Sunday Story…Back on Track...Weightlifting

 

The next stop on our Lifespan 3.0 journey is weightlifting. The first stop was cardio-respiratory response…Zone 2/Zone 5/ and VO2 max.

Strength training is, on the one hand, straightforward…pick up something heavy and move it around. And on the other hand, it can be very complex. The place most of us start is with the compound or major lifts…Squats, Deadlift, Bench Press, Overhead Press. These lifts require you to use many muscles to complete them. When used with free weights (barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells) not only are the “big” muscles working but all the smaller stabilizing and balancing muscles come into play. Think about the last time you had to pick something up off the floor. It wasn’t just your back or butt that did the work. Strength, balance, and coordination all came into play.

Here is an unfortunate truth about strength training…doing it wrong can have deleterious effects! At best improper form will negate your effort and at worst could result in injury. And injury is the one thing we want to avoid since being out of commission when we are older allows the muscle-wasting process to begin its acceleration. We have been fighting to slow the muscle mass decline and if we are laid up for 6 or 12 or more weeks, that process will restart in earnest.

So, step one in our strength training journey is to learn to do it right. Ensure you understand what the form looks like, what the range of motion, and the points of performance are. Then practice that form until it becomes second nature. Proper form is always first.

 

More next week.

 

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

Sunday Story…A little more Detour

Someone asked me the other day if I thought I could get my mile time down from 10:30 into the high7/low 8 minutes. The answer is yes. But it isn’t going to be easy. First and foremost is mobility. Think about watching people as they age and walk or run. Their strides keep getting shorter until it becomes a shuffle or as someone says…a waddle!

So, I need to loosen up the hamstrings first, followed by the calves and shins. Then, sprint work to lengthen the stride and find the correct gait (again). Once I find those things then I can begin to go longer and longer. Almost every Games workout has a run in it…maybe from the last movement to the finish line or the starting line to the first movement, or prescribed running. So, running better will result in big rewards. You can do it too but don’t take on too much too soon…go easy for the first few weeks.

A note on losing weight…again, I know bodyweight movements are going to show up (running is a bodyweight movement by the way) so dropping a pound or 5 will make those things exponentially easier. But don’t take my word for it…grab a weight vest and see how much harder things are with just an extra 10 or 20 pounds.

Lastly, and maybe the most important…correct mental attitude. There’s nothing to prove. Worst case scenario I am the 10^th fittest man over the age of 65 on the planet! That’s quite an accomplishment right there! I’m enjoying every moment of training and my intention is to smile and feel gratitude for having the good fortune of a body that moves so well, a family that loves me, and a community that supports me! Feels like I already grabbed the brass ring!

 

John Mariotti

www.crossfitodyssey.com

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

775-338-2412

Sunday Story…A bit of a Detour

 Most of my readers may remember the old TV show…” The Wide World of Sports.” The tagline at the beginning of the show was…” the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat.” Why do I bring this up? I just got my official invitation to the 2023 No Bull CrossFit Games. This is the fifth time this has happened since my first CrossFit Open in 2012.

When I finished 2^nd last year, I said I was complete with the journey. It was time to focus on Living Longer Better. So that’s what I’ve been doing. Long slow distance, not worrying about 1rm personal records, keeping the intensity down. But…BAM! Here we are. There must really be something to this whole LLB thing!

Several of you have asked me how I am going to ramp up for the games. I am not. I am going to make a few minor adjustments and some of these you can do as well.

First and easiest…Hydration. For me, that means 100+ ounces of water a day. 3% dehydration can result in a 20+% reduction in performance. This is an easy fix. Start today.

Next, make sure protein consumption stays up…150-200 grams a day for me.

This leads to the third thing…lose 5-10 pounds by August. By being just a little bit lighter many things become easier…pullups, toes to bar, running just to name a few.

And lastly, I am going to focus on some skill development…running better, pistols, explosive fast twitch things like lateral jumps, and jump rope skills. I slight improvement in those things could yield huge benefits. And they won’t beat me up like trying to add weight to my back squat in 8 weeks!

The goal is twofold…have the best, cleanest movement patterns on the field and be happy!

And as always…full effort is full victory!

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 Sunday Story…Stronger People

 

Are harder to kill. It really is that simple. Stronger is better. Strong people are more resilient, can bounce back from injury better, and generally have better health spans. Remember your life span is how long you live, and your health span is how Well you live.

After about age 30, your muscle mass is going to begin to decline. This is an immutable fact unless you do something about it. Evolution has designed us to fail after we have completed our evolutionary duties (the reproduction of the species). Even though you may not have contributed to the ongoing of our species your body was designed to start its downward descent.

