Athlo Blog

I lifted free weights regularly for about 14 years.  The past two years I have focused primarily on running and biking, rarely touching weights.  I’ve felt like something has been missing from my training but didn’t want to go back to the gym because weight lifting is more about building mass and the extra weight would only slow me down while riding or running.  Then I discovered kettlebell training.

What is a kettlebell

In simplest terms, it is an iron ball with an iron handle attached.  They range from less than 10 lbs to over 100 lbs.  They have been used by the Russian military for centuries.  Kettlebells have not been used in the US until recently but have gained popularity in past few years.

Kettlebell training

Kettlebell training is oftentimes combined with other exercises that incorporate bags, bricks, crawls, runs, ropes, bungees, and body weight resistance but the bell is the core of the workout.  Exercises like bear crawls or lunges can even be done with kettlebells in each hand to really make them challenging.  Building functional strength is the key difference between kettlebell training and free weights.  In very few sports or activities would it be useful for you to bench press 300 lbs.

Advantages over free weights

One of the biggest advantages of kettlebells is in the time it takes to do your three sets of a particular lift, you could have done three different kettlebell exercises that blasted your entire body and kept your heart rate elevated the entire time.  Free weight workouts are more resting than activity whereas kettlebell training is all about nonstop resistance and activity.  Kettlebell training can be done without a spotter as well (although I recommend a personal trainer when first starting out).  Kettlebells can also be great during the off-season when an athlete may want to focus less on power weight training and more on general fitness and functional strength.  

Safety

It is highly recommended to get a personal trainer or take a kettlebell class before ever starting on your own, especially if you have limited experience working out with weights.  You will probably want to stay with the class or trainer anyway.  They will show you the safest way to use kettlebells and how to maximize your workout.  They will also put you through the most grueling but rewarding workouts of your life.  

After your first kettlebell workout you’ll feel like you’ve been smacked around with kettlebells.  But, after a couple kettlebell workouts you’ll feel like you are carved from stone.

Pushups are one of the most basic forms of exercise there is. Soldiers in the Army do so many pushups they have a special name for the pushup position, “the front leaning rest”. Pushups are a part of the military physical fitness test; two minutes to do as many as you can. 75 pushups results in maximum points for most Army age categories. Steve Speirs created a website called hundredpushups.com and has training plans for all ages and fitness levels to do 100 pushups in 6 weeks.

Week 1 starts off easy enough with three days of five sets of a four to six pushups. But by week 6 you are doing six sets of fifteen to sixty pushups, still only three times that week. The key to the plan is lots of sets but lower repetitions. It is a very interesting concept that I have never tried. I once did a set up pushups every day for two years but only averaged somewhere around 75-85, never 100. I also rested during the set but hundredpushups.com’s plans are for continuous repetition. 

I can do about 45 continuous pushups right now. I’ll keep you updated on my progress towards 100. Leave me a comment if you to are going to take this six week challenge or if you can already double my pushup total.

This is the first post of a new monthly series dedicated to reviewing athletic equipment. Some upcoming reviews are hockey sticks by John and the best chairs for endurance computer coding by Mark. We will also be starting a monthly race review so there should be something everyone will find interesting and helpful. This month I am focusing on running shoes.

The running shoes I have worn for the past two years are the Adidas Supernova Control 10. They retail online for about $70.  I bought the two pairs shown here at Sports Basement Presidio in San Francisco.

Overall, these shoes have been great and I will continue to buy Adidas running shoes.  My biggest compliment is the amount of cushioning provided while remaining fairly light.   I would highly recommend them to anyone training for a marathon.  For me, they took absolutely no time to break in. I ran 26 miles in the orange pair the first time I wore them and only came away with one small blister on the top of each little toe.  

I do have one complaint about these shoes.  I tend to mix trail and road routes into my running but the Adidas Supernova soles are definitely not made for trails with any loose rock or gravel.  You can see in this photo that the shoe on top has a number of large rocks stuck in the grooves of the sole, mostly in the heel area.  I picked the rocks out of the shoe on the bottom to show what it should look like.  Stopping to pick rocks out during a run can break your rhythm but not stopping can become uncomfortable and annoyingly noisy if the rocks and hitting the pavement.

Despite the trail running limitations, I would still highly recommend this shoe.  On a scale of 1 to 10, I give it an 8.  Although, I may have to break down and buy a pair of Adidas Supernova Riot, their trail running shoe, to go with my Control 10s.

I came across an interesting article in the New York Times titled better to be fat and fit than skinny and unfit.  Throwing obese (B.M.I. > 35) individuals out the window, The Journal of the American Medical Association’s study shows that death rates of ‘overweight’ (30 > B.M.I. > 25) 60 year olds were slightly lower than ‘normal’ (25 > B.M.I.) 60 year olds during a 12 year study.

I’m 28 years old, 6 ft tall and 180 lbs (B.M.I. 24.4 kg/m2) and consider myself at an above average fitness level; being near the overweight line this finding doesn’t surprise me.  What I was intrigued with is that ‘normal’ and ‘overweight’ individuals in this study who failed a simple 5-8 minute treadmill incline and pace increase test were 4 times more likely to die during the course of the study that those who passed.

The underlying premise here is maintaining fitness levels decreases your chances of heart disease as it helps maintain healthy levels of cholesteral, blood pressure, and blood sugars.  Because of this some public health officials are recommending doctors perscribe physical activity over dieting.  What a crazy idea - staying in shape improves life expectancy.

