Why to lift before you do cardio, as opposed to after:
1. Injury prevention. This is mentioned earlier. You don't want to wear yourself out with a bunch of cardio, which is likely to fatigue your entire body, and then go try to lift a bunch of heavy ****. You are more likely to make a careless mistake and hurt yourself. This is already mentioned above.
2. Metabolic benefit. By starting your cardio at a slightly higher baseline HR, and the fact that you've already mobilized a bunch of glycogen, means that you've got your body thinking about starting to spare glycogen and burn fat. You'll be more efficient with your cardio. This benefit is likely not huge, but it does exist, and these things can add up in the long run.
3. Fatigue your fast-twitch fibers before the cardio, so you force yourself to recruit more of the slow-twitchers during the cardio. I'm not sure how valid this is, or if it has been thoroughly studied, but it is advocated by a lot of athletes, and it sounds viable.
How do you guys find the motivation to keep things up?
Find a goal, and/or a support group. People who will run with you or whatever. A lot of bike shops will have group rides. Run shops will have running groups. There are training groups that you can join. Makes it a lot easier if you have other people to answer to.
Then set a goal. Maybe pick a 5k, or something like that. Start small.
2.
CrossFit. That's just me, I'd listen to the professionals and their take before I'd put too much belief in it. If I could scrape together to money to join a local gym, I'd be all over it. Used to live right by one owned by my rugby coach. Worst thing ever while you're doing it, but so so good when you're done.
I like CrossFit. A lot of what they do is just try to wear you out, but the way they do it is kind of in line with the way I like to train my clients.
There is talk/study about how our bodies are not made for anything long distance. We were made for short bursts of energy. I am in the National Guard and keep track of a lot of the exercise and dieting jibberish that goes on in the Army. Some of the units have found that since Iraq and Afg., their soldiers that would almost max out their pt tests were not fit for desert wear. These guys were runners and could run a 2 mile distance in 12min give or take and run distances of 4-5 miles 4-5 times a week. So as far as the Army is concerned they were top notch. However, as the war started and continued they found that these same soldiers were draggin butt cause they couldnt handle the extra 60-80 lbs of personal protection. Now, another note is that the soldiers that barely passed the pt test and only ran 3 times a week no more than 2.5 mi at a time had not problem carrying the weight. Some of the commanders are pushing to change the PT program to less emphasis on distance running to muscle maintenance and short distance training.
There is specificity of training involved here, as well as natural ability. Most likely, people who are good distance runners are not going to be good at carrying a bunch of ****. They will go anaerobic pretty quickly, and once this happens, its only a matter of time before they crap out. Some people are like 95% slow-twitch fibers though, and would not be good at carrying around a bunch of gear, no matter what.
All these posts from triathletes reminded me of what I've learned from hanging out with several of them...they make you feel like your lazy because you didn't run 10 miles today or bike 20, don't take workout advice from them because they are superhuman workout freaks, and its nearly impossible to aspire to their eating habits because they are completely dedicated.
Not to be too cocky, but someone would have to be a ***** to not take workout advice from me, and it has nothing to do with me being a triathlete.
DOMS
delayed onset muscle soreness
you work out hard one day then feel sore the next day(s).
anyone hear anything new on the exact mechanism of this phenomenon?
They've found disruptions in the muscle fibers, including the actual contractile units. Particularly at the z-line. Not just the membranes. Most likely, this is just a result of swelling + damaged fascia sticking to **** and tugging on it. There's a little more going on here, but that's the general idea.
Does it have anything to do with the "microtear" theory?
Yes and no. At a certain mode of training, you will try to induce hypertrophy. That is, you can cause small disruptions in the plasma membranes of your muscle cells, causing satellite cells to "patch" this, by donating its cytoplasm and fusing its membrane with the muscle cell's membrane. This will increase the diameter of the muscle cell, but not necessarily increase strength. This is the last theory I heard on the matter, anyhow.
. But, I do notice a big diff in my energy level while I'm excercising (it's not so terrible).
I like this thread...
I cringe everytime i see that on the list =P
