Week Twenty Two - Nero Fiddled

 

How to Decide Between Strength Training and Cardio Work

by Coach Anita

Given the air quality in the Portland metro area, you may decide that no amount of exercise is appropriate for you. A few days off is not going to undo everything you’ve achieved. Consider the following information for when it is appropriate for you to be active. 

Deciding whether you want to focus your workout on cardio versus strength training depends upon a number of factors.

Are you training for a race? Go for cardio.

Whether it’s a walking, running, paddling or cycling event, you need to train in the method you are going to race. In addition, when you aren’t able to train how you will race, training the body to respond to the stresses it will experience on race day will enable it to better perform.

Do you want to burn more body fat? Go for strength training.

Are you surprised the answer isn’t cardio? Cardio burns calories and can help with short-term weight loss but strength training has been proven to best support long term fat less. The reason is that strength training builds muscle which improves metabolism which in turns helps you become leaner over time.

Are you trying to get stronger and build muscle? Go for strength training.

While cardio activities like running and cycling build leg muscles, it can only go so far. For muscle development there needs to be stress placed upon the body. Body weight can only apply so much resistance. With strength training you progressively overload your body which causes your muscles to respond by growing bigger. 

Are you trying to de-stress? Go for cardio but keep it light.

Choose a lower intensity pace or activity and keep your heart rate moderate. Low intensity cardio, which doesn’t require much concentration or effort, can help the body move into a rest and relax state while burning off built up anxiety and stress.

Finding exercise types that you enjoy will help you to stay active and healthy. Listen to your body when you’re determining what type of work you’re going to do and don’t be afraid to modify your training plans. Plans are great for helping us reach goals but should remain flexible to your individual needs of a given day, situation or mood.  

Tips on Staying Hydrated While Wearing a Face Mask

By Suzanne Frank

In previous articles I have discussed the importance of staying hydrated. I wanted to review a few facts as well as provide some tips for staying hydrated especially if you have to wear a face mask several hours a day.
Dehydration can lead to:

• Feeling sluggish or lethargic

• An inability to concentrate

• Headaches

• Constipation

• Dizziness

• Rapid heart rate

• Rapid breathing

If you are thirsty, chances are you are already dehydrated.
The general rule of thumb is to drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day but this depends on medical conditions, activity and even the climate.It can be difficult to drink water while you work especially if you are wearing a mask. It can also be difficult if you are not currently working but are involved in doing other things.
If you are wearing a mask here is the recommended way to reuse your mask before and after eating/drinking:
1. Before removing your mask, clean your hands.
2. Remove the mask using the ear loops.
3. Fold the mask in half, so that the outside surfaces are touching each other.
4. Place it in a clean storage area/bag. If you are using a paper bag seal the bag. If you are using a plastic baggie leave the bag open.
5. Perform hand hygiene.
6. To reapply the mask, first perform hand hygiene, then open the mask storage bag.
7. Grasp the mask by the elastic ear loops to remove it from the bag, then look to see where the outside of the mask is.
8. Use the ear loops to put the mask on and tuck it under your chin (ensuring that you have the inside of the mask next to your face). Secure it to your face at the bridge of your nose. Perform hand hygiene to stay safe and healthy.
Drinking water on your breaks and at lunch is not enough to stay hydrated. Here are some strategies for getting more water (hydration) on or off the job.

• Time it out-Set your watch or phone timer to go off every 2 hours. Walk to your break room, kitchen or if you can have water bottle and take a several sips or even a big drink of water.

• Know what you like- Some people like ice cold water others like room temperature. Knowing how you prefer water may help you drink more.

• Dress it up-If plain water doesn’t do it for you, try adding fruit, herbs or slices of veggies in your glass. You can also try sparkling types of water.

• Eat fresh fruit- Water rich foods like watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes can also help with hydration.

• Limit salty and fried foods- these types of foods can lead to dehydration.

• Don’t forget electrolytes- If you are working in a faced paced environment, out in hot weather and involved in strenuous exercise make sure you are replenishing electrolytes.

• What about the bathroom? - If you don’t have time to go to the bathroom or drink water, you don’t have time for yourself. This is a cultural mindset we need to shift in order to stay healthy.

Challenge 

Coach Oden's Corner 

I hope everyone enjoyed their Labor Day weekend and are staying safe and breathing well. We are getting back into our fitness blog with a challenge that everybody can join in. So far, we have 20+ signed up to join in the challenge.

Here are the details: You will be placed in random teams of four to meet daily challenges for a week. You’ll have two goals as a team:

• 600 squats a day for your physical requirement

• drink 2 gallons of water as your nutrition requirement. 

  (this equates to an average of 150 squats per person and 8 glasses of 8 oz). 

As a team, you need to connect, talk daily, meet your requirements, and report it as a team. 

For example: If someone got behind one day and only got 100 squats (which by the way you can break up throughout the day) then someone else can make up for your miss. Same for the water, but really you should be betting 8 glass in a day yourself. But we all get behind and we all get in a bind. So, you need to work as a team to meet your daily requirements. 

