Change in routine

[NickW]

So I've been injured off and on a lot over the last year and am just coming off another injury. During my time off the last two weeks I've decided to completely start over and work on form and speed and am not taking any Garmin or tracking/pacing devices with me. I am running no more than a mile at a time for the time being. Not sure how long I will keep this up (maybe till it gets easy at the faster paces or boring?). I am not doing any intervals during the runs but just running at a decent clip for the entire short run (kinda like a tempo run I guess). It's a half mile downhill and then half a mile back uphill.

Some days, like today, I will stop at the halfway point and do some broad jumps. They're a lot of fun and kind of challenging when the grass is wet and you're barefoot (I busted my butt on my first set today and there was a bunch of ladies watching and giggling at me from the park ). I've also changed up my gym routines and am doing a lot of stuff that I've never really done a whole lot of such as dumbbell squats, dumbbell push presses, deadlifts, and power cleans. I am going to run 4 days a week, same as my workout schedule with an off day on Wednesday and then also on the weekends. I was really surprised at how limber I was today when stretching after my workout and run. I was able to reach much farther than normal, so I'm wondering if the broad jumps are really good for dynamic stretching? Had a lot of fun chasing my toddler at the park today in between sets of broad jumps and then chasing him around the baseball field a little before we ran back home.

 

[jldeleon]

I am trying to figure out if jump squats and broad jumps are secretly the same thing. I did jump squats for quite some time, and my legs/feet loved them. I should get back to them so that I can embarass myself in front of a bunch of little old ladies.

 

[Bare Lee]

I think you're on the right track Nick. If something isn't working, you have to break it down and build it back up. I had a nagging shoulder injury, and got frustrated when I started doing weights again and couldn't just jump back into my old routine. I found I had to spend 6 months or so strengthening the joint before I could start pushing things a bit, and even now I'm being super cautious. I just started doing upright rows (the exercise that led to the injury to begin with) again last week, for example, and am still doing relatively light weights on my power cleans.

But yah, JL de Leon, seems like jump squats are the new broad jump, no? Thanks for reminding me of them Nick, I think I'll try to work them into my weights routine. I've also heard good things about burpies, but I'm afraid they'll provoke an overwhelming flood of grade school gym class memories.

 

[NickW]

Jump squats are different than broad jumps. Jump squats you jump vertically in one place while broad jumps you try to jump explosively out in front of you for distance. Here's a video I just found real quick of broad jumps. http://www.ehow.com/video_4940693_broad-jumps.html
What I am doing is 3 broad jumps in a row with a minute break afterwards. The plan is to do 7-8 sets of 3 broad jumps, but yesterday I was only able to do 5 sets. My legs were wiped out after 3 sets.

 

[Bare Lee]

Jump squats are different than broad jumps. Jump squats you jump vertically in one place while broad jumps you try to jump explosively out in front of you for distance. Here's a video I just found real quick of broad jumps. http://www.ehow.com/video_4940693_broad-jumps.html
What I am doing is 3 broad jumps in a row with a minute break afterwards. The plan is to do 7-8 sets of 3 broad jumps, but yesterday I was only able to do 5 sets. My legs were wiped out after 3 sets.

Thanks for the clarification Nick, you've enticed me; I'll definitely be checking them out. I saw someone recommend them a month or two ago, but blew it off. Now you got me back on track. I sure my wife won't mind another glute-centric exercise.

 

[NickW]

The new workout routine is kicking my butt. Wow, two days of workouts and today as a rest day and my whole body feels that good muscle ache. From my chest through my ribs to my abs to my hammies and quads and down. You would think I never workout. It's nice to see where I was deficient and unbalanced. I think I am going to do a few weeks of this gym routine and then a few weeks of my normal gym routine and keep alternating. I am also going to really look and see what other routines I can find and add them in as a 3rd workout routine so I can keep things fresh.

 

[Abide]

Try this one, 5 max distance broad jumps leading directly into a 50m shuttle sprint, rest a minute between between sets.

 

[Abide]

Or three if you can't do 5.

 

[Last Place Jason]

Try this one, 5 max distance broad jumps leading directly into a 50m shuttle sprint, rest a minute between between sets.

*like*

 

[NickW]

Abide you're trying to kill me right? It's all I can do right now to do the 3 broad jumps in a row. Hopefully once I get in better shape.

Oh ya, I wanted to get youralls opinion on something. I was reading sock docs new posting thing on the homepage, and I think he accidentally made an argument he wasn't intending that struck a cord with me. I can't remember which link it was in. Sorry. He was talking about fat burn from aerobic vs anaerobic. He said you burn more fat by aerobic, but you burn more calories faster and therefore more fat by doing anaerobic. I kind of am wondering for people like me, who seem to struggle losing weight by the aerobic method and diet, if it's just better to do higher intensity (not necessarily HITT, just more anerobic training) to lose the fat and then focus on training your aerobic system afterwards? I keep wondering if this is maybe why MAF did the opposite for me that it does for many people who swear by it. My mileage went way up doing MAF, but my pace dropped considerably from week to week to week. It went from 12:30 m/m at avg 146 hr to 17 m/m avg 146 hr. Any input about this?

 

[NickW]

PS. the reason I ask is because I seriously need to lose weight. I think my obesity is part of the problem for all the injuries I keep sustaining. I lose a couple pounds it seems, get injured, and then gain that couple pounds back and have to start all over again (this has been doing the mostly aerobic training over the last year). Would it not be better to try to lose as much as I could before that next injury so I can maybe stay ahead of the curve? Once I lose the 20-30 pounds I need to lose I can really focus on low hr stuff and just maintaining my weight. I know this sounds goofy but I've only lost 10 pounds in almost a year and a half... I've been the same weight for the last 6 months or so.

 

[Last Place Jason]

As a runner that's been described as having a "lumberjack-like" body type, I can relate to the weight issue. Right now, I'm about 15 pounds over what should be my ideal race weight. I have trouble losing weight when only doing aerobic-type stuff, but had no trouble when I did anaerobic work. For me, it was more about appetite suppression. I can eat immediately after a long run, and have gotten into the bad social habit of beer and burgers when running with a group. With HIIT, I couldn't eat for hours at times. The net result- a dramatic reduction in calories consumed, ergo weight loss.

 

[NickW]

Ok. Thanks for replying Jason. In between my first and second back surgeries I lost 16 pounds in 3 months by doing only higher intensity training. That was before I really understood anything about low hr training. The last year and a half I had learned much more about low hr training and how it was supposed to be less injurious and so that's what I adopted and had been trying to do. Unfortunately, I had a crap ton of injuries along the way. I am going to have to look into this lumberjack body type you mentioned. I am a stockier boy even when I'm not fat. At my height 5'7", I don't think I am supposed to be over 160 or so, but 6 years ago, I was at 6-7% body fat, and weighed 175. I've always had a hard time losing weight even with a good diet unless I did a lot of anaerobic stuff with it.

Oh ya, Jason, are you still coming out here to Portland this month?

 

[Hawkbilly]

My understanding is also that anaerobic exercise burns more calories, and aerobic burns more fat. I also find that higher intensity workouts have a better affect on my day (disposition, feeling of well being) than aerobic workouts. I don't know of any research to prove it, but I suspect that you continue to burn calories for some time after a good anaerobic workout. I know it takes me at least 2 hours to get my body temperature back to normal. I don't get the same lift from an aerobic workout.