Intensity, what is it and how do we go about getting it?

As part of a follow up on my last post I am looking into intensity and what it means to increase intensity of my workouts.

Intensity is the single most important variable in maximising the health benefits of exercise.

Take note, intensity NOT duration is the most important variable. We live in a volume obsessed physical culture. We value quantity of exercise over quality of exercise. This is a result of both a desperate clinging to outdated research of a bygone era and an aversion to departing from the comfort zone.

So what is intensity? The definitions are numerous. Laboratory bound Exercise Physiologists would use METS (metabolic equivalents), percentages of maximum heart rate, heart rate reserve, or VO2 max. All great lab based measures – but with real world limitations.

Intensity is the amount of work you do in a certain amount of time. How much load you move (whether it be your body weight or an external object), how far you move it, and how quickly you move it. Moving large loads, long distances, quickly.

Intensity is a relative term. If you move a larger load and longer distance, more quickly, you do more work. Your intensity is higher. For you… move the largest load YOU can, the longest distance YOU can, as quickly as YOU can.

Remember of course than intensity is inversely related to duration. The longer the duration, the less the intensity. Australians indicate that time is the biggest factor standing in the way of exercise. Intensity can simultaneously remove our biggest barrier to exercise, while increasing the health benefits of this exercise.

I also found this information:

Interval Training – This is quickly becoming the most popular “get fit quick, burn fat, and blast calories” form of training, and for good reason.  Interval training will not only challenge your body to work at a higher heart rate for short periods and boost cardiovascular fitness most quickly, but also have a lingering effect on calorie burn – upwards of 30%!  That means that after an interval training workout, you can burn 30% more calories than you would normally burn throughout the day.

The downside of interval training (and doing ONLY Interval training), is that you also burn more sugars (stored muscle glycogen) rather than fat during your workout.  Do too much interval training and you run the risk of burning that hard earned muscle.   Interval training consists of working at or above 85% of max heart rate for a period of time, followed by a recovery period at 60-70% of max heart rate.  You’ll know when you are at or above 85% max heart rate when you can longer breathe through your nose, and you actually have to breathe through your mouth.  For Interval Training, stick to 1-3x/week or 50% of your overall cardio training.

Steady State Training: - Here, you challenge your body to work just at or slightly below anaerobic threshold (roughly 75-85% of max heart rate).  Studies show that working here has a maximum effect on improving cardiovascular health and fitness.    The challenge in working at a steady state as compared to LSD or Intervals is this:  LSD is easier to maintain and generally feels good, where intervals are far tougher but only last a short while.  Steady state on the other hand is tough and the goal is to stretch the intensity out to 5-20 min bouts at a higher heart rate.  Challenge yourself to work Steady State Training 1-3x/week or 25% of your overall cardio training.

Most cardiovascular equipment pieces do a great job of providing examples of these three types of training.  So try a program and challenge yourself to vary your heart rate based on the parameters above.  Your cardiovascular fitness, fat-burning potential and overall health will thank you.

Obviously not everyone's needs and requirements are the same so we are all self responsible to find what works for ourselves. This is a learning process for me as i try to find the results I am wanting on this journey to finding me. I hope you take the time to figure out what works for you as well. 

Small Steps to Make a Big Gain

I am so happy with some of my progress at the gym; while I am still learning so much about myself, my health and where I am at and how to get to where I need to be I am also setting personal records of feats of strength I did not know about.

I am getting quite addicted to doing the leg press at the gym and seeing where my legs are at for strength. I started off originally at around 200 pounds and have consistently upped the weights pushing myself for bigger goals and seeing what I can do. Only once since this began have I felt the inevitable leg burn from a strenuous work out on my legs when doing the leg press in particular.

That burn came when I did the 750 leg press at 3 sets of 10 a few weeks ago. 

This week I increased the weight, and was a bit worried it was too much after what i felt last time; I had increased it to 790 pounds. I was nervous so I texted my brother in law at 5am to tell him I was about to attempt it. He sent his words of caution and encouragement. 

I started off that morning doing my usual routine of different weights for different muscles and as per usual I like to finish with the leg press. I warmed up with 630lbs, 3 sets of 10 with no problem so I added on 2 x 45 pound plates and went to 720lbs, again with no problem.

A young girl had just walked into the gym as I was finishing off the 630 pounds; in the mirrors i noticed she was watching me add the new plates as she took up the leg extension machine beside me. I did my sets of 720 and she moved off to the squat area to do her thing; I suspect she was warming up and waiting for me to finish with either the leg press or the weight plates which is when I went to add more another 2 plates - 35 pounds each as I had already used up all the 45 plates on my machine. 16 x 45lbs plates to be exact. 

