New Theme Tune

As I said the other day, I am going to not only cycle a 400 mile cycle in august but a week later I will be running in a half marathon. That means an insane training schedule as I have to admit at being one of the worlds worst runners. When I was 16 I used to run an 11 minute mile, but that was it, I wouldnt be able to go any further. To be able to complete the half marathon I not only need to complete each mile in 8 minutes or less.

Now, taking 3 minutes a mile off your time is hard enough, adding another 12 miles to your total is even harder. Mix that with trying to build mass and stamina for a 400 mile cycle and you have a totally insane ambition.

Its these insane ambitions that get me through life so I've selected myself a new theme tune:

How am I going to manage the training?

	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H
1	Week	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun
2	Week 1
3	cycle training		Cycle 15 miles		Cycle 15 miles		Cycle 30 miles	Cycle 50 miles
4		rest	run for 20 mins	rest	Fartlek: 4x6 mins quick pace with 3 mins slow jog/walk between each	rest	20 mins easy run	rest
5	Week 2
6	cycle training			Cycle 15 miles		Cycle 15 miles		Cycle 50 miles
7		30 mins slow run	rest	15 mins quick run	rest	Fartlek: 4x6 mins quick pace with 2 mins slow jog/walk between each	rest	20 mins medium pace run
8	Week 3
9	cycle training		Cycle 15 miles		Cycle 15 miles		cycle 40 miles	cycle 50 miles
10		rest	30 mins medium pace	rest	4x200m hill runs (medium gradient hill), walk/jog back, runs to be done fast	rest	30 mins easy run	rest
11	Week 4
12	cycle training			cycle 15 miles		cycle 15 miles	Cycle 50 miles
13		40 mins easy run	rest	6x5 mins quick pace efforts with 3 mins jog between each	rest	30 mins easy run	rest	rest
14	Week 5
15	cycle training	Cycle 15 miles		cycle 15 miles			cycle 30 miles	Cycle 50 miles
16		45 mins easy run	rest	30 mins easy run	rest	30 mins easy run	rest	45 mins easy run
17	Week 6
18	cycle training		Cycle 15 miles		Cycle 15 miles			Cycle 50 miles
19		rest	6x5 mins quick pace runs with 2 mins jog between each	rest	45 mins medium pace run	rest	4x200m hill runs, walk/jog back, fast paced runs	30 mins easy run
20	Week 7
21	cycle training		cycle 15 miles		Cycle 15 miles		cycle 50 miles
22		rest	50 mins easy run	rest	20 mins fast run	rest	4x200m hill runs, walk back, fast paced runs	rest
23	Week 8
24	cycle training	Cycle 15 miles		Cycle 15 miles		Cycle 15 miles
25		40 mins quick run	rest	50 mins easy run	rest	45 mins medium paced run	rest	60 mins easy run
26	Week 9
27	cycle training
28		rest	4x6 mins medium paced runs, 3 mins jog between each	rest	cycle 60 miles	cycle 60 miles	cycle 60 miles	cycle 60 miles
29	Week 10
30	cycle 60 miles	cycle 60 miles	fall down drunk	fall down drunk		fly home from berlin	100 mins easy run	rest
31	Week 11
32		rest	rest	30 mins easy run	rest	30 mins easy run	rest	half marathon
33

Welcome back!

Its been a while since I posted anything, partly cos I've been boring and living the work-sleep cycle instead of doing anything exciting.

It's all changed this week. Saturday and Sunday saw an epic 100 mile cycle over 2 days from Dunoon to Inverary. Monday saw me have to bargain the hell out of my doc to not hospitalise me from problems due to Crohns - more details to follow later this week. Tuesday night saw me signed up for a half marathon in Glasgow...a week after the big cycle in August. If I learn to swim, this time next year I should be ready for the Ironman in Hawaii!

Right about now I am considering psychiatric treatment, if thats not forthcoming I think I may have to start training this week!

Feel free to leave a comment!

Two posts in one day?

As with any exercise, diet is important; It's doubly important when you suffer from digestive issues like I do. You need to make sure you eat the right amounts of protein, carbohydrates, and fats. You can't do that with ready meals. No way. No how!

