Current Events > CE Fitness topic

(+) Yeah! (+)

I hate mondays at the gym. I don't know what it is but it's really the only day that is consistently busy. Is it guilt? Is it just my gym?

Days like monday make me think that gyms are all wrong.

Gyms should just be like, 20 power racks with benches nearby. There should be heavy weights. There should be a nice rack design that makes it clear that the big old 25s go on the bottom and the 1.25s go at the top.

Instead, commercial gyms everywhere are 75% dedicated to weird ass machines that are designed to uh *checks notes*..."target the anterior deltoid in eccentric force", or something. Then another 20% of floor space is dedicated to "functional fitness" for people that could easily do all of this shit outside with a kettlebell but just feel self-conscious about it. And then you have 1 power rack and it's absolutely being hogged.

I hate to be a gym snob but it's weird that these places are designed to heavily favour people who just want to feel like they're doing something with minimal physical commitment...rather than actually doing something.

Anyway, that was a segue. My gym is ok. 6 power racks. But man I hate mondays.

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@BreezyExcursion

I have clocked 50miles/wk all summer but don't do any speed work, pretty much just do 9:00 everywhere I go

I did my first session of 3x mile repeats and got 6:55, 7:00, 7:05 which I was kind of disappointed by

How should I restructure my training to work on speed? Drop miles? 2-3 sessions/wk of all kinds? Can I do only mile repeats or do I have to mix it up?


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I go to Life Time Fitness, and they have a lot more squat racks than other gyms I have been to. Mine is a pretty small Life Time compared to others, and we got 10 squat racks, 4 bench presses, and 4 of every dumbbell up to 60 lbs. Even at peak times, I have never had to wait for a squat rack. We could use some more flat benches by the dumbbells though, those fill up quick.

I hit a plataue the last month on my cut, stuck at 176 lbs. I've decided to cut out alcohol for a month, see how that helps. Drinking 5-10 beers every wednesday/friday/saturday/sunday is probably holding back my progress quite a bit... Been 1 week w/out it and I am already down to 174

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Today I learned about work capacity and how it's the next thing I should learn to increase.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


Mine is a semi serious gym where most people dont know the meaning of physical exercise, so it's usually ok. Had a good session today.


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Njolk posted...

I have clocked 50miles/wk all summer but don't do any speed work, pretty much just do 9:00 everywhere I go

I did my first session of 3x mile repeats and got 6:55, 7:00, 7:05 which I was kind of disappointed by

How should I restructure my training to work on speed? Drop miles? 2-3 sessions/wk of all kinds? Can I do only mile repeats or do I have to mix it up?

I very much enjoy helping with these things, so long post!

First off, don't be discouraged. A couple months at 50mi/week is a fantastic base, and the first speed session after an exclusively easy mileage base is almost guaranteed to be rough since your body simply isn't used to running that fast. Running lots of miles slow does not make you fast, but what it DOES do is give you lots of capability to do work that WILL make you fast.

Now that you have run faster, and have a solid aerobic base to draw from, you are very likely to see some serious gains very quickly with some speedwork. If you repeat this same exact session you did in 4 or 5 days, you'll already feel significantly more comfortable than you did this first time.

So my advice:

You do want to be coming into quality/speed sessions feeling fresh. Cutting mileage a bit can help, but that can just mean 1-2 miles less on the day before a workout. IE if you're doing 50mpw now, you can definitely do effective speedwork at 45mpw. If you are completely wrecking yourself where you feel you need to drop down to 35 or 40, you're probably overreaching.

Workouts The length of the intervals in a speed workout doesn't actually matter too much. The real factors are a combination of overall volume (IE 20x400m would be 5 miles of work, that's plenty), speed of rep (Mile pace is intense. Marathon, not really), and rest duration (Are you doing short rests to stress endurance, or longer rests to stress speed?)

That being said, I'd recommend 2 speed sessions per week, targeting 2 different purposes.

