What Was Your Work Out Today?

Gym morning with trainer. First half focused on moving heavier weight today. KB: deads, split squats, dumbbell chest press, rows, etc. Finished with movements: Bear crawls and continued work on the Turkish Get Up. Trainer is a stickler for perfect form during these movements. I like that.

14 degrees and windy, so only a one mile walk at noon to maintain winter warrior challenge standing.

Elliptical 244 minutes for 17.15 miles. I know I'm boring but it is working for me.

5 min walk 4 mph @ 6 incline
30 Hanging Leg Tucks
35 KBell Swing
50 Skier
35 Hand Release Push-ups
50 Rower

12/8/4
Deadlift
Goblet Squats
Sled
Smith Lunges
Standing Calf Raises 3 x 25
Bulgarian Split Squats
KBell Deads
Sled Calf Raises 3 x 25
Landmine Squats
Smith Deads
Seated Calf Raises 3 x 25
Deficit Squats

Colt 45s
Flutter/ Rev Crunches/ Hip Lifts/ Supine Bike/ Cable Crunches/ Twists/ Frog X/ Mtn Climbers/ Crunches/ Decline Sit-ups

1091 Total Reps

Pretty much just warm up sets as motivation and focus were non existent. But here's to a better workout tomorrow 💪

Did an hour of easy rowing yesterday. I'm doing it unstrapped and with the bungee around the rail to ensure I don't overextend at the catch.

To save time, I'm doing exactly the same workout today .

The nice thing is, by doing this, I seem to have gotten better quickly at form. Also, it's keeping my HR down as well for the hour. Not worried one bit about pace. Ironically, I looked up my paces from my interval session the other day and it was the fastest average (by quite a bit) that I've done in a few years, even though the rest time was longer, that was encouraging that, perhaps, I'm on the right path.

Matt -- I'm at my red line too (around 198 or so). I'm also having to watch what I eat -- again! Always will be a battle for me despite the hours of cardio that I put in. I like to eat!

Gym session this am. Worked on some swim focused movements (supermans, dumbbell pull overs while lying down) then moved to working on my limiters, specifically balance issues due to lack of hip mobility and rotation. Did a bunch of TGU's unweighted, focusing on getting a higher bridge with the extended leg locked out and then making a smoother transfer of that leg under my body and into the kneeling position just before standing.

We also began to incorporate a movement that starts in the bear crawl position, then using hip/torso rotation, brings one leg under the body and extends the leg facing upwards on the opposite side. This is repeated side to side, with the arms never moving from the downward facing bear crawl starting position.

Milder day today, so got out for 3.5mile easy run at lunch.

MikePfirrman wrote: »

Djproulx wrote: »

MikePfirrman wrote: »

The nice thing is, by doing this, I seem to have gotten better quickly at form. Also, it's keeping my HR down as well for the hour. Not worried one bit about pace. Ironically, I looked up my paces from my interval session the other day and it was the fastest average (by quite a bit) that I've done in a few years, even though the rest time was longer, that was encouraging that, perhaps, I'm on the right path.

This is very interesting. Sure sounds like you're seeing benefits.

The idea of only focusing on form, with no pace/speed metrics, was new to me until my coach programmed several different form based workout types into my training. One of them was surprisingly challenging, the Minimum Form Pace drill. It requires you to go as SLOW as possible(eg 12:30/mile) while maintaining perfect run form (Proud chest, slight forward lean, mid foot strike, etc.) The goal is to build perfect form into muscle memory so you maintain it deep into a race when fatigue sets in. The other drill that your post reminds me of is the Familiar Loop run. The approach is to run a familiar loop that is 2-4miles long while not wearing a watch, just going at whatever speed is comfortable - no pushing the pace. This run is repeated occasionally throughout a training cycle (say 3 times in 16-20 weeks) and it is a good barometer of fitness improvements, since it often reveals speed improvements at the same HR, or the same speed maintained at a lower HR.

That's exactly it. Muscle memory. Without a coach and never having done OTW (over the water) rowing like Ann, I have a severe tendency to build sloppy habits into my stroke. These are some cheats that I've learned that help program the good stuff back into your stroke.

And like you, probably the biggest thing I've learned is that my righogou hip limited mobility is greatly hindering my bend at the waist at the "catch" (the beginning of the stroke).

And you're also right - the idea is when you do a timed test, best not to get sloppy! I've seen improved stroke rate and power efficiency already.

May I interfere here?

I'm hoping it's a bend - well, swing or opening, not bend exactly - at the hip joint (not the anatomical waist), and that "waist" is just turn of phrase. Further, I'm hoping you're focusing on getting that forward swing right off the finish (finish, arms away, body over, then no more upper body action until the swing back open from the hips mid drive)?

