Cardio Nation

So, I've focused a lot on working the muscles, including the brain muscle with meditation and yoga (or rather, relaxing it). Apart from my breathless run in with a very large set of stairs, I haven't talked too much about cardio.

Both weights and cardio are important. Weights help build muscle, which increases strength, makes your body more able to deal with stress (from exercise), and can raise your metabolism. Cardio helps with weight loss, improves lung and heart health, increases bone density (if there's impact involved), temporarily relieves depression and anxiety, gives you confidence and reduces stress.

But what is cardio, really? I mean, you've got marathoner friend A, who swears by running, social friend B, who busts a move in group exercise, intense friend C, who does nothing but cycle, and loner friend D who ergs her heart out on the rowing machine.

Running
I admittedly don't have much experience with running. I joined the track team my senior year of high school, but the meets were the same day as my piano lessons (a fact I wasn't disappointed to learn), and I was the slowest person with the least endurance on the team. I did continue jogging through the summer following my senior year, but stopped when I got to college. Tried to take it up twice - once in college I went on a 2 mile run, and it was hell. Then I went to Alaska in 2003 and didn't have any workout equipment. At that point, I didn't know what else to do for cardio, so I went jogging. I hurt for three days.

I occasionally flirt with the idea of running. I'm more of a social exerciser, so it's hard to motivate myself to go running on my own. I've thought about joining a running group, but I feel like I'd really be slowing them up (or end up on my own). C and I have talked about running when the weather starts getting nice again, since neither of us are runners, so we'd be starting at the same level.

My other concern is that I've had plantar fasciitis, and it's always hovering right under the surface, waiting to pop out and scream "HAHAAA! It's time to take three months off of exercise while I make you feel like you've got nails reaming your heels! Wheeeee!" I'm not sure how to run to minimize my risk of it flaring up again. Any suggestions?

Cycling
There are two kinds of cycling - road cycling and group exercise cycling. Road cyclists tend to be less into the social dimension of the activity...they're there to push themselves as hard as they can, and they've even got the padded shorts and pocketed shirts to prove how serious they are. I find road cycling difficult, because you have to deal with cars on the road or people and animals on the bike path. It's nice having scenery and getting outdoors, but I like the fact that on a stationery bike I can close my eyes and just push myself to the music.

Then there's cycling class, which really goes from A to Z in style. You have instructors who take you up 30 minute hills, raising your resistence continually the whole time, while they shout "PUSH!!!" (true story), you have instructors who vary the workout but keep it super-intense, others who are supportive and give you options for modification, others who give you imagery of your whole ride (now on your left, you'll see a wonderful view of the ocean as you sprint up to the front of the pack). Every class is different, especially because of the music.

The other thing is that a lot of cycling newbies are intimidated by the spin room, so they're reluctant to try it. It's usually dark in there, and my gym even has UV lights we can turn on overhead (though we don't usually use them). The music is loud and the instructor is often loud too. People come out drenched in sweat. But what I always tell people is that you can take it at your own level, nobody can actually see if you turn your resistence up. So if you're already going gangbusters (or if you want to take it easy), just pretend to turn the dial if you feel pressure to do so. Spinning is one of the only exercises I do that makes me really sweat. Step gets my heart rate up, but not nearly the same way spinning does.

Group Exercise
Saying "I like group exercise" is kinda like saying "I like books." Your next question would be "well, what kind of books?"

Step - my favorite. This is what got me into teaching. It's partly the choreography, because it's always changing, and there's a real feeling of accomplishment when you complete a class and do well (or a drive to do better next time), and it's just also really awesome to see everyone doing all the dancy moves on the step all in unison. It is challenging the first few times, because step really is a foreign language. If you don't know what an L-step, basic, scissor, or straddle are, then the first few classes are going to be a study in how to end up going the opposite direction as everyone else. But if you can stick out those first few classes, it only gets easier. And step is great for the "the hour's already over?!" factor.

Cardio kickboxing - a bit different from martial arts, this is aerobically modified martial arts. In other words, kicking and punching the air (or, occasionally, pairing up and punching pads). Great workout for the core, legs, and shoulders, as well as the sweat factor. The music in these classes are generally pretty rockin', as you need a faster tempo and a heavy downbeat to really get into the punching swing of things. I like teaching kwando spar (with the pads and gloves), because it's a sociological study to see how people deal with punching each other. People who know each other (or have been to a class a while) aren't at all timid about hitting strongly (especially if they've just had a fight...marriage therapy charge can be paid out to me directly, thanks). People who don't know each other, however, get these grins on their faces because they're nervous about punching, since it's not normally a socially sanctioned exercise. They smile to cover over their hesitation, but then they smile because it's just so satisfying to take those gloves and smack the pads in front of them.

