IOL Strength and Conditioning

I’m a big fan of attending seminars and workshop weekends on topics that have my attention — website work, book publishing, software, stuff like that.

Since the early ’80s, I’ve been going to day-long or several-day conferences on weight training, including several trips to the big IDEA conferences, which formed much of my thinking, built on my enthusiasm and helped open my eyes to training methods I hadn’t seen here in the gym.

In fact, I went to one just last weekend and learned more of the structural assessment stuff we’ve been talking about over in the rehab/prehab section, and am eying one of the upcoming Perform Better Summits.

Alwyn Cosgrove sent a note this morning to tell of a workshop weekend he’s contributing to, featuring many of our favorite training educators, and it’s to be live ONLINE.

One of the downsides (aside from money, it’s probably the only downside) of attending big conference weekends is that you’re forced to chose between multiple sessions taking place at the same time. Alwyn and his partners have this remedied by archiving the sessions, giving “attendees” access to all the sessions for three months. We don’t have to miss a word!

They’ve got a terrific presenter line-up and a really great plan going here. It’s 50% off right now, $99. I wish I had the cutoff date for the discount, but that hasn’t been disclosed yet. I’ll letcha know when I hear.

Right now there are 102 55-minute sessions lined up… yes, that says one-hundred-two sessions. This is the bargain of the decade, no kidding. If you have any interest in this field at all, can spare the bucks, and will actually take the time to watch the seminar videos online, this is a no-brainer.

After I signed up for the conference, I signed up for an affiliate link, which I’ve never done before, but as long as you may be signing on anyway, I can use the affiliate bucks to pay for some bandwidth.

Here’s the link to check out the online conference, and here you’ll find the expo calendar pdf that shows the sessions to be archived.

Ages ago, last winter when we were discussing spin bike training, I promised to write about heart rate training for the benefit of those who bought a heart rate monitor but never learned how to use it. Aside from being the most affective method of cardiovascular training, it’s also a way to spice up aerobic training for those who find cardio more boring than waiting for the spouse outside a Macy’s fitting room.

For years we’ve been encouraging high intensity interval training (HIIT), more work gets done… faster. So, now that you know what high intensity is, how do you measure it?

A heart rate monitor.

You already know I consider the spin bike the way to go for measured, planned cardio because it allows total concentration on technique (unless, of course, you’re lucky enough to have the structure for sprints and easy access to a cinder track, in which case all spin bike recommendations are nixed pronto). And as most of us are heading into winter, indoor cycling with a HR monitor is the order of the day. Let’s figure out how to do that, and slide into a simple heart rate training ride so you can learn how to use your new monitor.

Your monitor is a feedback tool; it’s going to take the guesswork out of your cardio training. Once you learn how to use it, you’ll have precise control over your training; your resting and intensity intervals will be planned in advance and each workout will end as intended, lightly worked, completely wiped out or a selected range between the two.

Most people use what are called training zones, the five training zones from the Zone 1 range of 50-60% of maximum heart rate to the red-line zone at 90%, Zone 5. Usually the initial suggestion is to calculate from a max heart rate of 220 minus age, yet what’s not commonly known is how wide a variance there is of max heart rate per person, per activity, heredity, fitness and more. Here’s a better method to calculate your maximum heart rate.

Not many people fit into “average” when it comes to max heart rate, so for today, let’s just take a little test ride and see what we learn. What we’d like to know at the end of this ride is our anaerobic threshold, that is, at what heart rate do we go from breathing comfortably through the nose, to the slightly uncomfortable anaerobic work that calls on us to breathe through the mouth, the place where nose breathing doesn’t provide enough oxygen.

Let’s hold up a sec for the cautionary note: If your cardiovascular fitness is low, that is, you’re unfit, this point may be low, quite low, and if you discover you hit that point too quickly, back off. Stay in your aerobic zone, a more low-key and comfortable place while you condition yourself, and simply use your heart rate monitor to coach yourself to that calm yet challenging place.

A reader, Susanna Hutcheson, reminds me to tell you that some medications, especially beta blockers, will blunt the natural heart rate numbers. Take your time, learn *your* numbers and work from there. How your heart rate numbers compare with another’s is fully unimportant and may not be a reflection of conditioning in any event. What’s important is to learn to use the heart rate as a training tool… that’s it.