Here are some ideas on different types of squats you can do to switch it up each day or within your 150: 

1. Regular squats

2. Jump squats

3. Wall squats

4. Squats with a ball

5. TRX squats

6. Power Squats

7. Single leg squats

8. Deficit squats (below 90)

9. Sumo squats

10. Squats with a weight

11. Front loaded squats

12. Back loaded squats

13. Overhead squats

14. Assisted squats (holding onto a chair)

15. If you have your own idea of a squat, use your discretion. It’s up to you and your team. You do not have to report what kind of squats you are doing, just that you are meeting the requirement. 

Your fitness corner crew will be joining you in this challenge and reporting right along with you. 

Each week that your team meets the challenge, your names will be put into the drawing. At the end of the 4-weeks, one team will be chosen from the drawing for each team member to win one personal training session with your very own Coach Oden. Details to be discussed individually once selected. 

I realize four weeks is a long time, but really, we can all use more water and squats… well you gotta say, it’s better than burpees. Wouldn’t you agree? … You’re welcome. 

We are all excited to walk along with you all in this challenge. Here’s a caveat to my team - I will be gone for a week traveling during this challenge. I’ll have to discuss ahead with my team on how we as a team will meet the criteria when I’m gone. It’s going to take communication ahead of time to plan it out. Who knows, there might be a couple hidden prizes along the way. 

.... Coach Oden and your fitness corner team

Looking Ahead

By Paddler Pat 

When TitleIX passed in 1972 I was a junior in college. I was active but never had the experience of being on an organized sports team after the start of high school. Fast forward to 40ish. I had been coaching youth soccer for a while and realized my twitch reflexes wanted to play, not just to coach. So at the advanced age of 40 something I entered the community of team sports, playing on both women's and co-ed soccer teams, indoor and out. At 50 I landed into the sport of dragon boat racing as a breast cancer survivor. 

In the last 6 months most of us have filled the time we have spent training on the water with individual exercise, supporting others and getting together in small groups for activities. All good things. Certainly we can find some happiness in the change of pace. 

I am looking forward to being on the water with “my” team. And this makes me reflect on why team sports are so important. All of the reasons girls should participate in sports apply to grown women as well.  

The benefits of sports activity are obvious to us. The fitness perks many, as we know. Exercise improves learning ability, memory and concentration. It’s good for your bones and reduces the chance of breast cancer recurrence. The social and emotional benefit is also tangible.

Team sports bring additional benefit : 

• You can get the physical benefits of sports or exercise individually. For many, joining a team increases the incentive because your teammates and coaches are depending upon you. This extra accountability keeps you ‘showing up’.

• Team sports lend to developing teamwork and goal-setting skills. Working with teammates and coaches to meet goals is practice for success in other aspects of life.  Your ‘team player’ mindset will make it easier to work with others and solve problems in all other aspects of life.

• Playing a sport actually improves self confidence. Beyond getting in shape, realizing skill improvement and attainment of goals goes a long way off the water.

• Exercise is great to relieve stress and lift your mood.Better on a team where your teammates are supporting you on and off the boat.  

I hope you take a minute to reflect on your sports journey. You may decide that joining Pink Phoenix has been one of your most positive decisions. We are different right now, but we will be back together so keep looking ahead.

...see you on the water

Read More

Week Twenty : Summer Haze and Sunny Days

The Power of One

By Coach Anita

After the success of the Komen walk last weekend, I hope everyone feels the power of what each person contributes to an overall effort. I decided to go off the beaten path this week and selected two poems to share. They are about personal power and were written by two different people of different times. I hope one, if not both, of them resonates with you and your sense of self-worth stays strong.

I Promise Myself 
by Christian D. Larson

To be so strong that nothing can disturb my peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person I meet.

To make all my friends feel that there is something worthwhile in them. To look at the sunny side of everything, and make my optimism come true.

To think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best. To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as I am about my own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. 

To wear a cheerful expression at all times and give a smile to every living creature I meet. To give so much time to improving myself that I have no time to criticize others. 

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble. 

To think well of myself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud words, but in great deeds. To live in the faith that the whole world is on my side, so long as I am true to the best that is in me.

Still I Rise
By Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may tread me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I’ll rise. 

Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? 

Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.  

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high,

Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? 

Shoulders falling down like teardrops.

Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you? 

Don’t you take it awful hard

’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines

Diggin’ in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I’ve got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs? Out of the huts of history’s shame I rise

Up from a past that’s rooted in pain

I rise

I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.

More Ways to Use Cards

with Coach Pat This week we will again use eight exercises. Our focus will be strengthening.

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 which will be done for 30 seconds.

Unlike our fixed exercise sets, what exercise comes next is a surprise. Go from each exercise to the next without delay. For this workout you will need something stable to do your tricep dips, a chair or bench against the wall. You might want to add weight to the Sumo Squats is you have them.

This weeks workout : Diamonds: Tricep Dips Clubs: Sumo Squats Hearts: Curtsy Lunges (for time each leg is one rep) Spades: Jumping Jacks

Jacks: 30 second plank Queens: 30 second wall sit Kings: Split side planks 15 seconds each side Aces: 30 seconds alternating bird dog

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.

Twofer Workout Week

with Coach Oden

Read More

Week Nineteen - Mixing it Up

 

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.

Read More