runs). It also has an alarm clock and stop watch, plus a backlight, which is necessary for LCD watches since there are no hands to glow in the dark to show you the time. I like being able to see the time in the middle of the night without having to fire up the backlight on my watch, and you can't do that since this thing has an LCD. No day-glow hands here.
How you use it
You don't set many things up on the watch itself, but instead use Nike+ Connect for Mac or PC to do a lot of customization and settings management. You also charge the watch this way. You can have the time auto-set or set it manually, do 24 hour time, units (miles vs km) and then you can customize the heck out of the running display. There are a lot of metrics to choose from - pace, average pace, distance, elapsed time, time, calories and distance.
You have to choose between pace (in minutes per mile or km) or speed (in mph or km/h) in the Connect app, too. I don't really understand why you have to make this choice. If you choose speed, then you can see speed and average speed as two stats. If you choose pace, then you can see pace and average pace as two of the stats. Why can't I see my speed and my pace? Why are these mutually exclusive? I'd like to see both. If you're thinking to yourself, "Then that would be too much info to have to scroll through," I'd say, "No, dude. You're wrong. You get to select what info you want the watch to display, so you could just choose not to show one of those, and all would be well again." But, you didn't say that, so I didn't say anything back.
You get to see 2 things at once on the Run screen, so you choose which you want to see in the big section (I like average pace), and then you can scroll through all other stats in a smaller area at the top of the watch screen. You also set the details on whether you want to be able to mark laps manually, automatically or not at all, or if you'd rather have the watch give you interval markers. I'm not sure why you have to choose one or the other, but this is typical of Nike. In their great (in my view) Nike+ GPS running app you can get info about progress, pace, etc every X minutes or X miles, but not both. I want both, dammit!
My impressions
So, how did I like the watch when running, err walking fast? I loved it. While I like the Nike+ GPS app on my phone, taking the phone out of my pocket, or bending my shoulder weirdly to read it while it's lashed to my bicep just isn't a great option, and the app doesn't give me feedback enough for me to adjust my pace proactively enough to get the performance I'm trying to get. The watch changes that. I had constant feedback on my average pace - the key metric I try to manage) totally on demand. I ended up shaving a half minute off my pace today as a result. That's huge. I also found it more motivating to get the real time, on demand feedback, and ended doing another half mile on my walk. Yes, it was a bit of gamification as I was using the stats and feedback to try to outdo my performance, and that's a very powerful and increasingly popular technique to get people to work out (and one that is at the heart of Nike+ and NikeFuel).
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It can also connect to a heart rate monitor. I didn't test this out, but I've seen people comment about this working well. Since I didn't try it, I'm not sure where this info is presented, but I'd guess it's one more stat you can cycle through during your run. It's really easy to cycle through stats, and the watch is responsive and moves quickly through things which is critical to give you the info you need quickly so you can get back to focusing on your run.
After the run, the watch stores your stats, which you can review from your History screen. It also gives you some motivating words at the end of your run - very Nike+ to pat you on the back for everything you do. It can also remind you to run if you haven't in awhile - also very Nike+ to try to get you active. It also tracks personal records (PRs), and obviously syncs all of this back to Nike+ so you can track your progress more richly, share your performance with friends, Twitter, Path, Facebook and on Nike+ itself. It also translates the GPS data into a map, showing where you ran, and color coding your path based on pace. If you marked laps, it will also denote those on your run route. I like it quite a bit. This is also where it adds NikeFuel to your data (the watch now 'does' NikeFuel after a recent update, but it really doesn't as Fuel doesn't show up anywhere on the watch - what's 'doing' Fuel is the Nike+ website).
My depressions
I have only two gripes. The first is the forced trade-offs, which is sort of a Nike+ issue overall. The GPS app does it by forcing you to get info spoken to you at distance or time intervals, but not both. The watch forces you to choose between speed or pace for no apparent reason, and also makes you choose between intervals or laps, but not both. Why can't I mark a lap and get chimes for interval markers? This is by no means a deal breaker, but it's also something I'd imagine Nike could fix with a software update. So, Nike, since I'm sure you have nothing better to do than read my blog, can you change this, please? (I was serious - I really don't think Nike is too busy with running their multi-billion dollar company or anything. Lots of idle time on their hands, I reckon. OK, I wasn't really serious.)