You know what? Before we get into the nitty gritty of heart rate training, which we’ll do next week, let’s go for that test ride. Put on your monitor, grab a bottle of water and a music player and get on your ride.

This is a 60-minute ride I took recently to plot this out for you. If you want to go for a half-hour instead, that’s fine; it’s just a test run to see what the monitor has to offer.

Ready? Okay, let’s ride.

Pedal one minute to activate your monitor, where you’ll maybe see 80 or 90, something like that. Then, increase 5 beats per minute (BPM) per song. That’s it… hold your heart rate as steady as possible during each song and increase 5 beats per song until you get to the top of your aerobic zone, the spot where your mouth opens to breathe.

Make note of the number on your heart rate monitor, perhaps it will be 120, maybe 140, could be higher… just note it and we’ll use it another day to figure out an interval training ride.

If your songs are longer than average, more than four minutes, say, use the clock instead, and increase 5 BPM every four minutes.

Now make your way back down, easing off by 10 BPM per song to finish the ride at around 90 BPM.

Very simple, nothing tricky, just a learning tool to find your aerobic/anaerobic threshold, where it is currently on this particular cardio machine, hopefully we’re talking about your spin bike, but whatever you have access to is fine.

Watch your heart rate jump when you sit upright, balancing with your torso, all your weight on the seat and pedals instead of partially on the handlebars. Raise your hands overhead and watch your heart rate jump again. Your monitor may take 5-15 seconds to register the changing numbers.

Keep hydrated. Heart rate goes up without regular water intake during training. Make your muscles earn the rising numbers.

You’ll find this interesting: 10-point jumps are easier; 5 points take more attention, more finesse.

Also interesting, the way back down is harder to control. If you’ve been riding regularly, your heart rate will drop faster than your planned goal, which is a good thing since your conditioning is better than expected. If long rides are new to you, your legs will feel leaden by 45 minutes and it will be difficult to get your heart rate down. Slow as a tortoise, those moving pedals.

The first time you do this monitoring, use pedal speed to make your increases. You may have to adjust the resistance up or down if you’ve guessed wrong, but for this ride, let’s just have the one variable to attend to. Next time you can bring in the harder gearing.

Once you have the hang of controlling your heart rate, try this: Note your heart rate, decide your next marking point and close your eyes. See the new number in your head and pedal up to it. Open your eyes and see how you did. Amazing, isn’t it, how you can hit that new target so precisely and after just these introductory instructions?

A heart rate monitor is one of the more outstanding modern training tools, and at less than $75, an average unit will coach you into great conditioning workouts for years to come.

That’s it alright — Golden Era camaraderie meshes with modern day technology to create the best of today and yesterday.

Over the weekend we installed new forum software that’s light years beyond our old board. (Kinda funny, since it was state-of-the-industry when we first set it up — it’s an internet tale.) This new one’s clean, with multiple new features, one-click options and user controls far above other internet board software.

• Number One feature: It’s FAST. No kidding, this board’s a speed demon, which will slice wait time off even the fastest connection, making forum participation possible for even the slowest dial-up modem.

• First-time forum users, start here for the basic what’s-it: Top 10 Forum Board FAQ.

• Personal features in My Control Panel now offer massive individual control over the look of the forum. You do have to register to take advantage of these, although as non-members you can now print or email posts and attachments, along with other features not previously available to you.

• Check this out: You can toggle the sidebar on and off at will. Your monitor’s too small to see the threads well? No problem, turn the sidebar display off until you need it. One click and gone.

• Fully configurable quick addition of a personal signature and a link to your website, MySpace, Flicker or YouTube account

Possibly the most intriguing new feature of this board over our old board is how private messages are handled. People who use private messaging (PMs) will really appreciate this one, because instead of one conversation creating a mass of PM notes, a single thread is kept intact. Additionally, a private topic can include more than two participants, which is significantly different than before.

You can now add an image, multiple images or other files to a post, either by linking to or uploading to our server. Better yet, you have the ability place the image or images in an exact position within your text, which was not the case before. The board software will shrink them to a standard 400-pixel-wide size, but will retain the original size so users can click on the image attachment to view it full size. Very cool!