Resistance training (weight training) is required to slow down and stymie the inevitable muscle loss accompanying the aging process. Picking up weight stimulates a hormonal response. Picking up weight keeps muscle mass on your body. Muscle mass helps you maintain your weight. Muscle mass improves your ability to burn fat. You don’t have to believe me; you can read the research yourself.

Weight training needs to be done correctly to be done safely. You can’t train if you are injured. And, even worse, the older you get the faster you will lose muscle mass when you are injured and can’t train. This is why we all marvel at young athletes who can return to the field of play with little or no adverse effects on their performance.

Next week we will take a deeper dive into weight training.

 

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Story…Cardio-Respiratory Response

 

Here we are in exercise 3.0 talking about your heart, lungs, and how to get the most advantageous outcome for your work.

There are 3 pathways we want to work here…long slow Zone 2, the 4-8 minute hard and fast in Zones 3 & 4, and the all-out pedal to the metal sprint in Zone 5.

First and where we get the most bang for our buck is in the long slow distance work. 4 times a week for 45 minutes. Yes, you read that right. But this isn’t sitting on your butt on an exercise bike and reading a magazine. No, you must monitor your heart rate continuously in concert with your pace. If your heart rate goes too high, you Must slow down or stop until it returns to zone 2. Then you start again. This is training your heart to work efficiently. It will also train your heart to recover faster. And eventually, you can go faster and keep the heart rate down.

Second, is the place where we work a lot of the time. My heart rate is up but not maxed out. A pace you can keep up for 4-8 minutes. We need to do these 1 or 2 times a week. You can mix many activities here and you don’t need to continuously monitor your heart rate, but you need to look at it when you finish. Then analyze what went right or wrong. How did you feel? Can you remember what you did to stay in control? This is the learning curve you want to ride.

Last is the all-out sprint. Think Tabata…20 seconds of work 10 seconds rest for 8 rounds. All out work for 20 seconds. That means a tongue dragging, head swimming, and legs shaking piece. That will be all there is and there ain’t no more! Once or twice a month on this will do it.

You have now trained all the metabolic pathways. Strengthened your heart muscle, flushed your lungs, and created a more resilient human. A human now designed to live every day with a health span that allows them to enjoy the life they want to lead.

 

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

Sunday Story…Exercise 3.0 (more)

I have good news and bad news for you today. The good news is that the absolute best way of improving your life span and your “health span” is through exercise. The bad news is that just any exercise won’t do. Although something is better than nothing, if you really want to affect both how long and how well you live you are going to need to attack your exercise regimen with some attention, intention, and flat-out vigor.

 

Our outlook is no longer focused on this season (beach body!) or even this year. Our focus has now shifted to decades…many decades we hope. The three parts of exercise 3.0 are cardio-respiratory, strength, and stability. Each of these things has different parts, but the underlying truth of the matter is something we have always said in CrossFit…you must train all the metabolic pathways to be fit. Pretty muscles don’t do anything for you if you can’t perform. None of it matters if you can’t maintain spinal stability, balance through time and space, and get up when you fall.

 

The advice we heard is that all you need to do is 30 minutes of exercise 3 days a week. We know that is not enough. That may help your lifespan. But it will not help your “health span” much. Living longer is no fun if you can’t do basic things…get up when you fall, cook your own meals, walk around the block, pick up your grandkids…little things but essential to your health span.

 

Next week…how to train your cardiorespiratory response.

 

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Story…Exercise 3.0

Recently Dr. Peter Attia released a book, “Outlive”. In it, he talks about 3 distinct phases of medicine…1.0 which is basically the world of medicine before germ theory came into being. 2.0 which is where we are now…treating disease, fixing broken stuff, creating vaccines, and some preventative care. And 3.0 which is where we want to be…a proactive, preventative medical outlook that addresses the root causes of diseases and the processes of aging with an eye toward living as well as possible as long as possible. It’s a great book (I’m only 1/3 of the way through), very informative, and information dense.

I’m going to apply the same distinctions to exercise. Exercise 1.0 was where we all started. Think Jane Fonda, the beginnings of the running craze, Arnold’s bodybuilding…if it’s Tuesday it must be Leg Day! 2.0 is where we are now…realizing that we must go hard, lift heavy, prepare for the unknown and unknowable, eat right, and combine lots of different modalities to achieve a broad and inclusive fitness. 2.0, however, left off some important things. That is where 3.0 comes in.

In exercise 3.0 we are now realizing the importance of heart rate training. We already knew that strength training helps prevent osteoporosis and the muscle wasting aging causes. 2.0 showed us the importance of high-intensity and sprint work. But now we are adding in the importance of recovery…in other words, we don’t need to be on the ground gasping for air and wondering what the number of the bus was that just ran over us after every workout.  Just once in while!

More on 3.0 next week! It’s super important for your aging process. Let’s be honest…every one of us is getting older but none of us need to face decay and decrepitude. It isn’t inevitable, it’s preventable.

 

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412