Friends are constantly amazed that I don't own a microwave. It's not that I am living in the dark ages. I used to have one but used it so little that I decided not to bring it with me when I moved. Why not?

We'll mainly because I can cook as quickly using traditional methods as most people can using the microwave.

For example, take dinner on a training night; normally lots of boiled rice and turkey in sweet chilli sauce. How long does it take to cook rice in a microwave? about the same amount of time as a pot, and whilst thats being done I chop up the turkey, and griddle it in a hot dry pan. The heat ensures that the turkey is sealed on the outside leaving all the protein, and fats sealed within it. lastly, chuck some vegetables in a pot of boiled water and leave them there for 2 mins. Drain them and dunk them in cold water. Add the vegetabled to the turkey and cover in sweet chilli sauce, shave some ginger on to it. Drain the rice and serve...sorted. Total time: 18 mins.

Ok so if you used the microwave you have to throw a tiny plastic pot in the bin whereas with my method you have to do some washing up, but I know exactly what I am eating and I control my portions; so I can increase the protein/carbs as needed.

Secondly, cooking gives you time to relax, you can work out some stress whilst you are battering out the turkey; you can deep breathe whilst stirring the rice...its almost catharcic

Feel free to leave a comment!

Motivation...or lack of

This weeks been pretty bad for me mentally, I've not been able to get myself motivated at all. Even though I cycled to/from work once this week and was on a little high, I've since found it really hard to get myself into a state of mind that will help me train.

I think the mental effort of work (I do a job where I am constantly having to think about ways to get around very strict and limiting rules of the products we use), the stress of my inability to manage my personal time properly and the lack of energy caused by a particularly bad week (healthwise) for me has taken its toll.

I know I SHOULD do some housework; I should be doing that extra bit of work documentation; I should meet friends and family and be a little more social. Instead, all I can be bothered doing is sitting with my feet up doing as little as possible yet getting annoyed with myself.

The strange thing is, as soon as I start ANY of the chores I need to do I get so engrossed by it time seems to fly past.

And thats the same for anything, everyone thinks "I can't be bothered" with the Gym; but I bet you that if you get up off your butt and actually go, five minutes into your workout you will be glad you did go; 20 mins later you will be thinking I cant believe I didn't want to come; and an hour later you will be feeling a lot better about everything.

Its a pity we cant get that feeling BEFORE going to the gym. The thing is you can; if you stick to a good routine (and by that I mean getting to the gym not the same exercise at the gym) your body and mind will adapt and actually cause you to look forward to getting there. So much so that you may well find that you are feeling better about going before you even get there.

Feel free to leave a comment!

Never do things half-heartedly...

Tomorrow is the first cycle since I got back last year. I've done a few km here and there on the bikes in the gym but I hate those bikes. The seats are too wide. The pedals aren't under the seat (they are slightly forward to make it easier to pedal) and the handlebars are too wide and high. Basically, I HATE the gym bikes. So much so I can only use them for a 3km cycle before I am a: bored and b: sore in the bum.

Exercise should never be unenjoyable. If you don't have fun then you shouldn't be doing it. Whats the point? Sure, I lift weights and I get pain and muscle burn. BUT...I enjoy the feeling I get from it after lifting the weights. The endorphins that are released plus all the extra oxygen going to your brain only help to make my mood feel better.

As I don't like the bikes in the gym, and my weekends are pretty packed that leaves me three options

1. Cycle in the morning before work
2. Cycle at night after I get home
3. Cycle to/from work

well...number 1 is discounted for two reasons, first I'd have to get up at the crack of dark to be able to get out and cycle a decent distance, then get home shower and get my butt to work; second, its still pitch black outside at 6am and pretty dangerous to cycle without a bright "nerd" jacket on.

number 2...well I get home and go to the gym 3 nights a week so those are ruled out, the others I normally spend an hour in traffic coming home and by then my brain is fried.

number 3... I leave at 7am when its light, and get to work just before 8 (15 minutes longer than if I drove). At night, because I have to drive through Glasgow, the hour it will take me to cycle is actually quicker than the drive home...and as I leave work at 5.15 its still light enough to see.