My other gripe is that I can't use this as my only watch, so I have to put it on and take it off since I want to see the time at night without bugging my wife with some garish backlight (the backlight works really well). Gripes others seems to have consistently are around trouble getting a GPS lock. I got satellite signal lock literally in under 5 seconds every time. And I never lost the signal once, despite walking under trees for a few hundred feet. I didn't through tunnels or anything like that, so maybe that's what I needed to do to 'break' the signal. No, my trouble was with the shoe pod, and it's likely user error. I couldn't get it to be recognized by the watch. Now, I don't know if the thing is asleep or what. Supposedly it wakes up when it's moved around, but that didn't work. So I tried the sleep/wake button (there's no light or anything to tell you a) that pressing it worked or b) whether you just put it to sleep or awoke it). There's nothing in the instructions about needing to use that the first time, but not using it wasn't working, so I figured what the heck. Well, that didn't work either. This means that I was totally reliant on the GPS. The shoe pod is meant to let you get going while you wait for satellite lock and to help when you lose the signal (like going through a tunnel). It also allows you to use the watch on a treadmill. So far, I don't have those options. I doubt it's the watch, though.
To buy or not to buy?
So overall, I'm very much a fan, and really glad I got it. Now, I ended up paying $108 because CitySports gave me the box to their demo unit, so when I came back to the store to get a box with an actual watch inside, they gave me $21 back for my troubles (thank you for that!) on top of the $40 I had already saved. To me, it's a no brainer at $108 if you are a runner, into stats, and, well, have $108 you can part with and still pay your bills and eat. At $169, I would have to seriously think about, but would still probably go for it after forgoing a few other purchases or trying to cut back for a little while to justify it to myself. At $199, I'd say no way. There are other options out there for $99, and they seem to be well-reviewed (Garmin has a wide range of options starting around $99, for example - I know some folks with them that really like them). For me, I think the Nike+ SportWatch was the right move because I'm bought into Nike's ecosystem for tracking things. It's probably not as hard core as the Garmin stuff, and you're definitely paying for 'style' and brand here. But that doesn't make it bad.
I found this watch to be a great way to track your exercise. Another great way is with trackbodi.es - our iOS app that's all about tracking your workouts, fitness, body stats, etc easily and clearly. Check it out at http://www.trackbodi.es! You can use the data from the watch as your running stats in a cardio workout - that's what I do with it.
Have you tried it, or used a competitor product? Let me know your thoughts?
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Imagery-Free Image Enhancement
When I sent out my launch email, one of the recipients was an old colleague who is a communications expert. She made a great observation - that it's somewhat ironic that newboi.es lacks any imagery in the site. She expected to see photos of fit people, people working out, before and after photos, etc. For something that seems to be about image, she thought it was weird that there weren't any images.
I agree that this could create a really nice, rich looking site, and it's what you see on most fitness and health-related sites. That or pictures of fresh fruits and veggies with little water droplets on them to imply they're juicy and just-washed. It's all very eye catching. The photos of fit people and people working out should inspire you to do the same for yourself - get fit and exercise, right? To be sure, that's what I want people to do by visiting our site - get inspired to be fit and exercise. But not because of a photo of someone else. And the site (and newbodi.es as a whole) isn't about 'image'. It's about health and you. How you feel. How you think. How you achieve. Not at all what you are perceived as to others, but how you perceive yourself.
See, while the cheapskate in me likes the idea of not paying fitness models to do a photo shoot or licensing photos of fit people to use in the site, that was more an afterthought than a driver of why the site is mainly text and text-based graphics, like our coaching mantra logo (on the right).
No, this was a conscious decision not to cover the site in pictures of healthy, fit people with rock hard abs that aren't you, me or anyone we know. I had a picture of me on the page about my story, but ultimately removed it. Why not have any photos like you'd see on other sites? I feel like that sort of imagery is meant to motivate you, but, to me, that's false motivation. Fleeting motivation. It's no more lasting or powerful than trying to lose a few pounds for some event. Once it's happened, you go back to your old ways.
