For BG fitness fanatics, a question..

[Jefe]

For the runners here:
I just found out about a 10k mud run happening here in Utah this month, The Dirty Dash. This is its first year, it was inspired by the Camp Pendleton mud runs. So I have a couple questions. If anyone has done a mud run, my biggest concern is shoes. Should I wear my normal running shoes? I know they'll probably get trashed, but it's probably about time to replace them anyway. But what about the water (besides all the mud, you jump into a reservoir at one point during the run). I've never run in soggy shoes, but I have hiked in them. Any suggestions to avoid blisters, or to make it somewhat comfortable?
Also, I'm quite late to the game training-wise. I used to run a few times a week (usually about 6 miles, 3-4 times a week) but I took a few months off. I just started back up this last weekend and I'm currently running about 2 miles. I realize I may not be up to a full 10k in time and may be walking some of it, but if anyone has any training suggestions to get as close to a 10k as possible (or the full 10k) in such a short amount of time I'd love to hear them.

For mud running shoes, get something lightweight w/ low surface area to decrease the amount of mud getting stuck or the weight of the mud is going to kick your ass even more.



For the training, 10k ain't bad unless you're in horrid shape. Anyway, jog every other day 2-3 miles and double/triple the number of miles for an X day jog. Obviously you'll need to plan accordingly so choose a day. Also, keep in mind that you want to rest/regain energy, and therefore jog the longest run at least 3-4 days prior to the actual event. Visualize it like a bell graph, you want to peak weeks (in this case days) before the marathon. Don't forget your carbs.

[alt]

I originally saw this at the Men's Health forums and had to share:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLoKBmPQzDo

This is why I hate Crossfit. With Crossfit's specific concept of training, I can't think of anything worse than incorporating Olympic lifts into it...

This has to be some of the absolute worst form I have ever seen. This guy is so proud of himself for lifting it at the end, but has no idea how close he came to totally breaking his knee. Don't get me wrong, Crossfit has its uses, but training Olympic lifts with their techniques/methods is a recipe for disaster. And watch the guy in the background drop the barbell on his head and almost kill himself.

[Moss]

Looks like a toolbag convention. I like the banner that says "dominance over other athletes." No one seemed concerned over the guy owning himself in the background, probably a normal occurence.

[alt]

Looks like a toolbag convention. I like the banner that says "dominance over other athletes." No one seemed concerned over the guy owning himself in the background, probably a normal occurence.

Yeah when I first saw it I expected medics or emt's or something to come running out when he dropped it on his head. Nope, everyone just stood there doing nothing while he was on the ground lol....

[Weiing]

Ow...that guy in the back, looked like it hurt. I wouldn't have noticed it if you guys didn't say anything because I stopped the clip after that guy in front dropped the barbell. I thought that guy in the front was going to break his leg/knee, too.

On a better note/ego pumping time--
I'm excited! I went to the gym today after deciding if I should lift after having just rock climbed last night and scraped some skin on my hands... This guy, I guess who used to powerlift and compete but now just trains, came up to me and told me how I could probably compete with my current 140-145lb 5RM squat & deadlift. He asked how much I bench and I embarrassingly said 80-85, which he said was pretty good for my weight. So he told me to look more into powerlifting (after I told him that I've been thinking about it and looking it up online, but unsure how to properly train or who to go to for training) and talk to him if I see him again. He also told me his old stats and his training partner's old stats...was pretty impressed? Either way, he said my squat was pretty good in how I formed a pretty straight line going up. He also gave me some pointers on how to squat better (such as looking up when I push up...which actually somehow made it a lot easier to push through).

Yeah I know, it sounds like I'm stroking my own invisible penis at the moment but I'm just excited that a seemingly well-educated guy about powerlifting said I could probably compete when I'm just training to be stronger for fun. :D

[Atreides]

yeah, I'm pretty sure the reason crossfit is popular is because it caters to those people who spend all day at the gym, tells them that it's okay for them to spend all day at the gym, and makes them feel like they're part of some elite fitness club because they're not athletes, they're crossfitters. Personally I love it when people try to say that crossfit is somehow different than regular bodybuilding or weightlifting. The only thing that's different about crossfit is programming, and the ridiculous fitness cult mentality that makes people feel like they're privy to some sort of magical fitness secret because they follow some nonsensical pattern of exercises on a website every day. A little friendly competition can be useful in all sorts of situations, but making people feel like their everyday workout is a championship match combined with the fact that their routines are all named after girls is just a sickeningly absurd level of machismo.

Simply put, Crossfit is a way of making people waste money who are already in too good shape to waste it on tae-bo and p90x and ab lounges

[Daemien]

@Daemien - tell me more please! I also have read to really counter balance the pulling motions with pushing (overhead/barbell press/push ups/etc) and some lower body (SQUATS!)... I'd like to know more though.