So yeah, I do 28 miles my first day of training but hey, there's no incentive like having to get to work on time or getting home to keep you motivated. So yeah, I may not have cycled in a while but tomorrow I'll be right back where I was a few months ago and to be honest...I'm looking forward to it.

Feel free to leave a comment!

you what?!?!!!!

Not content with cycling from Prague to Berlin in august, I am seriously thinking about doing the Artemis 100. Now, there would be no point at all in doing the shorter distances. I'm in it for the challenge, and why do anything by half measures...to its the full 132.5km for me!

I should be reasonably fit by then, the cycle is 2 weeks after the ride from Prague to Berlin and as we are going through Bavarian Alps I should be able to cope with the highlands!

Wish me luck, or send me a straight jacket...

from deepest darkest Peru...

Sometimes even the most positive of us has deep dark thoughts that do nothing for our demeanour, social life or work life. It's a fact of life that at some point you will get stressed beyond your abilities to easily shrug it off. This week has been one of those weeks for me.

I've been in a pretty foul mood all week. Culminating last night in an inability to even concentrate on lifting weights, something which I normally find helps clear my mind. I almost dropped a 120Kg stack of weights when in the middle of straightening up for a leg press I just gave up.

After that it was downhill for the night, I could press less and less weight, even things which I normally find easy were a struggle. Although, looking at the state of my hands you'd think I did more last night than I do normally...

No-one. Absolutely no-one can go through life without venting occasionally, always being switched on and always giving 100%. Occasionally you have to give a little. I struggle to allow that to happen. I very rarely take my full quota of annual leave at work - in fact, in the 6yrs since I have graduated, I've always carried at least 7 of my 20 days over. One year I carried 14 days.

Relaxation and venting are not in my nature yet I have to make them part of me. The blog has helped somewhat.

A good nights sleep seemed to help put things in perspective but more than that was a couple of good friends (you know who you are) letting me vent with them. I guess the next few days and the upcoming weekend will tell if I have truly de-stressed.

If not, theres always kickboxing!

The countdown begins...

And so, the end is near, no more resting at weekends.

No more late nights on Saturdays and fry ups on Sundays. In 4 weeks time we will be out on bikes again with the first of many weekend training cycles in preparation for this years charity cycle.

Who will fall prey to over-confidence? who will fall prey to my secret weapon? a root ginger muffin and a capuccino. No one can keep up with me on that - at least not for 20 or so miles :-)

The first cycle will be pretty tame by the standards we set last year at the end of the training, but given that none of us have really been out on bikes since then, we'll have to start with a nice flat route and then build up to the same sorts of hills as we used to do. I am sure though that we will soon have that mileage and hill climbing go up.

I'm going to make a more concentrated effort of cycling to work at least twice a week once I am able to maintain at least 14 mph (on a mountain bike thats tough going).

The man who went up a hill and came down a mountain...

Well..thats the cycle decided. August 2009 cant come soon enough to get the same sense of camaraderie and fulfilment that we got from last year. Although, I am NOT looking forward to the buttache and the burning aching pain in my legs from climbing hills. And we are going to climb a LOT of hills this year. The edge of the Bavarian Alps to be exact. Yikes!

Looking at it on Google earth the cycle from Prague to Berlin will require an effort of around 2000ft climb over most of the first day through the mountains between the Chzek Republic and Germany.

To be honest, I can't wait. After this weeks newly found weight lifting abilities I'm going to attack harder and harder to build mass and strength, then in April, I'm going to maintain the same level of weight lifting but increase the cycling to 30 miles 4x a week.

I reckon by the end of the summer I should be a lot fitter than I was last year.


Feel free to leave a comment!

When to realise your limits

Yesterday was a routine day of blood tests, being poked and prodded and various other tests that doctors could imagine. Or so I thought. I have recently moved to a new doctor and hospital so rather than just have the usual small amount of bloods, a whole gamut (ooooh fancy...I never thought I would actually use that word in a sentence) of tests were ran on me.