Instead, I want you to motivate you. I want the idea of what you're trying to achieve (i.e. your goals) to motivate you. I want the idea that you can be successful in reaching those goals with help from newbodi.es to be your motivation. I want the 'before' photo you keep on your mirror (or 'before' stats you keep in a spreadsheet or app, clothes, etc) to be what motivates you. I want the notion of being there for your spouse/kids/friends/family/dog/cat/gerboa/etc be your motivation. These are things you know, love and value.
You are motivation enough for yourself. You deserve to be healthy for you. Not because some random guy or woman has a toned physique.
So, I kept the site very much free of imagery of 'success' because that wouldn't really be success for you. That's success for the person in the photo. Use a mental image of yourself being healthy and fit, and then go for it.
I agree that this could create a really nice, rich looking site, and it's what you see on most fitness and health-related sites. That or pictures of fresh fruits and veggies with little water droplets on them to imply they're juicy and just-washed. It's all very eye catching. The photos of fit people and people working out should inspire you to do the same for yourself - get fit and exercise, right? To be sure, that's what I want people to do by visiting our site - get inspired to be fit and exercise. But not because of a photo of someone else. And the site (and newbodi.es as a whole) isn't about 'image'. It's about health and you. How you feel. How you think. How you achieve. Not at all what you are perceived as to others, but how you perceive yourself.
No, this was a conscious decision not to cover the site in pictures of healthy, fit people with rock hard abs that aren't you, me or anyone we know. I had a picture of me on the page about my story, but ultimately removed it. Why not have any photos like you'd see on other sites? I feel like that sort of imagery is meant to motivate you, but, to me, that's false motivation. Fleeting motivation. It's no more lasting or powerful than trying to lose a few pounds for some event. Once it's happened, you go back to your old ways.
Instead, I want you to motivate you. I want the idea of what you're trying to achieve (i.e. your goals) to motivate you. I want the idea that you can be successful in reaching those goals with help from newbodi.es to be your motivation. I want the 'before' photo you keep on your mirror (or 'before' stats you keep in a spreadsheet or app, clothes, etc) to be what motivates you. I want the notion of being there for your spouse/kids/friends/family/dog/cat/gerboa/etc be your motivation. These are things you know, love and value.
You are motivation enough for yourself. You deserve to be healthy for you. Not because some random guy or woman has a toned physique.
So, I kept the site very much free of imagery of 'success' because that wouldn't really be success for you. That's success for the person in the photo. Use a mental image of yourself being healthy and fit, and then go for it.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
A True Story of Better Fitness Leading to Faster Recovery
As I've mentioned in a few blog posts and on Twitter/FB, I recently (16 days ago) had double hernia surgery, and not the laparoscopic kind, but rather the full open kind. I had mesh reinforcement sewn into my TVA muscle. It's amazing how much this process has taught me that we use our abs and core in every day life, and for things you'd never think you need them for.
But, that's not what this post is about. Instead, this is about how the physical condition I got myself into before the surgery was directly related to where I am in my recovery. I just had my 2 week post op with my surgeon on day 13, and she was very impressed by and happy with my progress. When we met to see if I needed the operation, she said recovery could be up to 3 months of being careful (i.e. no running, no lifting any real weight, etc), but 2 months was basically a given. Another surgeon told me I wouldn't be able to drive for a month during an initial consultation when I was first diagnosed.
Based on my progress so far, my surgeon was very confident that I could be running in 4 more weeks. OK, so it's not like I cut 90% off my recovery time, but I did cut 25% off her expected minimum. I think that's really significant. I did it by being in good shape across a number of areas:
But, that's not what this post is about. Instead, this is about how the physical condition I got myself into before the surgery was directly related to where I am in my recovery. I just had my 2 week post op with my surgeon on day 13, and she was very impressed by and happy with my progress. When we met to see if I needed the operation, she said recovery could be up to 3 months of being careful (i.e. no running, no lifting any real weight, etc), but 2 months was basically a given. Another surgeon told me I wouldn't be able to drive for a month during an initial consultation when I was first diagnosed.