Aerobic Threshold Workout
Aerobic Threshold is usually defined as the fastest pace you could sustain for 1 hour. It's also commonly regarded as the most "bang for buck" pace that you can run to make yourself faster. The goal of this workout is to run consistently at this faster pace, where your body is drawing energy from the aerobic system only. Going faster than this pace will beat you up for the same gain (unnecessary lactic acid production), going slower will beat you up more than an easy run, for not much more gain than an easy run.

Example Workout:
5x1000m/60 second rest @ 1hr pace

Again, stressing consistency. A mile or two into your 1hr max pace probably won't feel very difficult, but going faster ruins the purpose of the workout.

Anaerobic Workout
This is the traditional speed workout people think of. IE running very hard for short amounts of time. You simply can't run fast without training fast. Here we want to draw energy from the system that we're not doing a lot of training at, but still NEED for real speed.

Example workout:
10x400m/90 second rest @ Mile Pace

Here, it's fine to try and go as fast as you can. If you have 2 reps left and feel like you have a lot left in the tank, absolutely rip as a 400 8 seconds faster than your first couple.

Even someone who never races short distance should get at least a little bit of training here. (Ex: Running at 6:40/mi is much easier when your body knows what 5:40/mi feels like rather than if it only knows what 6:20/mi feels like)

If you want to add a 3rd session, my advice would be to tack on some light, fast, reps at the end of an easy mileage day. IE at the end of one of your usual easy runs, do something like 6x300m @ 3k-5k pace, rest as long as you like. The short rep and longer rest is for you to work on form and mechanics at a faster speed while you're not tired.

You should get a lot faster doing the 2 main workouts I prescribed... I'd put an easy day before the anaerobic day and an off day after it, if you have off days. The threshold day can be done between easy-moderate days with little strain.

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We're terrible at keeping these topics alive lol

Anyway, nursing what seems to be a minor shoulder (front/side delt) injury so my workout today was not great. Can't do bench or ohp properly. Like I could force my way through it. It's not that terrible but I'd rather not cause real issues. Currently it's an "only when lifting" type of injury and I'd like to not extend that to normal life.

Managed some cobra push ups and just did the side that's not injured for everything else that hits that area. Tricep exercises went normal. Tomorrow's routine shouldn't be an issue at all. We'll see if I can do some light bench or something on Wednesday.

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DuranOfForcena posted...

i think i'm ready to shell out for some 20 lb dumbbells. the 15 lb ones i've been using are getting too easy. i've been doing 3 sets of 12-15 reps for almost all of the exercises i've been doing with them. feels pretty good, making the progression i've been making.

Might be better to get an adjustable set? You'll quickly move past 20lbs too.

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pinky0926 posted...

Might be better to get an adjustable set? You'll quickly move past 20lbs too.

This
Also you can use them for other exercises too. It's a slightly bigger initial investment but it's overall much less expensive than buying a set at every 5 lbs.

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I play Ring Fit Adventure sometimes.

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honestly the easy solution to this is to buy yourself a power rack, Ive made myself a home gym for a few thousand bucks and dont need to worry about any of this anymore

Wow @BreezyExcursion thank you so much, you answered so many other questions too!

My revised plan: drop to 45mpw, add an interval day (thinking 6x800) and a 3 mile tempo within a other day

- Should I strive to increase these distances during this training block? Or will naturally doing them faster be enough?

- how soon to reach 6:00 mile? What's a realistic goal for me to shoot for as an endurance athlete? I suppose a major goal of mine would be a 3hour marathon in the next few years

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ROOTFayth posted...

honestly the easy solution to this is to buy yourself a power rack, Ive made myself a home gym for a few thousand bucks and dont need to worry about any of this anymore

I live in the UK, it's amazing that the gym has enough space for power racks never mind my flat, lol

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I'm gonna go back to lifting again with my buddy (who has his own bench-press and up to 45lbs weights) after a break from mid-August to mid-September, followed by this last weekend off due to Governor's ball.

Tryna bulk up and put more mass on my arms then eventually get a membership at New York Sports Club to do legs.

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Njolk posted...

Wow @BreezyExcursion thank you so much, you answered so many other questions too!