Zumba/Hip hop - zumba is Latin dance aerobics. I honestly haven't done much of either, though I have taken them occasionally. My problem with both is that I'm used to step, which is a shoulders back and upright format. Then I go to zumba and hip hop and my upper body just isn't that pliable in the way they're asking me to be. I can move my hips (though, seriously, how sexy can I really feel in sneakers?), but my upper body looks really awkward in the mirror. It's definitely fun though.

Rowing
When I got to college, I tried out for the crew team. I really liked the workout (it was kind of a bootcamp thing), but the women's crew team met at 5a every morning. Um, no. Seeing as I'd go to sleep at 2a, and I'm not much of a morning exerciser, I don't think so. In my sophomore year, though, I did sign up for a rowing class. This consisted of sitting on an erg machine facing a window and erging for however long the coach told me to. I kind of enjoyed it. I'd listen to NPR and erg away. I haven't done much erging since then, but I do remember it being a great workout for the whole body.

There are other great cardio options too - jump rope is one of the best exercises that really gives you bang for your buck in comparing time with energy output. 30 second of jumping rope can totally take your breath away. There're jumping jacks, burpees, leaping side to side, lateral shuffles, among many others. What's your favorite cardio? Which makes you sweat the most? Do you mix it up, or are you a one-cardio loyalist?

Getting My Cardio On

So in the last few weeks, I feel like I've barely been exercising. It started with being sick and getting subs for some of my classes. Then there was a networking event I went to and got a sub. Then one of my classes got canceled. And that was a good thing, despite the drop in pay and exercise, as I mentioned here. So my schedule looks like this:

Monday: 1 hour cardio (step), 1 hour boot camp (about 10 minutes of cardio intervals, total)
Tuesday: 1 hour meditation class
Wednesday: 1.5 hour meditation group, 5-inning kickball game (not much running involved, though there are bicep curls in our flip cup matches...)
Thursday: 1 hour boot camp (again, about 10 minutes cardio intervals)
Friday: every other week spinning, off week nothing (or, I should say, something social and not exercise related)
Saturday: 1.5 hour boot camp (about 20 minutes cardio intervals)
Sunday: rest

The thing with boot camp is this...most of the time I do a circuit training class, which has everyone in small groups doing different exercises. The advantages to this are that I can walk around and help them on their form very easily, and there's a bit of a competitive element so that people in groups are working harder with each other. Disadvantage is that I don't get to do any of the lifting, and I have to do very simple moves (no compound movements). So I went from 2-3 lifting classes per week to none. I'm starting to mix it up a little, sometimes doing a circuit class, sometimes having everyone individual (the whole class doing the same thing at the same time). And man am I sore today, yes sirree. But I do like the circuit format.

So given that in one week I do all circuit classes, I'm doing not quite 3 hours of cardio, best case, and not quite 2 hours, worst case. And what with the quantity I normally eat (and the fact that I don't feel like it's a big thing to eat a cookie if I want one, or three), it just doesn't seem sustainable. So something's gotta give.

I was debating whether to jump rope, meditate, or cook dinner when I got home last night, before heading out for a book discussion meetup. I have trouble motivating to work out on my own, but I was feeling the need to do cardio. And since money's tight, I felt like I should make dinner before going out. But I also didn't know how late I'd be out (since Tuesday is trivia night), and meditation is important too.

The meditation won out. I put on a meditation CD, got down on the floor, fended off my cat's grooming advances, and meditated for 30 minutes. Then I went to the book group and ordered dinner there. The cardio fell by the wayside. Unfortunately, there was no trivia due to the playoffs (though given the result, perhaps it would've been better to have had trivia!).

I've considered adding cardio to my lunchtime, but I don't really like to go back to work all sweaty (and taking a shower entails bringing make-up and such with me...). Now I'm just making excuses. And since I've had a cold, I haven't been back to yoga (I didn't think the person on the next mat would really appreciate me hacking up a lung in their direction).

Maybe on the days I am at the gym, I should jump rope for 15 minutes before I teach class. Because jump rope is an awesome workout, more bang for your buck than running. I could do jump rope and pushups, and I think that'll stand me in pretty good stead.

What are your go-to cardio/weight workouts in a restricted schedule? How often do you work out (if at all)?

Fitness Pitfalls

We all know how hard it can be to get to the gym. After a full day of work and commute, you try to squeeze in a workout before dinner or whatever fun other activity you've planned for the evening. Alternatively, maybe you've gotten yourself out of bed early to virtuously head to the gym before work. And you've finally gotten that motivation, gotten to the gym, done the workout. But maybe you have a goal, and you're not there but you're plateauing already. Or maybe you get injured or your muscles just don't feel right. What's the deal?