Working out for climbing is sort of like masturbating to get better at sex. Sure, you might last a little bit longer, but the performance is still going to be shitty. The only thing that is going to make you a better climber is experience; that just means climbing more, and climbing more intelligently. I'll break down major muscle areas into their relevance for climbing

1) Legs: Completely, unequivocally, entirely dead weight. If you can walk up a flight of stairs, you have the leg strength required to climb as hard as you want to.
2) Chest, Biceps, Triceps: Pretty much the same as above, except that it is good to work these muscles a little bit to prevent tendonitis
3) Core: Very useful for climbing, helps hold you into the wall as well as enables you to move your lower body around more freely if needed
4) Back: Again, very useful. Typical pulling motion to get up steep climbs.
5) Forearms: Grip strength, endurance for climbing.

Now, there is nothing really wrong with working out to keep a nice body, but keep in mind that all of those pounds of muscle in your upper arms, chest, and legs is doing nothing but weighing you down on the wall. So exercise (ha, pun) caution when you think about bulking up those areas. In regards to working the muscles actually used for climbing, I'd say that the only one you wont easily build up by just climbing more is core, so doing strength exercises for this area is pretty helpful.

Last word of caution: you might be tempted to try and work your grip strength in the gym to help speed along your climbing progress. Don't do it. You'll almost surely end up with overuse injury. Better to take a couple extra weeks to get stronger slowly than end up with tendonitis quickly and be laid up for 2 months.

I think that just about covers it

[Weiing]

@Daemien - thanks so much. Very helpful. Yeah at this point, I'm at a crossroads. I love to lift, but I'm not really aiming to bulk. Luckily for me, it's hard to build muscle (yay for less testosterone & more estrogen?!). I understand that the only way to get better at climbing is to do it. But it's just hard for me to stop lifting...and so I was curious as to what workouts/lifts could be more beneficial for climbing, too.

Thanks for the heads up on training grip strength at the gym. I was thinking about doing reverse wrist curls but maybe not so much now? I definitely wouldn't be using heavy weights with that...

Also, do you think doing explosive motions (plyometrics, power cleans, etc) would also be beneficial? I feel like sometimes I need to jump to get to that next rock.

[Weiing]

I was struck by the doublepost bug

[Daemien]

@Daemien - thanks so much. Very helpful. Yeah at this point, I'm at a crossroads. I love to lift, but I'm not really aiming to bulk. Luckily for me, it's hard to build muscle (yay for less testosterone & more estrogen?!). I understand that the only way to get better at climbing is to do it. But it's just hard for me to stop lifting...and so I was curious as to what workouts/lifts could be more beneficial for climbing, too.

Thanks for the heads up on training grip strength at the gym. I was thinking about doing reverse wrist curls but maybe not so much now? I definitely wouldn't be using heavy weights with that...

Also, do you think doing explosive motions (plyometrics, power cleans, etc) would also be beneficial? I feel like sometimes I need to jump to get to that next rock.

I would say that climbing has so many unique movements and strength requirements that your best bet is to just maintain general fitness, and try to gain the specialized strength through just climbing.

My fitness activities are running, tennis, and climbing. That's all I do anymore, and I still climb 5.13. I used to do back exercises, core training, lift weights, and I haven't noticed any drop in my climbing ability since I stopped. If anything, I've noticed that I have a little bit more energy when I do make it out because I don't have any residual soreness from the weight training. Climbing is all about having fun though, and if you want to keep lifting weights, or doing strength training, have at it.

To answer your question about dynamic movement training...I would say possibly, but do everything in your power to not dyno(jump) to holds. Your tendons are really quite fragile, and doing explosive motions like that puts a lot of strain on them. I've torn a tendon climbing and it fucking sucks.

[Cantide~]

Never posted here before but I try to keep up on reading it (so don't kill me plz if a similar question has been asked b4)

I just joined a gym about a week ago, and started seeing a personal trainer. I am 5'8"~ and weigh about 145lbs~ and when i started with him he measured me and took this lil machine that told me i had only 7% body fat (idk if was by mass or weight). I wanna get bigger and build more muscle mass, but he has me doing chest+shoulder(pushing) excercises Mondays, Back and biceps(pulling) Wednesday and i think my legs on Friday, on Tuesday and Thursday he has me just doing cardio. One big reason i wanted to go to the gym in the 1st place was to get a nice looking 6-pack and get a little bigger. Should i be worried he has no scheduled days for abs or core excercises and should i be worried about too much cardio making me lose weight?
Also, should i still continue to work out at home? Prior to joining the gym i was doing 800crunches 200 Leg lifts and 200 Pushups a day, but since joining i've stopped.
Any advice appreciated^^

[Weiing]

Well let's see... If you want to gain weight/muscle mass, I don't really see how cardio really helps, as that burns more calories (and usually eats away at your muscles if you're going at a high intensity for a long period of time). Lifting and proper diet is sufficient to build muscle. Remember, you'll have to eat more/excess calories to repair your muscles and build more.