I grew up playing multiple competitive team sports like hockey, soccer, baseball, and golf.  When I got out of college and didn’t have a year round busy sports schedule I started getting frustrated with beer league rec sports.  I wasn’t motivated to make time for the gym to stay in shape because I didn’t have something competitive to train for.

After two years of a mediocre fitness lifestyle I signed up for a marathon.  With a 4 mile longest run under my belt needless to say I was little nervous about 26.2 but I was desperate for athletic motivation.  The first few weeks of training was brutal, more mentally than physically, but eventually I gained a tremendous appreciation for running and more importantly for learning a new sport.  Since the marathon in ‘05 I’ve moved on to a variety of new races like 1/2 ironmans, 197 mi run relays, and adventure races.

Now my weeks are filled with runs, rides, rec league games still, and an occasional swim, circuit weight training, or round of golf.  I’m a cross trainer which has benefited me in staying motivated about fitness in a number of ways.  First and foremost cross training and being open to new sports has made me a constant learner. In a number of instances I’ve used aspects from one sport, like how to best warm up and stretch for a long run, and applied them to others.  Cross training has also kept my entire body in good enough shape to be able to do a sporadic activity like skiing or hiking and not experience extended soreness.  Other benefits of cross training include reducing the risk of injuries, improving overall athletic skills and balance, and being flexible enough to always get some kind of a workout in.

Athlo.com will start supporting more and more activity types so be sure to plan out your workouts on the training calendar, get workout ideas by viewing your friends calendars, and fill your weeks with activities that keep you motivated and exercising your entire body.

While living in the San Francisco Bay Area, I’ve met many people who commute by doing something other than driving alone.  A former employer actually paid us $4 each day we didn’t drive. If we were a carpool driver we received $2 per passenger each way.  It was a really nice benefit and definitely an incentive to be green.

Even if your company doesn’t provide a financial incentive to not drive, the money you save on gas is probably enough of a reason to take a bus, train or get there under your own power.  However, health is a reason that often goes overlooked.  Endurance commuter is a term my buddy Dave Penake introduced me to one morning on our 13-mile run from San Francisco to work.  We did this run once a week and although we occasionally saw some bikers on this route, we never saw anyone else running it with the exception of a group of Google employees making the 40-mile one-way trip to Mountain View about once a month.  Since my endurance commuting debut, I’ve become much more interested in how people get to work and an advocate for alternate commuting.

When talking to people about how they get to work and if they would be interested in running, biking or walking, I usually hear one of five excuses: it’s too far, the weather is bad, there is no shower at work, the roads are dangerous, my bike is old.  The “too far” excuse could very well be a valid one but depends on just how far away you live.  I didn’t just start out running to work the first day I showed up.  I had a good base of training but had to build up to that distance on a consistent basis.  Snow, ice and heavy rain are definitely reasons to use your car to get to work.   On light rain days I just throw on my rain jacket and just go.  The lack of a shower could be bad if you sweat easily, but check with your company’s facilities management group and see what you can do to persuade them into installing one.  Dangerous roads are an extremely serious matter so try to seek out anyone who may know the routes to work or check out the new Walk There feature on Google Maps.  Lastly, there are plenty of bike shops that can either tune up your bike or sell you a new one.  Don’t let that stop you from saving gas money, getting a good workout and helping save the environment.

What’s the most you’ve done with regards to endurance commuting?  Are you still doing it?  If not, why’d you stop?  If so, what motivates you?  If never, what’s your excuse?

Slowing down to run farther seems obvious, but it is the hardest thing for people to force themselves to do when they first attempt longer runs.  To explain this, I’m going to target people who’ve never exceeded the 3-5 mile run range, think anyone going farther is crazy, and probably genetically superior.

Take your average high school athlete that has had to run 1-2 milers to stay in shape and maybe was able to crank out a 5 miler or 10k at one point for a charity race.  This likely seemed like the hardest thing on their body because they were trying to keep the 1-2 mile pace over the longer distance.  The fact is your body cannot maintain the heart rate you get up to when running a fast 1 mile over the course of 5 miles.

To show this point I’ve plotted the world record paces for the Olympic distances along with the mile and both full and half marathons:

Assuming that the average person would exhibit this rate of slowdown, someone who could run an 8 minute mile would be able to run a:

• 5k (3.1 mi) at a 9.1 min/mile pace (multiply by 1.13),
• 10k (6.2 mi) at a 9.4 min/mile pace (multiply by 1.17),
• Half Marathon (13.1 mi) at a 9.6 min/mile pace (multiply by 1.20),
• Marathon (26.2 mi) at a 10.6 min/mile pace (multiply by 1.33)

By slowing down at these rates for longer distances and periods of time, the body avoids crashing like when you finish a hard sprint and need to immediately stop to catch your breath.

There are a number of methods out there to determine your body’s thresholds like heart rate training and VO2 max determination, which I highly recommend looking into if you’re training for 13+ mile events.  If you’re not a competitive runner and sticking to 10Ks or less the best thing is to listen to your body; it’ll tell you when you can pick it up and when you should slow down.

If you’re not consistently running and try this approach a few times a week you’ll be amazed at how easy it becomes to get up to 45 - 60 minute workouts.  You’ll quickly be at a cardio level recommended by most doctors and medical journals.  If you get the bug and want to push it longer or harder I would advise researching nutrition management to ensure you’re replacing adequate calories and fluids to keep you going and avoid serious injuries.

That’s my approach to running farther: slow down.  I’d be curious to hear if any of you have found other methods that have really helped when trying to go from short to long distance running.