Now at 790 pounds, my heart racing and I was drenched in sweat, I texted my brother in law Dan whom I knew was already at work (the pool business in the Okanagan requires him to do some long hard days) to let him know of my feat to come. I got in position took a deep breath, pushed up with my legs to release the safety guards. The weight was huge, I could feel it that is for sure, but it was not causing me to tremble at all with fear of my legs giving out or inability to do the weight I had set up. I lowered my leg and then began the inevitable push to get my legs into the pull extension again. I let out a deep grunt as I began to push, I was confident though that I could do it. 

1 rep, 2 reps, 3 reps  I carried on until I reached 10, WOW I thought to myself, I was impressed I was able to do this but the question was, can I do it again? So I tried again.. and succeeded. Before I could do my 3rd set I remembered to video tape it with my phone.  I noticed as I was video taping the movement and being sure to get the shot with the weights and my legs extending that the girl who came in had stopped briefly to watch me do the weights; she stopped even if it was a brief moment before she started, to see me do the huge feat. To me this was the first time that I noticed someone stopping to look at me for a good reason, not because of my size and weight but rather because i just did something that a lot of very healthy people who are at the gym regularly would have trouble with. 

So many times I have set myself with small goals in pushing weights in all muscle groups not just legs and have achieved the weights I set myself up for. I am very proud of those achievements so far and I look forward to continuing with but I want to set a very lofty goal for my legs for the end of the year. I want to set a goal of 1000 lbs for a leg press. I really don't know if I can do that, it may be too lofty, I can say though that I will not risk my health to achieve it though because if i feel my legs are at the breaking point or in danger of serious harm I will not attempt it, I just want to have something to work towards.

Cheering on the METs !!

So a couple weeks ago my FitBit Charge bit the bullet and had disintegrated; I had crazy glued it a few times already but it was at the point where it was pretty much unsalvageable so my wife and my mom decided to get me a new FitBit that I was eyeing up, the FitBit Blaze Gun Metal Series.

First of all I love this thing, it is awesome. I love the features especially the heart rate monitor. So I went to the gym this week to take it for a test spin. I had a kick ass work out and was drenched in sweat by the time I was done. I set a new personal record for leg press at 750 lbs, I felt alive and good with no soreness in my legs or anywhere else when done the session. As per usual I write in my log book all my work out routines including weight and reps and on which machines. I get back to the car afterwards, load up some pics and video from the gym then look at my app for fitbit on my phone and make sure that my workout synced to my phone. The app did its little thinking thing while it synced and I monitored the progress bar until it was at 100% and the thinking/waiting icon was gone. My step count matched but I noticed that my minutes were way off; I was at the gym for over an hour but I only had 10 mins of tracked exercise, WHAT THE POTATO!

So I clicked on the FitBit help for active minutes and read what it had to say because something had to be wrong as I should have at least 60 mins logged! I proceed to read about metabolic equivalents aka METs.

This is what I found: 

Your Fitbit tracker recognizes and awards active minutes when the activity you're doing is more strenuous than regular walking, which includes everything from a brisk walk to a cardio workout or run. HOW DO I EARN ACTIVE MINUTES? All Fitbit trackers calculate active minutes using metabolic equivalents (METs). METs help measure the energy expenditure of various activities. Because they do so in a comparable way among persons of different weights, METs are widely used as indicators for exercise intensity. For example, a MET of 1 indicates a body at rest. Fitbit trackers estimate your MET value in any given minute by calculating the intensity of your activity. You earn active minutes for activities at or above about 3 METs.  To stay in line with the Center for Disease Control's (CDC’s) “10 minutes at a time is fine” concept, minutes are only awarded after 10 minutes of continuous moderate-to-intense activity. You can view the CDC’s recommendations on the CDC website. If the same activity gives you active minutes one day and fewer active minutes the next day, remember that the intensity of exercise is key. Often what seems like the exact same amount of effort over the same distance in fact differs slightly enough to change your active minutes total. DO I EARN ACTIVE MINUTES IF I MANUALLY LOG AN EXERCISE OR ACTIVITY? For most manually logged activities, Fitbit uses a standard MET score and your (optional) calorie burn to calculate active minutes. High calorie burn activities award more active minutes. Since custom activities don't have a MET score associated, you'll only get active minutes for them if you also log a high calorie burn. HOW DO I ACHIEVE MY ACTIVE MINUTE GOAL? By default, you are given a starting goal of 30 active minutes a day based on the CDC recommendation of 20-30 minutes of daily moderate-to-intense activity. You can always change your active minutes goal to meet your personal needs. Trackers with heart-rate sensing do a better job of recognizing active minutes for non-step-based activities, such as weight lifting, strenuous yoga, and rowing. If your tracker doesn't have heart-rate sensing, your active minutes will be lower for non-step based activities. The more calories you burn the higher your MET value, so therefore the more calories you burn the higher your total active minutes. Assuming you're active for at least 10 minutes at a time, green spikes on your calorie graph typically indicate that you’re earning active minutes.