A 6 pack just means you have less body fat % around your ab area. If you are at 7% and somehow can't see your 6 pack, then you may be skinny fat?
You don't need to do a billion crunches...or anything..for that matter to get a 6 pack. 6 Pack is more about your diet, which means you'd have to eat less calories than you are burning.

This can leave you in a weird spot, because you want to see your six pack but want to gain muscle..which one first? I think maybe you should gain weight/muscle mass first and then cut to see your 6 pack, as your height/weight seems pretty low.

The only core exercise you REALLY ever need is something like planks. Squats, deadlifts, other compound full body movements work your core already. No. 800 crunches will do absolutely jack shit. 200 leg lifts well...... 200 push ups is cool, but are you using proper form?

[Zoolander]

I gotta disagree with this sentiment everyone seems to have about abs. Low body fat is absolutely a requirement, but its not everthing. Idc what you guys say, you need to work out your abs some in order for them to show. If they are small as shit then they aren't going to show, I've seen this plenty of times with guys who have really low body fat yet still dont have the abs. Personal experience as well as experience with friends has shown this to be true.

[Tristam]

7% body fat is low, do you keep track of what you eat and get an estimate of calories burned vs. counted ingested? Especially on your cardio days, I'd keep that in mind to avoid fatigue. Your weight for your height seems fine, and it sounds like you're in good general shape, so especially with low body fat, be careful about what you expect in a "six pack" set of abs, as sometimes six pack abs are just as much a sign of malnutrition as good health. Any day I work out, I incorporate some ab work into my warmup, when I was young and didn't have a dollar to join a gym, to build ab strength I would take any ab workout in my shitty little workout book that I got from my cousin and hold things like crunches for five seconds at the end of the motion. It made a big difference, and I never got a "six pack" but I had noticeably more muscle and definition.

I have no idea if thats the best way to go about it, but it was good for me.

[Cantide~]

Thanks for quick response! I think I'm using proper form(being the dork I am) I watched a few videos online to make sure and I think I'm doing it right. I think its just a matter of not having very strong ab muscles about not having a 6pack I don't know really I guess lol.
I think my biggest issue is not eating enough which I'm trying to fix but i really have never eaten a lot so its hard to get adjusted to eating on a regular basis.
Maybe on Tuesday and Thursday I'll try and do some squats, deadlifts and the like(after talking to PT) instead of doing -all- cardio. Also, gonna stop doing so many crunches and stuff and just rest when i get home from work and doing all my exercising at the gym.
Personal Trainer said it'd be about 6 weeks before I See any real improvements, but when I do I'll be sure to hop in here and let you guys know how its going and if I have any questions.

Thanks again

edit: Just saw above post. No I don't keep track of my calorie intake vs burned as I just started with the gym, but I will do my best to try to. Maybe I do have a 6pack but its hiding or something and its just hiding because I'm healthy. I'll talk to my PT about warming up with some ab exercises like you described.

[Tristam]

For an eating tip, keep a simple journal devoted strictly to your diet. Keep a log of the calories of your most common foods and try to estimate calories burned during a workout, especially cardio. I know it sounds kinda simple but it made a big difference in how I ate. I had low body fat in high school and luckily I had an amazing coach who gave a good estimate of how much I was burning during workouts and he helped me adjust my eating habits appropriately. It made a big difference in how much energy I had and how much effort I could put into workouts. I kept a journal and went over it with him, didn't take long for me to develop much healthier habits. Even without coaching you might notice some good/bad habits of yours if you keep a journal.

[sephir]

So does anyone have any tips on how to deal with muscle soreness days after a workout? My legs don't want to fully heal after the torture of Thursdays workout and I've got a charity bike ride I need to be ready for tomorrow.

[Atreides]

eating enough, sleeping enough, taking fish oil?

[sephir]

Sleeping about 8 hours a night, eating a good portion with the right kinds of foods, and stretching every day. I don't take fish oil because my body just doesn't like it and I usually recover very very quickly. I'm usually a little sore for about 24 hours following an intense workout, but this is the first time its been prolonged like this.

[Osede]

You might need to give it at least 3 days to recover. It is normal if you happen to do a very very intense workout on leg. It happens to me once very a week or two, usually right after the first day of pylometric of the week. But then when I proceed to the 2nd pylo training of the week, the soreness will be gone.