Based on my progress so far, my surgeon was very confident that I could be running in 4 more weeks. OK, so it's not like I cut 90% off my recovery time, but I did cut 25% off her expected minimum. I think that's really significant. I did it by being in good shape across a number of areas:
- Cardiac
- Respiratory
- Musculoskeletal
- Dietary
- High tolerance for pain
- Attitude about my recovery (don't discount this one at all)
My heart was strong, meaning it could send oxygen-rich blood to the surgical sites to speed recovery. That blood was being well oxygenated by my strong lungs. My abs, which were being cut and sewn, but also being made sedentary for a while were in the best condition they'd ever been - meaning they were primed to repair themselves, and also were starting from such a good place that the atrophy they've suffered still puts them in a stronger place than they've been for most of my life.
As for my diet, it's become rich in a lot of good stuff from cruciferous vegetables, among other things I always knew I should eat but never did.
Lastly, and this is the lynch pin, I knew I had it in me to recover quickly, and that I was starting from a good place so I could do this quickly, safely and successfully. I skipped all pain meds, keeping my mind clear and avoiding some of the side effects you don't want to deal with when your abs have been cut (I won't go into it, but it involves needing products that work like prunes...enough said). So, in a setting with plenty of sharp pain, I was able to get myself up and make myself walk around - even just a bit every couple of hours - to keep blood flowing and limit the amount of systemic atrophy going on. After 4 days, I forced myself outside, and walked down the block and back. That was rough! The next day, it was a walk around the block. Soon enough, I was walking over a mile (my first mile came at the 1 week mark), and since then I've really gotten my cardio activity back into swing (30-60 minutes a day of elliptical, fast walking and maybe some recumbent biking). This is why I'm doing well.
So, the message is clear - being fit is great all around, but there are plenty of times when we need to have surgery and being in good shape will make the surgery go better and the recovery, too.
My surgeon left me with one stat - the average American has 3 operations in their lifetime. I don't know where you are in that statistic, but best to get your body primed to either avoid needing it in the first place, or bouncing back quickly. That and all the other benefits of being fit. OK, mainly all the other benefits, but this is good stuff, too.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Q: I can't run minimalist/barefoot because I run 'heavy', right?
Q: I run 'heavy', so I can't run minimalist style or barefoot style, right? I mean, that just won't work since I need a good cushion under my feet when I come down hard.
A: No, not right. This is kinda the whole point, actually. The way pretty much everyone runs when you run with 'traditional' running shoes is going to be heavy on your body. Even if you aren't coming down hard, the impact you're putting on your joints and basically entire skeleton is massive because your legs are rigid and doing nothing to lessen the blow. Run 'heavy' or run 'light' with a heel strike, and the impact is great.
Running with minimalist (low or zero drop - meaning there is little to no difference in the thickness of padding under your heel as under your forefoot, and neither has a ton under it) or barefoot shoes (or just plain barefoot) with a good midfoot or forefoot strike will turn you into a spring. Your leg joints will have several joints and points where they are bent, and each one will reduce the impact as it moves up your body.
This is similar to how crumple zones work in a car - multiple points are made to bend up or crumple to 'shed' force before it hits the passenger cell. This is also how animals run - look at their feet. What we call 'feet' on a dog is actually toes, and it's heel is up it's leg a bit - they walk (and run) on their tip toes.
Look at runners with prosthetic legs. They are big springs (not the curly kind, but a bent, springy piece of material - I don't know if it's metal or carbon fiber or what) with small contact points. These running limbs are mimicking what you'd be doing with a proper barefoot style run.
If you've ever seen Christopher McDougal, author of the running cult classic Born to Run (which you MUST read) run, he's not a twiggy little guy. He's big. Really big. Very tall, large build. And yet he runs quick, long and light. Why? Form.