The 3 Biggest Fitness Mistakes

1. Not warming up and cooling down.

Let's start with the question of warming up. This is just as important as the workout itself. If you come in off the street (especially if it's winter and freezing), and you start jumping around right off the bat, it can lead to injury. Any kind of lateral jumping movement shouldn't be added to the workout until at least 5-10 minutes into the warmup (by this I mean jumping jacks, leaps, shuffles, anything involving both feet leaving the ground and moving laterally). Muscle elasticity depends on how much blood is flowing through it, so cold muscles with less blood running through them are more likely to become injured or damaged because they aren't able to absorb shock as well. And because of the lack of muscle elasticity, you should never warm up with static stretching (holding a stretch in place), but with more dynamic stretching (lunging down and up instead of holding the lunge down). If you want to do a stretch after the warm up, your muscles should then be warm enough. What kind of warm up should you do? It depends on your activity. For something aerobics like kickboxing try step touches, grapevines, hamstring curls, alternating knees up. For running, try walking, elliptical, even jump roping (because it's up and down and not lateral - just start with some marching first).

Then there's cooling down. In my mind, cooling down is as much (if not more) important than the stretch (though neither should be skipped). If you're doing cardio and you go from high heart rate to stopped and standing in place (even if for a stretch), your blood pressure will drop, bringing on dizziness or fainting. A proper cool down also prevents the sudden pooling of blood in one spot of your body, and recirculates it back to your heart and brain. Like the warm-up, the cool down should resemble the activity you're doing. For cycling, turn your gear down to a low resistance and keep pedalling, for running take it to a walk. The cool down can be a different exercise than you just did, provided it uses the same muscle groups.

And finally, there's stretching. The debate's not totally resolved about whether and how much stretching really helps. Common wisdom is that stretching helps prevent injury by increasing flexibility. A muscle group with a greater range of motion will be less likely to tear when used actively. This is the activity that's so hard to really do fully, because at the end of our workout, we're tired and just want to be over and done with it. But try to stretch each major muscle group you worked out, and count it out and hold for at least 15-30 seconds each.

2. Not varying your exercises

We all have certain kinds of exercise we like and certain kinds we don't like. I tend to gravitate towards group exercise and shun solo exercise like running or erging. To each their own. The problem comes in, however, when you do one kind of exercise only, and rely on that for all your fitness. Our bodies are amazingly adaptable, and they get used to an exercise really quickly, they learn to anticipate it and it becomes less challenging over time. And you start to plateau. This is often what happens in March - all the New Year's resolution people at the gym start plateauing and then start questioning why they're coming to the gym so much if they aren't seeing the same results they started with.

So it's important to keep your body guessing. AFAA recommends 3-5 hours a week of cardio exercise, 2-3 hours a week of weight training, and 2-3 hours a week of flexibility training. So, if you're a group fitness person, for example, you might do step twice a week, cycling and/or kickboxing once or twice, then a couple weight classes and a couple yoga classes. That's kind of a daunting schedule, but you get my point. But say you're a runner, and you really just don't do any other kind of exercise, just running. How do you vary your workout then? Add some intervals! So a couple times a week you do some straight runs for however long you want. Then a couple times a week you do intervals (running really fast interspersed with some slower recovery periods, or running hills). Some thing with cycling. This goes with weight training too. If you always use the same weights for the same number of reps, you won't find the same benefits. Try playing around with it - add weights and do fewer reps, or do an extra set one day.

3. Not using correct form

This is harder to work on if you don't know you have incorrect form. Here are some brief notes on some of the major cardio and weight exercises:

- Step: make sure your foot comes entirely onto the bench (don't let your heel hit air in back). It's tempting to think that having your heel off makes it harder for your calf, but it actually will strain your achilles and can lead to a nasty injury like plantar fasciitis. I've had it, it's not pleasant. Rather like nails through the heels/arches.

- Cycling (stationery): make sure your seat is high enough. When you sit on the seat and take your feet so they're the same distance from the floor (one in front of the other), the front knee should be right over the ball of the foot. If you have trouble with this, ask for help in setting up your bike. Also, when you're out of the saddle, keep your butt back over the seat so you don't put extra pressure on the knees.

- Running: injuries could be due to body mechanics (pronation or supination of the foot), or from an improper motion of your weight through the arch of your foot (as I'm not a running, I can't really advise the proper way, sorry...).

- Squats/Lunges: keep your knees over your ankles (or front knee for lunges), no further forward than your toes. Try not to bend forward too far at your waist or it can put a lot of stress on your lower back.

- For other weight lifting exercises, there are many ways to do them improperly without causing injury. It's always best to either ask the instructor if you have a question, or if you're in the weight room, ask one of the personal trainers, someone else on the equipment, or just stand watch someone do the exercise (the one problem with this is you don't know if they're doing it properly).

Exercise can be very fun if done properly and without injury. So once those basics are down, let's focus on the ways we can make it fun (stay tuned for next week's post...)