I'd planned ahead and had booked the day off work...good no problems there then. So this morning I woke to the residual stiffness from the DOMS mentioned a few days ago. So thought "Excellent, back to the gym today". When I got to the gym it seemed a bit busier than usual so the bikes were all used up... So I did my customary 3 second stretch and hit the weights.

WOW! what a difference that made. I was able to up my leg press from the usual 73kg to well over 100kg and bump up the reps to 30. Now, when you only weigh 58kg, I reckon thats pretty good going! Again, I was able to up my chest press to 60kg and increased the reps to 24. I was starting to get a bit worried...what was going on...how after no training for two days, no warm up and having quite a lot of blood taken was I able to do all this?

I'm still puzzling this out to be honest. With the lack of blood I should have been struggling for air as there is less haemoglobin to transport oxygen to muscles. Blood pressure is also lower as theres less volume of blood.

So anyway whats going on? The only thing I can think of is that because I didnt get the heart rate up, my heart was able to beat with a little more force to get the blood to where it needed to be. I really don't know why...answers on a postcard please...although a cheque would get my attention more!

Feel free to leave a comment!

A great chinese man once wrote...

No it's not a dirty limerick...hear me out because I don't often spout philosophical ideology...

A man is born gentle and weak.
At his death he is hard and stiff.
Green plants are tender and filled with sap.
At their death they are withered and dry.
Therefore, the stiff and unbending is the
disciple of death.

The gentle and yielding is the disciple of life.
Thus and army without flexibility never wins a battle
A tree that is unbending is easily broken.
The hard and the strong will fall.
The soft and weak will overcome.

Attributed to Lao Tsu

This saying has stayed with me for a long time, since the first time I read it in the early/mid 90's. Thanks to a friend who got me into this sort of stuff. I don't mean for one second that if you are stiff and inflexible then you will go around murdering people. Nor do I mean that this is aimed purely at your physical nature.

Instead take it as an approach to life that life is constantly evolving and as such your attitude, outlook and thoughts must also change towards the forces pushing or pulling on you. The way you train, the way you eat and even the way you interact with friends and family will have to evolve at some point or other or you will risk losing what you have striven to achieve.

Normal service shall resume shortly.
Feel free to leave a comment!

DOMS WARS - A new hope

Well, last night whilst an excellent but short work out has taken its toll on me this week. An improper cool down, followed by total immobility (i.e. going to sleep early) has resulted in PAIN. Lots of it. AAARGH!

This if the first time in a long time that I've had to resort to medical intervention and swalled a few ibuprofen tablets to help reduce the inflammation of the muscles in my foreams, arms, shoulders and back... Strangely even though I lifted heavily with my legs I am not sore there - maybe I kick about a lot in my sleep? hmm...

Why am I so sore today? well on Saturday I had to take a few goes at getting a decent video for the chin up post. Got a good work out but doing 30 chin ups using only your fingertips to grip with left my forearms in tatters on Sunday. So when I did lift on Sunday I had to alter my grip slightly which meant that my arms, back and even neck were worked harder than usual.

The result..."AAAARGH!"

I've been putting up with it for about 8 hours so far but enough is enough...had to take some pain killers and will spend about an hour under the shower on "Hot Massage" setting tonight to try and blast some of the pain out of me.

Feel free to leave a comment!

We are no longer the knights who say "Ni"

We are now the knights who say "ecky ecky ecky patang!" Well...thats what my legs feel like they are doing. So today, I decided that since my arms hurt after take after take making that chip up video that I would mainly work my legs.

Starting with a 5 minute cycle at 30km/h to warm up, I then stretched my hamstrings using this method:



With my legs suitably warm, I then went on to the leg press. Now its been a while since I did this so I started light - 73kg and did 20x Squats twice with my feet at the bottom of the foot board on the leg press machine - this worked my quads and could feel the burn shortly after starting. I NEVER fully lock our my knees when doing squats, thats asking for trouble, instead I keep a 10 degree bend in my knee and hold it for 5 seconds, then down (take 2 seconds to go down) and then up (again taking two seconds to do this).