So, no, you can't swear off minimalist style running because you come down heavy on your feet in traditional shoes. You need to adapt your gait and style to take advantage of it, and then you will be light and springy. You need to take your time and adjust while you learn to do it, but you will learn, you will love it, and you won't go back to your old, heavy, injury-causing style. Have some faith, and go for a (springy) leap.
A: No, not right. This is kinda the whole point, actually. The way pretty much everyone runs when you run with 'traditional' running shoes is going to be heavy on your body. Even if you aren't coming down hard, the impact you're putting on your joints and basically entire skeleton is massive because your legs are rigid and doing nothing to lessen the blow. Run 'heavy' or run 'light' with a heel strike, and the impact is great.
Running with minimalist (low or zero drop - meaning there is little to no difference in the thickness of padding under your heel as under your forefoot, and neither has a ton under it) or barefoot shoes (or just plain barefoot) with a good midfoot or forefoot strike will turn you into a spring. Your leg joints will have several joints and points where they are bent, and each one will reduce the impact as it moves up your body.
This is similar to how crumple zones work in a car - multiple points are made to bend up or crumple to 'shed' force before it hits the passenger cell. This is also how animals run - look at their feet. What we call 'feet' on a dog is actually toes, and it's heel is up it's leg a bit - they walk (and run) on their tip toes.
Look at runners with prosthetic legs. They are big springs (not the curly kind, but a bent, springy piece of material - I don't know if it's metal or carbon fiber or what) with small contact points. These running limbs are mimicking what you'd be doing with a proper barefoot style run.
If you've ever seen Christopher McDougal, author of the running cult classic Born to Run (which you MUST read) run, he's not a twiggy little guy. He's big. Really big. Very tall, large build. And yet he runs quick, long and light. Why? Form.
So, no, you can't swear off minimalist style running because you come down heavy on your feet in traditional shoes. You need to adapt your gait and style to take advantage of it, and then you will be light and springy. You need to take your time and adjust while you learn to do it, but you will learn, you will love it, and you won't go back to your old, heavy, injury-causing style. Have some faith, and go for a (springy) leap.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
newtitl.es for newbodi.es blog
So, just for fun, I've decided to rename this blog to "newblogi.es". A couple of new letters and one less old one. Plus, it's a play on our name.
I've registered the domain name http://www.newblogi.es, so you can get to our blog even faster.
Enjoy
I've registered the domain name http://www.newblogi.es, so you can get to our blog even faster.
Enjoy
Avoiding & Working Through Injury
I'm reading Bill Katovsky's and Pete Larson's great book, Tread Lightly, and hit something that I think is both really interesting and incredibly powerful.
I am someone who has had a history of constant injury sidelining me from exercise. My story gets repeated over and over - I start making progress toward my goals and doing well with a particular exercise or set of exercises. Then something starts hurting. I tighten a brace and try to work through it, but it gets worse, and I end up abandoning the exercise for some stretch of time, if not indefinitely.
Chapter 3 of the book goes into why we get injured and what we can do to keep it from happening, but then also ways to try to keep from getting derailed when it does. Obviously, the focus is on running, but it's clearly applicable to many situations. Larson talks about how he overdid it (ok, for him, overdoing it means he ran 2 marathons too close together), and had some serious pain in his knee, ankle and foot. He took some time off, and his knee pain subsided. When he tried to run again, though, his foot pain was still there. His solution - change shoes. Very interesting. His reasoning being that you strike differently - even if only slightly - in a different pair of shoes since they're all designed differently, and thus the impact of forces on your bones, muscles, tendons and ligaments is different. This stresses them differently, but also your body 'fires' differently as it moves through the motions. It's brilliant. He was able to run through this 'injury' without missing a beat, and overcame the pain faster than if he didn't try this since he was strengthening his way through it.
What he's getting at is how we make little injuries to our structure when we work out. Building muscle involves making tiny tears in the muscle fiber that heal back stronger. Running, jumping or any other exercise puts stress on your bones that causes weaker bone cells to be stripped away and new, stronger bone cells grow in their place. This process takes time, so he talks about the point at which you stress things faster or in a greater way than the self-repair process can handle - landing you on the DL list (DL = Disabled List, for non baseball fans...though I suppose the way it's always referred to as DL list means Disabled List List).
