Really quick post tonight as I have been working all day and half the evening now in between watching fireworks with the kids and I have to get up at 5am tomorrow to go to the office so have to go to bed soon.
Today's Routine
I entered into Adam's cardio routine again today. Boy this was hard again, it goes a little something like this:
1 minute at 6kph
2 minutes at 16 kph
Repeat for a total of 10 times (30 minutes) and then do your dreaded 31st minute. This time it was 50 seconds at 16kph and then 10 seconds at 16.5 kph. I managed to control the throwing up impulse this time OK but I must admit that I was really close to passing out this time!!!! Believe me this is such a tough workout. I was ready quit at 15 minutes but kept going thinking no 31st minute today but when I got there I went for it and then I had to push the last 10 seconds but man you don't know how hard this is until you try it. If you have the fitness levels to sustain 16 kph for 2 minutes then I would recommend seeing how far you can get through this as it is certainly an experience!!
Please only enter into this with extreme caution and if you are unsure please consult a personal trainer in the gym. This stresses all parts of your body, lungs, legs, knees and heart. If you are unused to running at these levels then wear a heart rate monitor and get a PT to watch your session.
So why do I enjoy cardio so much?
Last session I nearly threw up, this session I nearly passed out so why do I (we) do this? For me it is all about pushing the boundaries of my fitness. I will reach my goal, it may take less time than predicted, it may take more but I will reach it. In order to do this to keep things interesting I have to keep pushing myself.
Now I have not watched Adam's video for today yet so I am not sure how he has answered my questions but I am not going to make this kind of cardio session the norm as I believe it is too stressful on your whole body. I think it is great for a shred or for a once a week session but on a regular basis I think it could (my opinion) do more harm than good as this is as intense as it gets, for me at least. But the same would go for anything if you are pushing yourself to such intense levels for sustained periods of time. On a regular basis it will take it's toll on your whole body, immune system included.
I still love my cardio though and it gives you a great measure of real world fitness progress if that is part of your goal.
Bodyfat Measurement
It gets stranger!! I can see more positive changes in my body since last Monday than I can from the previous Monday yet according to today's reading my BF is 14.4%!!! I agree with Suzette's comment yesterday, sometimes you have to take the numbers with a pinch of salt. I do not know why they are yo yoing suddenly, they have been very consistent all of the time recently. Don't get my wrong I am still really pleased with the above reading and in a way am more pleased with this than the 13.1% from last week. Why? Well as I said last week I could not see the progress in the real world that was being shown electronically so was concerned!!
Anyway I will continue to monitor, I have no choice as this is the measurement for this challenge as I move towards 12%. I will explore this further when I have more time but any comments suggestions are all welcome.
I know comments are also sparse but I have been to a few blogs today and will get to the rest tomorrow, I may not leave comments but I am still watching. Please do not come disheartened by it. As soon as I get any time it is filled with blogging.
Until tomorrow....
Monday 5 November 2007
Day 36: Why do I enjoy cardio so much??
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2 comments:
Hi Andrew,
OK. Did my conversion again and that's 10 mph for those of us in the USA. I can't imagine holding that speed for 10 seconds let alone 2 minutes. I've got to hand it to you. You are doing great! Even if you don't keep this cardio routine up, you've pushed your boundaries - which I should be doing on a regular basis as well.
Debbie
Andrew, I am so glad you are not planning on doing that crazy cardio regularly. I agree that it may do more harm than good AND I am SO GLAD you put those warnings out there.
It's different for you, because even though your blog says Day 36, you are a lifelong runner so it's not like a REGULAR Day 36, cardio wise, so those warnings are good--especially for those just tuning in or with faulty memories.
I get what you're doing, pushing your limits, so no lecture from me about working too hard. I have every confidence you know what you're doing. But from here on out I'm calling that cardio, psycho cardio, because I think it's crazy and funny. So please don't be offended and look at those numbers from the perspective of a girl who is literally limping around, and see how crazy they must look. lol
Here is a totally unsophisticated, un-scientific completely ridiculous idea about those fat loss readings. I think it has something to do with that psycho-hard, nutty, make you want to vomit and pass out CARDIO.
I don't know how or why or how. I don't think the cardio effects your body fat negatively, but you've been upping it considerably before that and then upped to psycho cardio and I don't know. I'm thinking it mucks with your hydration or something and is screwing with those readings. Although, I am aware that correlation does not equal causation, but sometimes it does.
I know I can write this and if it has some basis in fact you will research and discover it and if it has no basis in fact, you can easily discard it. That's the cool thing about posting crazy comments in Andrew's blog.
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