Then keeping the same weight I moved my feet right up to the top of the foot board. This worked the tops of the backs of the thighs and shortly I could feel them loosening up a little as they heated up. I could only manage 10x 73kg squats twice doing this.

Lastly, I did some calf presses, now, I couldnt actually lift the 73kg from a squat position to a full leg straight position using the calf press stance, so I squatted the weight normally until my legs were straight and slowly walked my feet so they were off the board apart from the balls of my feet. Then slowly, drop your heels and then just as slowly start to raise them. You'll feel the contraction in your calves if you are doing this right, I try to keep my feet as close together as possible when doing this.

Whilst I am trying to bulk up a little, my main aim is to increase strength and stamina in the muscles and thats just what I am achieving by never unstressing the legs during a squat.

Feel free to leave a comment!

No Gym? No Problem!

People trained before gyms. Gladiators in the Roman Empire. Trojans and Spartans before them. Rocky used russian mountains in Rocky 4.



This week has been a long hard week at work, long nights and early morning compounded the usual motivational problem of getting to a gym on a cold dark winters night.

Training has to be done though so improvisation is the key. Being single (at the moment) means I am lucky enough to be able to leave my weights whereever I feel they are handy. I have dumbells next to my couch so I can use them whilst watching TV. Isolating my arms is easy as I can rest my elbow on the couch armrest.

If you want to train, not getting to a gym isn't going to stop you. All you have to do is improvise a little. I normally work my arms and legs quite heavily at the gym and at home I do the same.

Where I would do a lateral pull down in the gym, I jump up to grab on to my doorframes and do wide grip underarm chin ups on it... and I HAVE to use a wide grip or I risk pulling the frame off the wall as its over 100years old. What makes it a harder workout is that I am having to grip with only the tips of my fingers so my forearms get a workout as well as my upper arms and back.



For situps, I hook my feet under the edge of the couch and use that to stabilise myself (realistically you shouldn't need a weight on your feet to do a sit-up/crunch).

Benchpresses are easy at home - I use the bench, however as I am on my own, and the bar could do a lot of damage at 60kg should I drop it, I leave the collars off the weight bar. This makes it easier for me to get out, if I drop it the weights will unbalance and slip off the bar, so I dont get hurt (not too badly). It also means you have to be more balanced and controlled in your press because the weights will slide off the end of the bar if you aren't.

So, the next time you say you dont have the time to get to the gym...stop lying to yourself, use your house, improvise.

Feel free to leave a comment!

EncHELLada

Enchiladas are evil! Actually, any vegetable is evil!

Let me explain.

After pretty major surgery in 2002 due to a case of Crohns Disease and my own mismanagement of my medication I'm left with the distinct inability to process fibrous (non-soluble fibre) vegetables.

So why bring it up? Well...over the past few months I've been working hard at the gym. 3 nights a week lifting weights and slowly working up to being able to bench almost twice my own weight, as well as being able to squat the same. Yesterday whilst out with the guys - after a few too many beers - we needed food and I saw that enchiladas were on the menu. I am a massive fan of spicy yet uncomplicated foods like enchiladas, chilli etc. So I decided on them. I didnt count on all the vegetables, fresh herbs and rich tomato sauce with their skins still on.

Its quite quickly undone all the good of my training with me having lost 3kg (about 6.5lbs) in one day. Now, I know that the weight loss is mainly dehydration and I will not have lost muscle mass that quickly. However, dehydration doesn't go away when your guts settle down, it takes days (up to a week) to overcome the full effects of dehydration and maybe even longer till you are back to normality.

The most important thing you can do is drink. Drink regularly. Your body will be trying to flush out something that it doesn't agree with, its best to let it.

Now, when you drink try to use electrolytic drinks (dyoralite works much better) and will help you more than just water. When you do eat, add a little extra salt to your food, the salt will help with water retention, normally a bad thing but when it feels like you are trying to expel your spine each time you go to the toilet, it can help you recover a little more quickly.