So, rather than sitting out for a long period of time while the pain subsides and then trying again the same way, there are two key messages here. 1. Don't overdo it in the first place, and move from building strength to injuring yourself. 2. Vary your approach and your workout regime, especially if you get injured. For example, when I was making the move into running, I overdid it, and strained my quad really badly. It was a terrible pain in even the simplest movements, let alone trying to run (and I did it trying on a pair of running shoes at City Sports - no glorious story of running 2 marathons in a month like Larson). I did take a couple of days off, but then I did an intense walk with inclines for short intervals. This didn't work my body like a run, but it kept my leg muscles going, kept me sweating, and it wasn't painful. I think it aided in my recovery by strengthening different muscles I wouldn't have been firing if I was running (at that time, I only ran on the treadmill with zero incline since I was only in my third week of running and it was cold out). After I felt no pain anytime during the day, I started back jogging, and was running within two days of that.
So, now I try to vary my workout routines on a daily basis (or will once I finish my recovery from my hernia surgery), and will definitely try things like changing my grip on the pull up bar, switching shoes, doing the elliptical in reverse, etc, when I'm feeling pain to see if I can keep doing what I'm doing, but differently enough to avoid real problems.
By the way, I'm not a doctor, PhD in biochemistry or anything, so if any of what I'm saying is off scientifically but you get the overall message, please forgive my medical stupidity. And if you haven't, you really need to read the book. It's fantastic.
I am someone who has had a history of constant injury sidelining me from exercise. My story gets repeated over and over - I start making progress toward my goals and doing well with a particular exercise or set of exercises. Then something starts hurting. I tighten a brace and try to work through it, but it gets worse, and I end up abandoning the exercise for some stretch of time, if not indefinitely.
Chapter 3 of the book goes into why we get injured and what we can do to keep it from happening, but then also ways to try to keep from getting derailed when it does. Obviously, the focus is on running, but it's clearly applicable to many situations. Larson talks about how he overdid it (ok, for him, overdoing it means he ran 2 marathons too close together), and had some serious pain in his knee, ankle and foot. He took some time off, and his knee pain subsided. When he tried to run again, though, his foot pain was still there. His solution - change shoes. Very interesting. His reasoning being that you strike differently - even if only slightly - in a different pair of shoes since they're all designed differently, and thus the impact of forces on your bones, muscles, tendons and ligaments is different. This stresses them differently, but also your body 'fires' differently as it moves through the motions. It's brilliant. He was able to run through this 'injury' without missing a beat, and overcame the pain faster than if he didn't try this since he was strengthening his way through it.
What he's getting at is how we make little injuries to our structure when we work out. Building muscle involves making tiny tears in the muscle fiber that heal back stronger. Running, jumping or any other exercise puts stress on your bones that causes weaker bone cells to be stripped away and new, stronger bone cells grow in their place. This process takes time, so he talks about the point at which you stress things faster or in a greater way than the self-repair process can handle - landing you on the DL list (DL = Disabled List, for non baseball fans...though I suppose the way it's always referred to as DL list means Disabled List List).
So, rather than sitting out for a long period of time while the pain subsides and then trying again the same way, there are two key messages here. 1. Don't overdo it in the first place, and move from building strength to injuring yourself. 2. Vary your approach and your workout regime, especially if you get injured. For example, when I was making the move into running, I overdid it, and strained my quad really badly. It was a terrible pain in even the simplest movements, let alone trying to run (and I did it trying on a pair of running shoes at City Sports - no glorious story of running 2 marathons in a month like Larson). I did take a couple of days off, but then I did an intense walk with inclines for short intervals. This didn't work my body like a run, but it kept my leg muscles going, kept me sweating, and it wasn't painful. I think it aided in my recovery by strengthening different muscles I wouldn't have been firing if I was running (at that time, I only ran on the treadmill with zero incline since I was only in my third week of running and it was cold out). After I felt no pain anytime during the day, I started back jogging, and was running within two days of that.
