Sunday Story…LSD (III)

Ok, now we get to the meat of the matter. How do we increase or achieve the level of “aerobic” fitness we want without sacrificing our other fitness gains? I do not want to look like a marathon runner or an ultra-runner. By the same token, however, I don’t want a body that looks like it can’t run across the street.

 

The way I look at this is on a session per week rather than days per week. I need at least 3 strength/hiit sessions per week. And I need at least 3 heart rate/base building sessions per week. Occasionally these will be the same. My base-building sessions are going to vary from 20 to 120 minutes. Rare will be the 120 minutes. Most often will be the 30–60-minute ranges. During these sessions, my target heart rate will be in zone two range…about 120 bpm for many of us. Here is a link to the Maffetone method to help you determine your heart rate ranges: https://philmaffetone.com/method/process/

This is how we train to be healthier and to live longer! Aerobic work is key in a balanced fitness program. To recap, here are a just a few of the benefits:

·         Cardiovascular efficiency and health

·         Efficiency of respiration

·         Blood flow

·         Insulin sensitivity and blood sugar regulation

·         Body composition!

·         Movement efficiency and function

·         Sense of wellness

       

We are starting a new program soon to explore this facet of training. If you want to join us, please reach out soon!

 

John Mariotti

www.crossfitodyssey.com

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

775-338-2412

Sunday Story…LSD (II)

 The why of Long Slow Distance is one word…adaptation. Adaptation is what our bodies and minds do to accommodate new stimuli. Some adaptations are purely physical…growing bigger muscles to adapt to lifting heavier weights. Some adaptations are biochemical…your body secretes more and different hormones and chemicals in response to various stimuli. Think of what happens when you are “stressed out.” Other adaptations are neuro-muscular…your brain realizes something is different and creates a change down in your cells to respond to the change. And yet another is the adaptation that occurs in our fuel-burning mechanism. LSD requires our bodies to burn fat for energy rather than glucose (sugar.)

 

All these examples happen when we do LSD. We develop different musculature to respond to 60 minutes of running as opposed to 2 minutes of running. Our bodies begin to secrete endorphins and other brain chemicals to have you feel good, your hormones ramp up in response to the muscular changes, and your stress hormones decrease (because you feel better.) Your brain shifts gears and tells you it is going to be OK and then moves energy in your cells to make it so. And, of course, you will burn fat because it is a more efficient and readily available energy source.

 

Long slow distance needs to be part of your health and fitness routine. You don’t want to be fit and unhealthy or healthy and unfit. As we age the goal should be to maintain both health and fitness, but it is going to take work. There are three main branches to achieve this goal…aerobic fitness, strength training, and diet.

 

Next week…the how!

 

John Mariotti

www.crossfitodyssey.com

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

775-338-2412

Sunday Story…LSD

As my regular readers know this space is usually relegated to philosophical or motivational information. Today, however, we are going to detour into a more personal recounting.

 

As some of you know we recently completed the first stage of qualifying for the CrossFit Games known as the “open.” 3 workouts over 3 weeks were designed to winnow the field for the second round. I finished that contest in first place out of over 1200 participants aged sixty-five and over.

 

This accomplishment was surprising. My training regimen has been nowhere near what it was back in 2017 or 18. Not the same volume or intensity, no personal programming, no tracking food obsessively. I have purposefully dialed all those things down.

 

So, what happened? How, with less volume and less intensity, did I manage to win one workout outright, tie for first on another, and a sixth on the last one? What sorcery or magic pill made this possible?

 

Three little letters…LSD. That’s right…Long Slow Distance. Back in December Invictus started throwing some “zone 2” training into the mix. Zone 2 is a heart rate pace that is slow…for me, it’s about 120 beats per minute (bpm). That is a conversational pace. That is a snail’s pace, especially when viewed through the lens of high-intensity training. The first time I tried it I rowed 1000 meters and it took almost 8 minutes… which is twice my normal 1000m time! Every time my heart rate spiked, I had to stop or slow way down. Now? I can row 1000m in just over 4 minutes and keep my heart rate down to 121!

 

Stay tuned next week for the rhyme and reason behind this shift!

 

John Mariotti

www.crossfitodyssey.com

www.sunday-stoeis.blogspot.com

775-338-2412

 

 

 

Sunday Story…Slower is Faster

Every day on my commute to and from work I see example after example of poor driving decisions. 99% of those decisions have zero bad results. But that one time where that decision creates an outcome less than optimum can be life-changing. It will certainly result in erasing any gains your might have had from the bad decision.

 

What if, instead of speeding up and trying to “beat” that red light, we decided to coast and try to time that light, using a more considered approach to the upcoming transition? Where is the downside? Will you arrive at your destination? Will it matter if your arrival is 60 seconds later than if you didn’t ease your way through that transition? What is the cost of making your way harmoniously versus trying to force your way through?

 

Transitions occur all the time in life. Most of the time we hit the gas and try to get through them as quickly as possible. Or we hit the gas and then realize we must slam on the brakes to navigate the change. Maybe looking at that upcoming shift (they rarely just pop up out of nowhere), slowing down a bit and easing through would be more beneficial.

 

Change is going to happen. If they are inevitable (and they are) maybe coasting in advance would be better than slamming on the brakes to avoid the wreck. Transitions are inevitable, navigating them doesn’t have to be a crisis.

 

John Mariotti

www.crossfitodyssey.com

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

775-338-2412

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Story…Living Large

You are an amazing feat of genetic engineering, but you already know that. The number of variables that took place, the vast number of decisions, choices, and out-and-out luck that had to occur for you to be right here, right now are unimaginable.

 

There is a parable that explains this:

Imagine there is a blind sea turtle who only surfaces once every 100 years. This sea turtle lives in an ocean larger than our entire universe. Floating on the surface of this immense sea there is a piece of driftwood with a single hole in the middle of it. The likelihood of that blind sea-turtle surfacing and finding his head in that single hole in that single piece of driftwood floating in that immensely vast ocean is so infinitesimal as to be impossible.

 

Your human existence today, the culmination of so many decisions, random chances, meetings, lives, and deaths is also infinitesimal. Yet here we are. Given the fact that our presence here and now is a feat of unimaginable circumstance, why do we allow ourselves to be anything less than our full potential? What are you doing right now to move you toward your full human potential (I’m writing this!)

 

In the big picture, life is short. You have stories to tell, love to give, and gratitude to experience. Thinking and acting from a small perspective doesn’t honor your existence. Live larger.

 

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412