So whats the point in this post? Simple, when you are training, make sure you understand what eating certain foods can do to you, and if you are in any doubt, stick with the tried and tested foods.

Feel free to leave a comment!

Tight hamstrings? I bet I can beat you!

For a long time my lifestyle, health and work have meant that I do a lot of sitting. This has had the effect of shortening my hamstrings to stupid proportions. I think I may actually need a sumo wrestler to be able to massage them loose again.

Think I am kidding? think again...If you raise your leg to waist height how tight does it feel? not too bad I bet, run your hand along the back of your thigh...how do those tendons feel? tight?

Here's mine!

You can almost hear those tendons go twangggggggg! That's as straight as I can make my leg whilst standing and raising my right leg to 90 degrees to the floor....and even then I had to prop it up on a radiator to get it that straight.

It does have its benefits, I can contract my leg a lot quicker than you would think; quicker than dumbo can say "jimny cricket!"

Its got its downsides, a lot of energy is wasted just straightening the leg - and when you are cycling thats a no-no.

So to resolve it, I'm going to use two things, Dynamic Stretching and good old fashioned stubbornness.

What is Dynamic stretching?

Basically tricking the leg into stretching further than normal. This involves gentle swings of the leg forwards and backwards gradually getting higher and higher each time. Around 10 to 15 swings on each leg should be enough. After that you start to look silly. The stretches can be done early in the morning (be careful not to force it) as this will set the length of muscle spindle for the rest of the day.

Why does it work?

This works by using the properties of muscle spindles. A muscle spindle is a sensor in a muscle that senses amount of stretch and speed of stretch. By gradually taking the leg higher and higher the muscle spindle allows it to go safely and lengthen the muscle. If the muscle is forced then a stretch reflex is initiated which causes a reflex contraction (shortening) of the muscle. This is called ballistic stretching and can damage muscles and lets face it, I don't need any help damaging my already stretched to their limits hamstrings!

Although, when you tear a tendon they tend to heal a lot looser...maybe thats an idea...

Feel free to leave a comment!

how to spot a cyclist

Ok...so its not that difficult normally, they are the ones that just shot across a red light with little regard for your, their or anyone elses personal safety. But there are ways and means of spotting them whilst they are not on the deadliest (and therefore one of the coolest) modes of transport.

Take a look here at our regular cyclist. You will note that his proportions are all wrong.

Years of sitting in the saddle have made his body adapt and do strange things. You can clearly see a lack of head hair, helmet rub and constant abuse by wind, rain, and mud - as well as the occasional trip through a hedge - have left little need for hair. The arms have grown a little longer, to be able to stave off lower back pain whilst constantly leaning forwards and to help absorb more bumps... and the legs have grown slightly shorter. The straighter the leg, the easier it is to push down on the pedal.

In case you were wondering...thats me!

Feel free to leave a comment!

Reach for the stars, you dirty animal!

Most training works on your endurance and strength. That's what you are aiming for most of the time, apart from when you want to get up short steep hills - or when you want to explode out of starting blocks.

The best way to build fast twitch muscles is by using plyometric exercises. A plyometric contraction involves first a rapid muscle lengthening movement, followed by a short resting phase, then an explosive muscle shortening movement, which enables the muscles that work together in doing the particular motion.

Things like Karate, Thai Kickboxing, Capoiera all rely on the ability to expel energy quickly. The movements, forms and training used within them all help develop tast twitch fibres. Kung Fu's tend not to rely on explosive power and instead rely on smooth movement, reading body language and technique over the strength required in the external martial arts.

So how do you know if you need to develop fast twitch muscle fibres?

Try this. Stand next to a wall, feet flat, now raise your arm so that you reach up the wall as far as you go. Mark it (mentally if you dont want to put a mark on your wall), now standing in the same position and without crouching, jump as high as you can and touch the wall with your arm upstretched again. You should be able to get at least 30cm (1ft) higher, if you can manage more then you have plenty of fast twitch fibres. If you can only manage about 10-20cm more then you need to develop the fast twitch fibres.

Fast twitch fibres get tired really quickly, exercising them wont help their stamina, however it will help the efficiency and the number of fibres, thereby making you able to explode out longer when you need to.