My revised plan: drop to 45mpw, add an interval day (thinking 6x800) and a 3 mile tempo within a other day

- Should I strive to increase these distances during this training block? Or will naturally doing them faster be enough?

- how soon to reach 6:00 mile? What's a realistic goal for me to shoot for as an endurance athlete? I suppose a major goal of mine would be a 3hour marathon in the next few years

Your plan sounds good.

As you get more fit, do the workouts faster rather than more reps/more miles. If you feel like you're not getting worked enough, you can generally increase weekly mileage or add a 3rd speed session for the week.

Hard for me to tell what your potential is at this point, but a 6:00 mile seems like a good near-term goal for you, and you're probably not too far away. Maybe try a time trial after 2 or 3 more workouts. Can do the time trial in place of your workout day.


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any of you guys dealt with abdominal hernias or core injuries?

I've kept my workouts real light on core stuff for a number of years because I've had a pretty large surgery(abs split all the way down the middle).

I wanna step up core stuff, but hernias scare the shit out of me and I'm not sure how far to push it or if some kind of wrap would let me step it up...

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in news for myself i raced a 10miler on sunday. i shouldnt have a problem running under 1:30 for my half marathon.


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DuranOfForcena posted...

i don't have money for a slightly bigger investment lol. if i can find my receipt for the 15 pounders and i bought them less than 90 days ago i might just return them when i pick up the 20 pounders lol. also i don't plan on going up very much more in weights. i'm not looking to become a bodybuilder, i just want some light weights to continue my physical therapy regimen at home with and get a bit of definition in my upper body.

Yeah, probably not for you then.

You may want to keep an eye on 2nd hand places though. It might be weird atm because last year everyone was buying it up and people are still hesitant to return to gyms, but typically Facebook marketplace or Craigslist used to be filled with folks practically giving away exercise equipment just to get it out of their house.

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BreezyExcursion posted...

in news for myself i raced a 10miler on sunday. i shouldnt have a problem running under 1:30 for my half marathon.

Holy shit my hero

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@BreezyExcursion

Another question: I live at 7500ft and aside from the track the flattest areas here have 100ft/mile

Does this factor into my training at all? Am I setting goals that are better suited for sea level and need to dial back my numbers?

In fact, how does vertical feet factor into training in general? I usually clock 4-6k ft each week on top of this 50mi, so it's not all running and I wonder what a purely running week would feel like

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pinky0926 posted...

I live in the UK, it's amazing that the gym has enough space for power racks never mind my flat, lol

aaah, in the city I assume? but yeah I live in Canada and have a house, you could always get the concept 2 rower though in your flat, not as effective to build muscle mass because it's mostly endurance but it does hit a lot of muscles

Njolk posted...

@BreezyExcursion

Another question: I live at 7500ft and aside from the track the flattest areas here have 100ft/mile

Does this factor into my training at all? Am I setting goals that are better suited for sea level and need to dial back my numbers?

In fact, how does vertical feet factor into training in general? I usually clock 4-6k ft each week on top of this 50mi, so it's not all running and I wonder what a purely running week would feel like

-There is definitely a difference between altitude and sea level, but since you live at altitude it's not as big of a deal.
-IE someone coming up from Sea Level and trying to train/race in the mountains would have a very tough time. For someone used to it, it's a much smaller difference, like 1-3sec per mile. The lack of oxygen in the air is slightly offset by less wind resistance. Short sprints are actually faster at altitude because of this.
-You'll notice that a lot of pro endurance athletes will train in places like Boulder and Flagstaff, because their body gets used to less oxygen, and then they feel great when they go back down to sea level. So while I'm saying you're not affected, you will have an advantage if you ever decide to travel for a race elsewhere.
-As long as your heart rate is not going down to walking levels when you're climbing, it should be pretty much fine, some would even argue this is a good thing. I'd count the mileage "as-is" even if you're going super slow up something steep sometimes. I'd suggest doing your tempos on something fully runnable though.


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Thanks breezy!

I also added split squats to my weights routine, worried they'd make me tired. They actually make my legs feel snappy and less tired!

Excited to see where I'm at by winter


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