When I read this it felt like a light went on in my head. I know I have put in the time at the gym and not seen the results I wanted but now it makes sense, my intensity has not been where it needs to be, while I was doing well at getting exercise I wasn't pushing myself enough. I need to amp up the intensity, limit the time of breaks between sets; I need to keep that heart rate up at a higher number while I work out.  

I wish I knew this sooner but I am glad I know this now, I may be overly optimistic but I now feel like this was one of the final keys I have needed to unlock the doors to finding me, unlocking the door to finally achieve the weightloss and health I desire.   

So as far as I understand it I was at 3+ METs for 10 mins during that workout, I now feel like I am focused on adjusting what my routine is, to help me achieve the METs goal I have set for myself of 60 minutes. I am working at achieving this now with going back to starting my work out with at least 30 mins on tread mill and then going straight to the weight machines and logging the reps and weights afterwards. I will also minimize the rest between sets, sometimes I just play with my phone and post something on Instagram while I rest between sets, enough of this! My posts can wait until the workout is done.

I will hit my goal as I am always trying to tweak and improve and am not giving up on myself, this journey is all about learning and moving forward.

Finding Failure from Within

I have been away from the blogging and posting for the last month as I was just not in the right headspace. As we all know this journey is not an easy one; it is easy to make excuses, stress is my biggest reasons for setbacks; apparently I don't always handle stress well.  

When stressed I tend to sneak food, usually when driving to/from work, I make excuses why sleeping in is more important than getting out of bed and conquering the day. I fear failure where I used to face failure and take on the challenge as a source of honour and achievement no matter the results. Even now I have those days where I get excited about pushing myself and facing failure or conquering that which I doubt myself on but those days seem to be not consistent enough anymore.

I try to think of  when and where things changed for me and it is not easy to place as I have to analyze everything I have achieved and done but more importantly I have to pinpoint when I first felt like I failed. When I do this I come to the realization it was a series of missteps starting in 2003; some personal missteps that I thought I had worked through but now I am realizing I just denied the facts and focused on other things. 

I focused on everything else mentally and physically. I read and followed through with many Dr. Phil books from Self Matters to Life Strategies to Ultimate Weight Loss Solution books, and these books helped me tremendously in all areas except where I needed to focus. I lost weight, I gained better understanding of myself and those I interact with. I gained insight on to how and why I do things but I never focused truly on my self sabotaging behavior that got me to where I am. 

Anyone who knows me knows that I hate to disappoint anyone close to me, I know it happens to everyone once in a while due to situations beyond our control or by our control and I have always felt like I am a person who would walk to the ends of the earth, through burning coals to make sure I do not disappoint anyone, Then when I realized I failed at this I started living in denial and never really owned up to it and this has affected me in so many ways that I am only now realizing it.

To make amends I am starting now by saying to everyone whom I may have crossed the wrong way: I apologize for being an a$$hole, for not facing my self doubts and for causing any harm. 

In turn I would also like to add that: I forgive everyone whom ever took advantage of my kindness and generosity; anyone who used me for their own gains despite any recourse thrust upon me. I forgive you for being an a*#hole. Even the person who was the cause of the dark ages in my life.. heck some people are just evil and I will not let their negativity drag me down all these years later.

Forgiveness is a key to moving forward and although I know that after all the years gone by that an apology will never be read by whom it is to as they are far from my life and I have no idea where they are, the apology isn't for them, it is for me. Sometimes we need to cleanse our mental state by clearing out the trash that has bogged us down, and that is what I am doing here. It may sound corny and weird and it probably is but I have never said the words and I need to forgive myself in order to move forward.

I think of since this moment I have had limited success in my life with career and relationships. Yes I have an amazing wife whom I love and adore but the journey to meeting her was long and had some dark times. The same can be said to my career as I have sad many bad jobs in the pursuit of finding the good ones and when I have found a great one I have self-sabotaged and moved on from it as I have not deemed myself worthy. 

I hold myself accountable for my implosions and thus my ballooning weight over the years, and really, who else can I blame? I need to forgive myself now for letting myself down; and this is now my struggle to build my own trust back up again.I need to learn to believe in myself and believe I am worth believing in. I need to believe that I can achieve, I can be successful and I can be my own champion.  This request will be tough I know as I am not ready to forgive myself and I am not ready to believe in myself.

It is always true that we gain strength from our failures but it is also true you must acknowledge them first before getting that strength. It can also be said that everything happens for a reason, I believe this wholeheartedly, because each action and interaction shapes who we are and where we are headed. 

I would not be where I am or who I am today if it were not for my trials and tribulations that I have faced in life. I am thankful for every trial and tribulation I have had that has helped me meet Tabitha, she is the most amazing loving woman I have ever met. She gives me strength when I am weak, she gives me confidence in everything I do, and some days I just don't know what I did to deserve her in my life. I need to be this way for myself as well and that is where I am currently struggling.