Sunday Story…On to Zone 5!

 

The corollary to Zone 2 training is Zone 5 training. This type of training is all-out. A dead sprint if you will. Something you can hold for 10-30 seconds. When was the last time you went all out? Really all-out? As fast as you can run/row/bike/ski and when you are done you absolutely need to stop and recover? Think of a 100-meter foot race. Can those guys just turn around and do another at the same speed?

Your heart needs to deliver blood and oxygen to your muscles. Your muscles…the fast-twitch ones…are sucking as much oxygen as they can get, and lactic acid is filling the spaces. Your lungs are bringing in as much air as possible. And then it’s over.

We’ve talked about the decline in fast twitch muscle as we age. This is partly because we aren’t using them and partly because it is the nature of being human. However, we are always operating under the rule of “if you don’t use it, you lose it.”

Guess what? All that Zone 2 work…3 or 4 times a week at 45 minutes or more? It helps preserve your fast twitch muscle as well! It will be there when you call upon it. Now we can’t train this often and don’t need to. A few times a month is all. But most of you (my audience) do some training in Zone 4. This Zone is a 2–5-minute zone before you run out of gas. So, between Zone 4 and 5 we spend 20% of our training time, while Zone 2 is about 80%. Doing this will help preserve both slow and fast-twitch muscle mass.

So next time someone says “Let’s race” fire up your inner sprinter and get after it!

 

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

 

 Sunday Story…Circling Back

 

To Long Slow Distance. I am getting a lot of questions about the whys and wherefores of LSD. Here are several of the benefits:

1.   Your heart is a muscle and just like your biceps or hamstrings it is going to benefit from being stronger and better conditioned. The way to build a solid base of strength in that muscle is with LSD.

2.   With a solid base, you can build the upper end of performance. In other words, your ability to work at a higher heart rate longer will be enhanced.

3.   When your heart is stronger it will recover faster from exertion. So, your rate will return to your base level quicker if it is in better condition.

 

Although LSD may look boring on the surface it really isn’t. You must monitor your heart rate as you work. And every modality is different, so you need to mix it up…row/bike/run/ swim/ski/jump rope/??? Stay with one until you get a solid 45 minutes in Zone 2. Then try another.

You watch your beats per minute as you work and if you cross the threshold, you MUST stop or slow down until your rate returns under the threshold. So, you need to pay attention!!! Guess what? Once you manage to get the BPM handled then you can go faster!!

And maybe your zone 2 will go up as your vO2 max improves! Woot Woot! There’s a hidden benefit!

 

More on vO2 max next week.

 

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Story…More Strength

You must lift correctly…we’ve covered that. If you don’t know how, aren’t sure, or just want to ensure it’s right…get one of us to look. But once your compound lifts are dialed in, it’s time to increase the intensity!

There is an old saying…If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you. It really is that simple. In terms of strength training, that means you must lift heavy. Now, heavy is relative. My heavy and yours are two different things. My heavy today is different from my heavy on a different day. The bottom line is this: you need to challenge yourself when you are strength training.

This principle is called “progressive overloading.” In other words, we add weight a little at a time. This does NOT mean we are constantly trying to get to our 1 rep max lift. What this does mean it we are always trying to improve. Maybe today the improvement is to squat lower. And the next session I am trying to go slower in some portion of the lift or more reps with the same weight. All these examples will increase the weight you are lifting over time. And we are concerned with a very long timeline…it is measured in decades not weeks.

Small changes done consistently reap huge rewards. Those of us shooting for the “centenarian decathlon” know we must show up regularly and put in hard work and that means putting weight on the bar!

You’ve learned to do it right…that means you’ve earned the right to challenge yourself.

 

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com    

775-338-2412

 

 Sunday Story…3 Rules!

 

The first rule of training is…don’t get hurt! We avoid injury by maintaining consistent mechanics over the course of our workout. Consistent mechanics means our form is spot on from the first rep to the last. Under fatigue? Consistent mechanics! When our form is correct the chance of injury is minimized. If you don’t know what the form is supposed to look like, get a coach to show you, watch you and call you out on it! Maybe you hurt yourself in a previous incarnation doing something like what we are asking of you. Let one of us know and we can deconstruct what happened and then reconstruct the movement to avoid the error.

The second rule is a corollary to the first…never increase intensity without consistent mechanics. That means you don’t add weight until the form is correct. You don’t go faster, you don’t add reps, and you don’t go longer (all forms of increasing intensity) without outstanding form. Don’t be afraid to take a step back and retool or solidify your technique. Ask about accessory exercises to strengthen or improve positions and mobility exercises.

The third rule is to follow the plan. You can change the weight percentages, and even fiddle with the rep schemes, but the program works because it is designed to get you more physically prepared…Prepared for life, prepared for the next 10-20-30 years of active vital living. 30 years from now you will be glad you did the work today, this week, this year.

 

Live longer better!

 

John Mariotti

www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

www.crossfitodyssey.com

775-338-2412

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