So, now I try to vary my workout routines on a daily basis (or will once I finish my recovery from my hernia surgery), and will definitely try things like changing my grip on the pull up bar, switching shoes, doing the elliptical in reverse, etc, when I'm feeling pain to see if I can keep doing what I'm doing, but differently enough to avoid real problems.
By the way, I'm not a doctor, PhD in biochemistry or anything, so if any of what I'm saying is off scientifically but you get the overall message, please forgive my medical stupidity. And if you haven't, you really need to read the book. It's fantastic.
The Butterfly Runner
I've been at home recovering from doubler hernia surgery since June 22nd. As you can imagine, I'm not really able to work out during my recovery, and certainly can't run. If you have been keeping up with my Twitterstream, you'd know that I actually had to stop running a couple of weeks before my surgery because I had aggravated a herniated disc in my back. So it's been and will be an even longer while since I've run.
For the past few days, I've started going on short walks around my neighborhood as part of my recovery. Each day, I go a little farther. It's been really nice out weather-wise with good sun, fresh air, and not a lot of cars or people since so many folks go away for July 4th. On these walks, all I can think about - literally - is how I wish was I was running at that moment. I mean down to each step. I think about how I'd be hitting it in my Vibrams. Each time my Nike+ GPS app (yes, I walk with this on to see how far I've gone) tells me my pace, I think about what sort of pace I'd be doing if I had been able to keep running.
This post isn't about being sad for me for my terrible problem (please read that with sarcasm). This is about a realization I had today. I've become a runner. More accurately, I've become someone who really values and enjoys running. I'm thinking about it a lot, and find myself thinking about it when my mind is idle (admittedly, that's not a common occurrence). If you read old posts, I was not only not a runner, but was someone who despised it - who got anxious, nervous and slightly nauseous at the idea that someone was going to try to make me run.
I can thank Chris McDougal and his book Born to Run for giving me the spark, or I could thank the coworker who suggested the book to me in the first place. I can thank Pete Larson for giving me far too much great content in his blog (must read - http://www.runblogger.com), Twitter page (@Runblogger) and fantastic book, Tread Lightly. I can go on and thank others, but ultimately, it's just about what McDougal and Larson get it - we really are born to run. Through education and experience, I unlocked that, and have a passion for it now.
It's funny how I called this post "The Butterfly Runner" - hinting at me coming out of a cocoon and being something much greater since I know have a passion for running. Funny because I sort of looked like a caterpillar before. OK, maybe not exactly, they're kinda pudgy and stuff.
For the past few days, I've started going on short walks around my neighborhood as part of my recovery. Each day, I go a little farther. It's been really nice out weather-wise with good sun, fresh air, and not a lot of cars or people since so many folks go away for July 4th. On these walks, all I can think about - literally - is how I wish was I was running at that moment. I mean down to each step. I think about how I'd be hitting it in my Vibrams. Each time my Nike+ GPS app (yes, I walk with this on to see how far I've gone) tells me my pace, I think about what sort of pace I'd be doing if I had been able to keep running.
This post isn't about being sad for me for my terrible problem (please read that with sarcasm). This is about a realization I had today. I've become a runner. More accurately, I've become someone who really values and enjoys running. I'm thinking about it a lot, and find myself thinking about it when my mind is idle (admittedly, that's not a common occurrence). If you read old posts, I was not only not a runner, but was someone who despised it - who got anxious, nervous and slightly nauseous at the idea that someone was going to try to make me run.
I can thank Chris McDougal and his book Born to Run for giving me the spark, or I could thank the coworker who suggested the book to me in the first place. I can thank Pete Larson for giving me far too much great content in his blog (must read - http://www.runblogger.com), Twitter page (@Runblogger) and fantastic book, Tread Lightly. I can go on and thank others, but ultimately, it's just about what McDougal and Larson get it - we really are born to run. Through education and experience, I unlocked that, and have a passion for it now.
It's funny how I called this post "The Butterfly Runner" - hinting at me coming out of a cocoon and being something much greater since I know have a passion for running. Funny because I sort of looked like a caterpillar before. OK, maybe not exactly, they're kinda pudgy and stuff.
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