Feel free to leave a comment!

These shoes are made for walking..

I bet when you were buying your trainers for the gym and for exercising you went for two things over anything else. Look and Comfort. Thats great for ensuring that people might be attracted to you but not so useful if you are there to work out properly.

When you decide which shoes to wear to the gym, you should consider what exercises you will be doing. Take treadmill running for example, you need a cushioned sole with high enough grip to ensure you dont slip on the rubberised running surface. Cross country running you need shoes with a little more stability in the sole. Tennis you need ankle support for the fast turns and changes of direction.

Similarly when lifting weights or cycling, you need a solid sole. Having an air cushion in your shoes when cycling means a lot of your effort is going into compressing air instead of pushing down on the pedal. Lifting weights is even worse, each time you push a weight with the base of your foot or are doing a standing rep, your body changes its stance, balance and motion ever so slightly. You wont notice the minor instabilities but they will build up and cause you to swing the weights instead of lift/curl or press them.

Try cycling or lifting weights with a solid soled shoe, with minimal lift and padding, sure it might not be the best walking shoe in the world but then again, you aren't walking are you? I always use Lonsdale trainers - the stuff boxers wear. No, I don't think I am a boxer and don't pretend to be, but the training they go through and the rigorous years of studying to be a boxing trainer must mean something, and if they suggest those shoes then there must be some thought behind it. And they dont look too bad either...

Feel free to leave a comment!

R'n'R

No, it's not some new fangled type of House/Dance/Blues fusion music. Simple old Rest and Relaxation/Recouperation. I've written a few times about it, but I think this post will be a little different.

Rather than the old tried and tested "get away from it all" methods - which are just impractical if you have any sort of life at all. I'm trying a few things to help me rest and relax a little better.

Caffeine is never going to help you - even if you are immune to the effects of several ristretto's (ristretti is actually more correct but hey this is the InformationSuperOfficeNet after all) a day your body will still have some physical effects from all that caffeine in it. The same goes for all the other foods, drinks and chocolate you shove in there (yes chocolate is so important it deserves it's own category).

I am by no means advocating a move towards being a vegetablist - I like steaks, burgers, chicken, pork and the like too much to ever give that up. Instead there are a few techniques that might help me (and you) relax a little more without the need for inducing a deep weekend sleep with 8 pints of Stella Artois/Peroni (only if I am rich that week).

The simplest is breathing. Listen, I know we all breathe, if we didn't there would be a daily epidemic of people turning blue and falling over in offices, creches, shops and the like...but when you sit and think about it, you don't breathe deeply, you breathe the least amount that you can get away with. Social conditioning might have something to do with it (how many times did your parents say suck in that belly - was it just mine?), magazines all make us think having six packs is normal, and if you are lucky to be skinny like me then you arent helping either because you are probably making everyone else feel self conscious about their stomachs.

WARNING: First things first, switch off the iron/pots and pans/oven - there's a danger you might fall asleep when you try this.

So, to overcome the postural problem -yeah you, get yourself sat back and stop leaning over your keyboard - lie down, on a nice comfortable bed, couch, floor. Hands anywhere they feel comfortable and wont get you dirty looks from your partner. Now breathe, not like you do every day, but deep as you can start by breathing with the top of your lungs, and when you feel your rib cage wont go any further, breathe with the diaphragm so it expands out too.

There, doesnt it feel better to get loads of air into your lungs? Try it twenty or thirty times, bet you it works. I bet you it also makes you feel a lot more tired than you thought it would - who would've thought breathing was so tiring.

Oh, cripes....I forgot to say...Breathe out slowly...

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I love it when a plan comes together...

Normally I spread myself out across 9 different machines in the gym after my warm up. I don't do much of a warm up as I don't want my metabolism getting into that fat burning zone. But lately I've noticed that my body isnt really getting pushed as hard as it used to. So...instead of working on all muscle groups, I've decided to break down my exercises over 2 nights instead. That way I can hit them harder than before and hopefully see better gains.

