Archive for June, 2009

My average time on the 1.5 mile run is now 9 minutes 30 seconds. That’s pretty darn good. No sign of the calf problems I was having either.

So how at 40 yrs and 100 kg did I take my time to 9.5 from 12.45 ? Well I recommend HIIT and hypoxic training. I like to do my HIIT on the rowing machine. 15 – 20 minutes max and use that as my pre-workout warmup. Basically the more you put into it the more you get out of it. I also do it instinctively or intuitively rather than timing everything exactly.

As for Hypoxic training it definitely is a very effective method for increasing VO2max and lung capacity but it has to be done in the correct way. For example research studies have shown high altitude training to be ineffective at improving sea level performance.

But I did not say I recommend “High Altitude” training.

What I recommend is short duration hypoxic training at low altitude. So the hypoxia only lasts 20-60 seconds. Its done in intervals and not even necessarily under exercise conditions. You can train your lungs and circulatory system in this way even by simply breathing into a plastic bag for short infrequent intervals. Just be careful not to overdo it and induce dizziness or faintness.

You want to stop just before it quite gets to that. This method is also known as carotid masking as it increases the diameter of the carotid artery to the brain.

This kind of training is familiar to free divers and such, you will find its good to relax your muscles while doing the carotid masking.

Hypoxic sprints can also be performed while swimming both surface and under water.

This brings me to my final recommendation which is the Navy Seals training program by stew smith – this is an incredibly tough training program. I will be following it for the next couple of months and have done it in the past too. After that I intent to try stew’s maximum fitness program which I have not done before – that’s a 52 week cross training program.

Heres’s the link to stew’s site: http://www.stewsmith.com/catalog.htm

Yeah I went hard with a HIIT workout on the rowing machine 3.1 km’s in 15 minutes, then pressups and ab work, a 20 minute timed run and pullups on the chinning bar.

I figured skipping is much more efficient than jogging and is meant to provide 3 x the benefits in the same time period.

One hour of skipping will provide the same fitness benefit as 3 hours jogging plus its much easier on the body.

Well how about skipping for just 15 minutes every hour of the day. This will give you 150 minutes in a 10 hour day. 150 minutes skipping is equal to 7.5 hours jogging.

So thats great but I am finding my calf muscles are getting a hammering.

Yeah I’m back to running and have added skipping to the mix also. Not a pleasant injury – I resprained it twice. Still if I am careful to warmup and take it easy for a couple of weeks more it should be full steam ahead. Pumped iron at 6am this morning.