• Valid file types at this time are: .gif, .jpg, jpeg, .txt, .zip, .png, .pdf, .doc, .mp3, .rm, .avi, .mp4 .xls, .wmv, .mov, .3g2, .MOV, meaning we can now share our training log spreadsheets, coach via video, and, well, our options are nearly unlimited.

The search feature on this board is quite robust, much better than our former software. The basic, built-in searches are quick and effective, but there are also advance search techniques that will search through our quarter-of-a-million posts and cough up precise results in seconds.

This forum upgrade has been on my mind for more than a year, when I first discovered the best hackers from our old forum software user’s group were working on new board software. The results, Fusion Bulletin Board; the developers, Josh Pettit and Dave Lozier; the response from IronOnline: OUTSTANDING.

Take a visit, stick around for awhile. Our IronOnline members welcome you.

This simple device is a T-Handle. Dan John calls this bad boy a Hungarian Core Blaster, a name that obviously has a lot more panache than “t-handle.” Legend has it this device was the secret of the Hungarian hammer throwers’ success years ago. I like that name, but it is so flashy I think it may give people unrealistic expectations. They may be let down when they see the simple device to the left. It just can’t compete with the dozens of core gadgets on late night infomercials for flash and glitz, and to date lacks bikini clad miracle makeover endorsements.

But for results, I’ll stack the T-handle against anything you can make in five minutes for ten bucks. Nobody is let down by the effects of the swing, the exercise for which this tool is ideally suited.

If you are considering buying kettlebells, by all means make a t-handle and swing away. The swing is one of the most basic kettlebell movements. With a t-handle, you can decide what weight kettlebell will suit you.

Even if you aren’t interested in kettlebells, just about anyone can benefit from some swings. You can do swings Tabata style - eight sets of eight with ten seconds rest between sets - for a four minute, minimum cost, minimum footprint interval workout. You can do light swings as part of your warmup.
Directions for making a T-handle (for those of you who use directions) can be found in the IOL Wiki.

You don’t have to be middle-aged to know that Golden Era bodybuilding photos — the classic photos of bodybuilders from the mid-’60s to the early ’70s — jerk a smile from even the most jaded of bodybuilders. So, hey, lookie here: Golden Era Biceps.

That’s right! Our entire Draper photo archive is uploaded into a new IronOnline Dave Draper flickr photo display. Look, you don’t even have to sign up. Just click on over, then tap on the link at the top right to View a Slideshow. Speed ‘em up or slow ‘em down using the arrow that appears at the top of the slide window as you run your cursor over it.

What’s a flickr?

Sure, you’re old enough to remember Flicka, but this is different. There have to be a hundred thousand photos of beautiful black stallions on flickr (Flicka, of course, was a mare, but, eh, “beautiful black mares” just didn’t do it for me). But kids today, they don’t go to horsey PG matinees, not when they can be out cruising the malls with their camera phones looking for whatever’s most ridiculous to one-up their mates’ flickr photo sharing accounts.

The bottom line is this: It doesn’t matter how old you are or how comfortable you are with new technology. Clicking through photos is universal, and flickr makes it easy for people without websites or computer skills to share their photos.

Here, have a look at the set of 332 photos of Dave I uploaded this morning. He’s gonna shoot me for spending the morning on this, but hey, I’ll just tell him I did it for you.

I love Google; couldn’t live without it and I’m sure you’re the same. But often — too often — pages and pages go by before the right site pops up, and sometimes I give up too early and start jumping around to the most likely sources. Quick scan, read a few interesting but un-related pages, click off to another site, ditto action, until an hour’s slipped away and I’m late for the gym.

Yeah, I know that’s what the web’s all about. But still.

Today I’m here to tell you I love Google even more than yesterday because they’ve given us the tools to create our own search engines. You heard me: We get to google only the sites and pages we choose — so far about 150 sites have been selected by the IOL team for our search page. It took about a day to set up, and I’m sure there will be further tweaks over time, but man, oh, man is it worth it!

Here’s what it looks like. It’s operational; give it a shot and see what pops up.