What do I mean? Well instead of doing pushing and pulling exercises in one night (and you really do have to do both types or your joints will suffer) I'm now doing only one type each night. But so as I dont leave myself totally crippled, I am working my legs on pushing on the nights my arms are pulling; and the nights my arms are pushing my legs will pull.

Why?

Think about it, when you are pulling a Lateral pull down bar, the rest of your body needs to keep you stable to work your arms properly, your abdomen, back, shoulders, chest all have to work to keep you straight and true, and if you are like me then your legs are also working to keep you from being pulled off the seat by the stack of weights.

Now thats fine normally, but say your back shoulders and triceps have already been hammered by benching that 220lbs you can do for 3 reps (read that as the 220lbs I do), when you pull down on the lateral bar, your back is going to be quivering worse than a jellyfish thats had a dodgy curry. So by splitting the pushing and pulling exercises I hope to a: keep better form, and b: lift (push/pull) heavier...

I'll let you know how it goes. I'm going to try this for a week then bump myself on to creatine - to see if that makes any difference.

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Recipe for an energy packed day

Ok, so a lot of people wonder, how am I going to get through today, I normally feel sooo tired and have to hit snooze three or four times before I can wake up. There's your problem right there, the snooze button. Kill it. It should be illegal to hit snooze, but I know the temptation is there.

So in order to combat the snooze button and the sleep inertia it causes do this:

1. Make sure the alarm is out of arms reach.
2. Make sure that your room will be warm when you wake.
3. Make sure that you have slept around 6-7 hours.

Now when the alarm does ring, your will power needs to kick in right away. So, as soon as you hear it, sit up straight. Dont just lie there. That boost of energy needed to get you up will kick your body awake quicker than if someone told you Beth Ditto (no, I aint gonna link to the pictures as it will make you wish I hadn't) was gonna jump on you.

Now that you're awake...go put the shower on, while the water warms up you have two choices...get in to the cold shower (not recommended for those with a weak heart or bald head) or get some pressups done. You might be thinking that doing pressups only exercises your arms. It only does that if you are doing them wrong; a proper pressup will exercise both your arms, your core and your glutes. To keep your body straight as a plank you will have to use ALL your muscles. Can't get much better than that at 6.30am. Why? Well first of all, if you get sweaty it wont matter because you are going to have a shower, but in reality, your body will think "WTF?!?!!!" and your heart will start pumping oxygen round your body that bit quicker.

Oxygen is required to make you feel energetic. The hours you spent sleeping your body was taking on minimal oxygen, thats whats helped keep you asleep. The sudden rush of oxygen will wake you up.

You've done your 20 press ups...get in the shower and then have a good day.

Step away from the weight bench...

Ok, so you can bench 200lbs...you can leg press over 250lbs...great, you're a machine. Bet you aren't. Most people that spend all their time training on pushing exercises like that forget to remember to pull.

Pull ups. Chin ups. whatever you want to call them, you MUST balance your exercise or you will cause yourself injury through your own depth of focus and determination. Pushing exercises work specific muscles, triceps and pectorals. Over work those and underwork the deltoids and you risk unbalancing your entire shoulders... and thats when you end up with back pain.

So where do you start with chinups. Well, with a bar. Just hang from it until your fingers give out (aren't you glad you are doing this at home instead of on a cliff 100ft up)...shake out your arms...and hang out for a while more until your fingers give out...shake out your arms again and then hang out more until at last your arms give out.

Whats this doing?

You might think its not exercising your arms at all, but it is, just not the show off muscles you are used to exercising. Its strengthening your forearms and grip.

Why is that important?

Simply because everyone will laugh at you if you can bench 200lbs and can only curl 40 before your wrists and fingers give in and you drop the bar on your foot. When you have a stronger grip, you will be able to exercise the muscles in your upper arm a lot more successfully as you wont feel the temptation to throw the weight up by swinging your body to compensate for the feeling that your fingers are slipping.

Another way to strengthen the wrists and forearms is to use a triangle press up, do 3 sets of 5 to start with - trust me its a lot harder than you think and build up to 3 sets of 10-15. You should notice a big change in your strength.