Good news at the Gym
Well, I finally made it to the gym at about 7:30 this evening. I’m supposed to have some easy runs during the week, so I set the treadmill at 9:00 and did two miles. Unfortunately, I’m not able to let it go that easily, so I did the first 1 1/2 at a 2% grade and the last 1/2 mile at a 4%. That turned an easy run into a workout of its own, probably defeating at least some of the point - but it felt good.
After running, cooling down, and changing shirts (I was right under a light - yet another reason I hate no-airflow hot gyms), I did some basic leg weights, using both legs this time. I was going to try for high weight, low reps, but lost track of that somehow during the workout:
Abs: crunches - 50/50/50 of left/center/right
Hamstrings: seated curls - 8/6/6 reps of 140lbs
Quads: leg press - 8/8/8 reps of 200lbs
Calves: seated raises - 20/20 reps of 90lbs
Tibia: seated curls - 20/30 reps of 50lbs
Chest/tricep: pullovers - 8/6/4 reps of 150lbs
Then I went and had myself measured - the first month of the fitness challenge is over. Turns out that I haven’t really changed my body fat percentage - still about 17%, which is not great - but I’ve put on some quality muscle all over. That’s a little weird - more muscle, less weight, same fat% - but I have my doubts as to the accuracy of the fat readout a month ago.
Anyway, that was all I had time for. Next week, I need to get back into doing the four exercises on the multi-hip machine. That will have to wait though, because tomorrow I have another four miles of speedwork planned and I’m thinking that its time to hit some 800m intervals. Should be fun.
Oh - and the good news? As Eric was measuring me, he said that my gains were some of the best he’d seen in the contest - and were damn good for just a month. If I can work on getting my body fat down, and continue to put on a bit more muscle, I actually have a chance to win some goodies here. Me, winning a fitness contest - that’d be a first!
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Sep 15th 2004
9:05 PM
Hi Richard,
Mon spin class
Tue 15 X 30 SEC ON, 30 OFF (3min per K pace)
Wed 1HR
Thu SPIN CLASS
Fri 5 X 1K, 1.30 RECOVERY (3:40 per K pace)
Sat REST
Sun 2 Hours
This is pretty much my standard week above, and I have been concentrating on the 10K. The Tuesday speed session is all about running as fast as you can for short periods, with short recoveries. This session helps you learn to run with better form, I do these 30 seconds intervals at 3min per K pace. The Friday speed session is 1k intervals run at 3:40 per K pace. In my 10k races I’m aiming for 3:50 for each K, so running the intervals quicker than race pace helps you get used to the faster pace, so you feel more comfortable running at your slower race pace on race day.
Hope this helps.
Sep 15th 2004
11:10 PM
woa. Martin’s a speed monster.
Richard, that’s good stuff. I’m surprised also you would not have dropped fat with those muscle gains. I’m sure the first measurement was off! Anyway, nice going.
Sep 16th 2004
7:58 AM
Sounds like you are doing a good job. I have doubts about all of the fat measurements that are done by pinching. It can vary quite a bit by just placing the caliper differently.
Sep 16th 2004
8:03 AM
That is impressive. For those of us who don’t think in kilometers, Martin’s speedwork is done at a 4:50 pace for the 30×30 (that’s 12.4 mph) and a 5:55 pace (10.15 mph) for the 1km repeats. Nice.
I keep meaning to add some Spin to my workouts, but never seem to get around to it. The classes that I know are good are always going on when I have other plans - and I have some friends who go Friday at lunch, but that’s my only true “rest” day right now.
Sep 16th 2004
8:05 AM
Jon - actually, I’ve seen much more consistent results with the pinch test than with the impedence measuring devices (such as the Tanita scale). I agree that it shouldn’t be that way, but… I could easily see the pinch tests being less accurate than the scale when performed by someone who wasn’t trained properly though.