The Importance of Intensity
by Coach Anita
Whether we’re on the water or not, it is important to be doing conditioning that involves intensity. Think about a dragon boat race. Is there any part of it that does not involve intensity? The adage you need to practice how you want to perform is the same with conditioning and exercise. If you are training to participate in the Stroll Olympics then long gentle walks are appropriate training. Dragon boat racing is not a long, gentle walk.
I’ve discussed the body’s three types of energy systems several times. Just like the muscles in our bodies, our energy systems require training and conditioning to get them into shape and to maintain that development. If you’d been training for three months to run a 10K and after the event didn’t run or do similarly cardio intense activities for three months, during your next run you would likely feel more fatigued than you had felt in your training period before the event. Essentially you would have lost some of the conditioning you had achieved. We often see this during the off-the-water season, and once the on-water season starts again, there is some ground to make up. However, it doesn’t have to be like that. Once a level of conditioning is achieved, it does not take as much work to maintain that level as it did to achieve it. Athletes who look to continually improve rarely settle into a maintenance mode (even though there are benefits to taking training breaks in order to break development plateaus - that’s a whole other article).
This is why I want you to include intensity work as part of your exercise activities. If you want to ensure your return to dragon boat practice is not a remedial experience, it is necessary that your activities mimic the cardiovascular and strength work we do on the boat. There should be short maximum efforts with short breaks performed repeatedly. There should be longer efforts that are sustained at a high level of work. There should be sustained lower level efforts done for even longer periods of time. These are the basic training methodology for the body’s three energy systems. You don’t have to do separate sessions for each type, nor do you have to focus on each system equally. Think of your training like a pyramid divided into three levels with the width of it representing training time needed. The base of the pyramid is endurance (the oxidative or aerobic energy system). The training sessions for endurance are done at low intensity and take the longest amount of time. The next level up is for race pace training (the glycolic or short-term energy system). Because the effort has to be harder, the time spent performing the efforts is shorter than endurance training. The top third of the pyramid is sprint training (the ATP-CP or immediate energy system). This type of training requires your maximum effort possible and therefore has the shortest duration of effort.
You can structure workouts to include work at the top of the pyramid (e.g. 30 seconds maximum effort, 30 seconds off or lowest intensity, repeated 5-10 times; one minute break; repeat entire sequence 3-5 times) and then transition to the work at the bottom of the pyramid (e.g. 5-10 minutes of low intensity effort, 1 minute break; repeat sequence 2-3 times). A workout could include work in the middle of the pyramid (e.g. 1-1; 2-1; 3-1; 3-1; 2-1; 1-1 - 1 minute high intensity, 1 minute off; 2 minutes high intensity, 1 minute off; 3 minutes high intensity, etc. repeated 3 times) and then transition to the bottom of the pyramid for lower intensity work for the remaining period of your workout.
Keep training with your eye on the prize - racing in a Pink Phoenix dragon boat.
Coach Oden's Corner
Out of ideas ?
If you’ve run out of ideas. If you’re having a hard time being creative. Here’s a way to get your workout in with some regular household items.
In lieu of using weights:
1-gallon water jug = 8 pounds
1 Can of coconut milk = 1 pound
1 bottle of wine = 2 pounds
Backpack with books = Random – you decide
Sandbags – be creative and make your own
Fill your purse up
Fill up a suitcase
Laundry Detergent Jugs
Old tires to toss around or jump in and out of or do push-ups and dips off of
Anything from Costco!
Liquor bottles – especially the half gallons (not saying you have them, but if you do!)
A toolbox from the garage
Here’s some ideas for doing overhead squats:
Use a jump rope or a PVC pipe
Grab your dragon boat paddle
Hold it overhead and squat down with it
Find something to step up on and do pushups and dips from:
A step stool
Steps to your deck
A bench outside
Make a box
A picnic table
A chair that doesn’t have wheels
If you want to get more creative, do your workout someplace new:
Set up a designated area in your garage
Go to a playground, or a schoolyard, or a park
There are monkey bars, swing sets, ropes to climb, stairs to go up
Go to Mt. Tabor and run or walk the stairs
Visit your local track and do lunges for a lap, run a lap, walk a lap, skip a lap
Most of all, keep it simple (KISS). You know yourself better than anyone. So designate a time that’s going to work for you, and stick with it. Use what you have at your disposal. This is just a sample of what we all have at home to use. If you don’t know how to create a workout for yourself, use the format I’ve been using on the videos:
3 sets of 3 exercises, 3 rounds each, 30 seconds on, 10 seconds off. Download the HITT app.
Do 1 lower body exercise, 1 upper body exercise, 1 core exercise in each set. And for a bonus, add some plyo. Plyo keeps us balanced, quick and reactive.
Sample Workout:
Set 1:
Squats
Pushups
Crunches
Set 2:
Backward lunges
Tricep dips
Bicycles
Set 3:
Step-ups
Bicep curls
Russian twists
Don’t do the same thing every day. Try to get some form of movement in every day. Movement keeps your joints healthy, stiffness and soreness at bay, and decreases fatigue. It improves your overall health, body and mind.
Workout Mix Ups
with Coach Pat We have been enjoying Coach Oden's workouts now for awhile. It must be time to mix it up a bit. One workout I enjoy is a "Deck of Cards" workout. Basing the workout on your fitness goals and the equipment you have available you can get very creative designing these workouts. You can do 4 exercises, 8 exercises or any combination, red cards, black cards you name it. There are so many ways to put one of these together and we will be exploring a few in the next weeks. My go to format is one with eight exercises. Each suit is an exercise, the face value of the card is how many reps you do. Each face card has it's own exercise and number of reps associated.
Unlike our fixed exercise sets, what exercise comes next is a surprise. Go from each exercise to the next without delay.
This weeks workout :
Diamonds: Upper Body - Windmill push ups Clubs: Lower Body - Backward lunges (alternating - one rep equals 1x each side) Hearts: Core - V-ups Spades: Balance : Single leg dead lifts
Jacks: 10 squat jumps Queens: 15 Jumping Jacks Kings: 20 skaters Aces: 30 Mountain climbers
You can modify to lower or increase intensity on any exercise. Keep in mind that doing an exercise in good form is more important than the level of difficulty. See you Wednesday.