I suspect you're doing all this, since you're experienced and fast. I know others read here, though, maybe without commenting even.

Minor digression as semi-relevant background: I've found that in boats, some of our newer folks have a problem in that they hit front-stops (it's somewhat analogous to getting too much compression at the catch end on a machine, though some details differ - in a boat one can literally run out of slide, hit the end of the seat-tracks). They try, sometimes, to fix this by changing where the shoes are in the boat (another adjustment that doesn't apply to machine rowing in the same way, and that in their cases results in reduced power because of leverage on the oar-face, to oversimplify).

Back to machine relevance: For those folks, a better fix is to make it a point to get their whole forward length right out of the finish, and eliminate any reach or lunge for more length at the catch end. This part can apply on the rowing machine, not just boats. I'm mentioning it in case there may be folks newer to machine rowing . . . in a boat, there are other negatives that come from reach/lunge at the catch end, that we don't experience as directly on a machine. It still can cause some subtler issues, even on the machine.

AnnPT77 wrote: »

MikePfirrman wrote: »

Djproulx wrote: »

MikePfirrman wrote: »

The nice thing is, by doing this, I seem to have gotten better quickly at form. Also, it's keeping my HR down as well for the hour. Not worried one bit about pace. Ironically, I looked up my paces from my interval session the other day and it was the fastest average (by quite a bit) that I've done in a few years, even though the rest time was longer, that was encouraging that, perhaps, I'm on the right path.

This is very interesting. Sure sounds like you're seeing benefits.

The idea of only focusing on form, with no pace/speed metrics, was new to me until my coach programmed several different form based workout types into my training. One of them was surprisingly challenging, the Minimum Form Pace drill. It requires you to go as SLOW as possible(eg 12:30/mile) while maintaining perfect run form (Proud chest, slight forward lean, mid foot strike, etc.) The goal is to build perfect form into muscle memory so you maintain it deep into a race when fatigue sets in. The other drill that your post reminds me of is the Familiar Loop run. The approach is to run a familiar loop that is 2-4miles long while not wearing a watch, just going at whatever speed is comfortable - no pushing the pace. This run is repeated occasionally throughout a training cycle (say 3 times in 16-20 weeks) and it is a good barometer of fitness improvements, since it often reveals speed improvements at the same HR, or the same speed maintained at a lower HR.

That's exactly it. Muscle memory. Without a coach and never having done OTW (over the water) rowing like Ann, I have a severe tendency to build sloppy habits into my stroke. These are some cheats that I've learned that help program the good stuff back into your stroke.

And like you, probably the biggest thing I've learned is that my righogou hip limited mobility is greatly hindering my bend at the waist at the "catch" (the beginning of the stroke).

And you're also right - the idea is when you do a timed test, best not to get sloppy! I've seen improved stroke rate and power efficiency already.

May I interfere here?

I'm hoping it's a bend - well, swing or opening, not bend exactly - at the hip joint (not the anatomical waist), and that "waist" is just turn of phrase. Further, I'm hoping you're focusing on getting that forward swing right off the finish (finish, arms away, body over, then no more upper body action until the swing back open from the hips mid drive)?

I suspect you're doing all this, since you're experienced and fast. I know others read here, though, maybe without commenting even.

Minor digression as semi-relevant background: I've found that in boats, some of our newer folks have a problem in that they hit front-stops (it's somewhat analogous to getting too much compression at the catch end on a machine, though some details differ - in a boat one can literally run out of slide, hit the end of the seat-tracks). They try, sometimes, to fix this by changing where the shoes are in the boat (another adjustment that doesn't apply to machine rowing in the same way, and that in their cases results in reduced power because of leverage on the oar-face, to oversimplify).

Back to machine relevance: For those folks, a better fix is to make it a point to get their whole forward length right out of the finish, and eliminate any reach or lunge for more length at the catch end. This part can apply on the rowing machine, not just boats. I'm mentioning it in case there may be folks newer to machine rowing . . . in a boat, there are other negatives that come from reach/lunge at the catch end, that we don't experience as directly on a machine. It still can cause some subtler issues, even on the machine.

Yes, more accurate Ann. It's actually the hip hinge that I'm having issues with because if you stay semi-straight back, the bend is actually in the hip hinge where the initial power comes from if done properly. What I struggle with is staying tucked until the legs are nearly fully extended before using the body swing and arms. Until I started going back to basics, I didn't realize how sloppy I had gotten and I used to rely (before the back injury) rely way too much on the upper body strength.