Friday Fitness: The Balls Only Workout.

May 23, 2013 · by Debbie · 18 Comments

I love a good, intriguing title, don’t you? Of course, if you know me, you know that the balls in the title refer to stability and medicine balls. No extra equipment needed.

Before we get to the workout though, I want to talk a little about the What’s Beautiful campaign, which is a sponsored program by UnderArmour, in which I was selected by FitFluential to participate. My goal is to run my first post 50 year old sub-2:00 half marathon. On my profile page, you can track my progress, see the challenges that I have completed (so far just one, but I’m working on it!), and send me encouragement.

Anybody can join, compete, and be rewarded for their efforts. All you need is to sign up , choose a goal, and share your journey. You can also be a part of a team, either by forming your own, or joining a team of women with similar goals. My first What’s Beautiful post has a ton more details about the program and how you can win cool stuff.

Yesterday I read a post by Lindsay called “Strength is What’s Beautiful.” In her post, she introduces us to the women whose strength and dedication motivate her, talks a little bit about their fitness goals and accomplishments and explains why she is inspired by them. It is a wonderful tribute to a group of amazing women, and she truly shows us that strength is what’s beautiful.

In turn, I am inspired to write about another group of beautiful women, the ones who come to my Superball class. There are a few men in the class, but as with most group exercise classes, it is made up mostly of women. The youngest actually just had a birthday. She is 54. The oldest, well, I don’t ask but upwards of 70 years old old be my guess.

These women come to class for a variety of reasons, but the main one, which I see frequently with people that are a little older, is that they just want to be stronger. They have noticed that they have lost some strength over the years, and they want to turn that around. There are several golfers in class, who realize that the best golf tool possible is a strong, flexible body. There is also a strong sense of community in class, the social aspect of coming together for a class is very strong with this population.

With very rare exceptions, my students don’t come to class because they want to look better. They don’t want six-pack abs, or a rock-hard butt. They want to be healthy, fit, strong, and that is what keeps them coming to class.

They also love the challenge. These men and women don’t try to do only the easy stuff. They do the exact same workouts that I post here. When given a choice of exercises, as in my “Students’ Choice Workout,” I find that they tend to select the toughest exercises from the list. I frequently tell them that they are who I want to be when I grow up. They inspire me, and I can only hope that I inspire them, too. They are beautiful.

This workout is “Superball Class tested and Approved” for your exercise pleasure. As indicated in the title, you only need a stability ball and a medicine ball. In the video below I run through a quick demonstration of each exercise, with some form pointers. Enjoy! Or I guess I should say, “Have a ball!”

Have you picked your goal and signed up for What’s Beautiful yet?

Filed Under: FitFluential, fitness, La Quinta, What's Beautiful, Workout · Tagged: Exercise, Fitness, medicine ball, stability ball, strength, Under Armour, What's Beautiful, workout

Will I Run Faster If I Weigh Less?

May 21, 2013 · by Debbie · 40 Comments

Last week, I wrote about Running Faster to Get Faster, which basically states that if you want to improve your race times, you are going to have to do some speed training, and I listed my three favorite speed workouts.

I was intrigued by one of the comments on that post. I was asked if losing weight was important in order to run faster. That is quite a complex question, and while I answered to the best of my ability at the time, I wanted to do a little research and address the question fully. Here is the question:

I’m curious, do you know how weight affects a runner’s speed? I’ve noticed when I’m at a race awards party, the winners are nearly always very petite and lean. If I want to be faster, should I also be working on being leaner in addition to speed workouts?

I think that is a great question. Because it’s true, isn’t it? When you look at the runners who win, both men and women, they are frequently very lean, and sometimes quite petite. Here is my original response:

As you can see, my answer was a little on the lines of “yes, but no, but yes, and be careful.

It is a complex question, if only because runners can be intense types who can fall into the trap of thinking if a little weight loss is good, more would be better.

Improving your V02 Max is one way of getting faster. V02 Max is the maximum amount of oxygen a given runner can use per unit time per unit body mass. That means the lighter a runner is at a certain fitness level, the faster they will run (at least in theory). Remember, though, that not all excess weight is body fat. Muscle weight is entirely different, and can contribute to performance despite its high density.

Estimates concerning an ideal weight for performance can vary. While some running coaches would say that the ideal weight for a distance runner would be about 10-15% below the median weight, frequently world class distance runners can be up to 10% below that. But while these world class runners perform much better at weights significantly below average, there must be limits in terms of what is beneficial or even healthy.

So how much does weight loss affect speed? Joe Henderson, author of many books on running and training, estimates that a runner with a 10 pound weight loss can run 20 seconds per mile faster. That being said, you still have to look at the big picture. If a man who is six feet tall and weighs 200 pounds loses 10 pounds of fat, he will increase his speed by that 20 seconds per mile (on average). What if that man already weight 170? Would a 10 pound weight loss lead to the same speed gain? Or would the possible loss of muscle actually slow him down?

Using myself as an example, I probably weighed around 145 when I was training seriously, maybe a pound or two less. I am 5’8″, and that is a good weight for me. I know that when I get below 140 I certainly look like a distance runner, because my cheeks tend to cave in. Would I have run faster though? I don’t know.

One of the problems with the thought that weight loss leads to speed gains is, as I alluded to above, that many runners take it too far. They always feel that if they just lose another five or 10 pounds, they will get the edge they need. This can lead not only to eating disorders, but to increased injuries and illnesses, decreased performance, and for women, the Female Athlete Triad, the combination of disordered eating, bone loss, and cessation of the menstrual cycle.

source

So while the typical American may be out of shape and overweight and could benefit from a weight loss program, competitive runners are typically much closer to an ideal weight, both for health and performance purposes. Remember that more is not always better.

In conclusion, I would say that if you are overweight, even moderately, some weight loss will help you become faster. If you are already at a healthy weight for your height, be very careful about further weight loss, because while it may lead to slightly better race times, there may be other consequences to your health and to your future performance.

Remember, I am a personal trainer and a coach, not a doctor or psychologist. I wrote my own opinions, researched and read other opinions to write this post. You should always do what is right for you and your body, and if you are in doubt about what that is, you should speak with your own doctor.

Filed Under: La Quinta, running, Weight Loss · Tagged: running, running faster, weight loss

Weekly Training Recap: The Costume Party Run, Week 2

May 20, 2013 · by Debbie · 10 Comments

It’s heating up in the desert, with the highs reaching over 100 degrees most days now. That means no messing around getting out the door in the morning, unless you want to endure a suffer-fest of a run. I cut it pretty close on Sunday for my long run, but I was fortunate to have a bit of a breeze to cool me off. I’m in week two of my training for the Costume Party Run. Here’s my weekly training recap.

Strength Training

Not much to report. I still haven’t made it back to the gym (next week!). I taught two classes. On Tuesday, my Superball class, I taught the single set circuit. Kind of fun and challenging, we don’t repeat any exercise, but complete at least three exercises for each muscle group. My class loves it because it seems to go quickly, plus they only have to do pushups once!

I taught my Fast and Furious class on Friday, but because I had a bit of a headache (and I get to design the class), I kept if kind of low-key and low-impact.

Running

I had work and travel challenges this week, but still managed to get my most important workouts done. On Wednesday, my speed work day, I had to work at 8:00 instead of my normal 10:00, so I cut the workout short. I ran two miles with Penny to warm up, then dropped her off and completed two-one mile repeats on the road. They both were 8:30 and they both felt much harder than they should for that pace. I really had time for a third interval, but I just didn’t have the heart.

On Saturday, which is supposed to be my long run day, Alan wanted to go to the CIF track finals, which were held at Mt. San Antonio College. Palm Desert had one athlete, a female high jumper, who made it to the finals, and he wanted to be there (he’s the head coach). I was happy to go, because I really wanted to see La Quinta High School’s amazing runner, a junior, who qualified in three events. She chose to just compete in the 1600 and the 3200, and I was hoping to have a chance to see her run at least one of those events.

There were six of us driving from Palm Desert High School, so we took one of the school vans. There is just something so energizing about attending a big event like this, with the best track atletes from Southern California competing for a chance to move on to the Masters, the next step before the State Championships. I hadn’t been there since my son ran track a long time ago (he graduated in 2000).

Susannah, our high jumper, did very well, finishing fourth in division three (our division includes the state champ, who jumped 5’11″). Susannah completed the 5’5″ jump on her second try. We’re not sure if that was good enough to continue on to the Masters, but she really did great. Out of all the competitors, two jumped 5’11″, one jumped 5’9″, three managed 5’7″, and there were about seven who completed the 5’5″ jump, so she does have a chance to move on. (note: just found out right before publishing..she made it! She’ll be competing in Cerritos next weekend.)

I did get a chance to see the runner from La Quinta, who’s 1600 was going off just as we were packing up to leave. Megan led from the very beginning, and managed to hold on all the way, in spite of a late charge from one of her competitors. She finished in 4:54, pretty amazing to see.

After surviving the whole day on almonds and Clif Bars, we got to stop at Native Foods for “lunch” (it was after 4:00 when we got back into town). I decided to try the Jackelope BBQ Sandwich again, and it was even better this time. Still spicy, but not quite as much as last time. Alan had the Scorpion Burger, which is always tasty, and we shared a Peanut Butter Parfait for dessert. We dined with another coach and athlete, but I used my better judgement and didn’t take pictures of their food.

So, back to my running. My long run was pushed back to Sunday, and I got out the door about 6:15, a little later than planned. I planned to run three miles with Penny, but she was so slow, I had to walk a good portion, and dropped her off after running about 2.3 miles. I headed back out, staying on the road and hard packed trail. The weather stayed cool, and I was running pretty well until I was about two miles from home. All of a sudden my stomach was so upset that I wasn’t sure if I’d make it to the bathroom at the park a mile away. I had to walk a good portion of the next mile. Not a normal experience for me, thank goodness.

After my stop at the park, I was able to finish my run, completing my 11 mile long run. I keep feeling like it should be easier than it has been the last two weeks. After all, I’m in pretty good shape, having just finished my half marathon three weeks ago. I’m sure the warming weather has something to do with it, but I feel a little frustrated and worried that my long runs haven’t been better.