6th January
Hi all
After being sent several plans outlining goals, baseline measurements and training plan I have a really good feeling about 2009 being a year of change and success.
Even if you haven’t sent yours in, try to write them down as this will ensure more thought and commitment and will serve as a reference point in the coming months- 1 more thought, writing your goals down doesn’t only have to apply to your fitness and health, don’t forget financial and other personal goals…more about these in future blogs!
Training tip: If you’re doing cardio don’t just settle for doing minute upon minute of steady state exercise- alternate high and low intensity- aka. INTERVAL TRAINING.
As well as taking the boredom out of training the research (Haltom et al. 1999) backs up the fact that your metabolism can be elevated for up to 16 hours!!-this sustained oxygen consumption is known as the excess postexercise oxygen consumption (EPOC)- just think about the extra calories burnt off!!!
** A Parsley rule of thumb for intervals is, if you’re not fully focused on what you’re doing (i.e.not watching tv or talking) or aren’t thinking can I finish the number I’ve set out to do…. you need to crank up the intensity!! (See below for example session)
Train hard, train smart
Neil
Day 9-Monday 5th Jan
Interval hell!Treadmill 3 mins warm up at 10km/h followed by 8x1 minute intervals starting at 15 km/h with the last one being at 18.8Km/h-recovery is jogging at 10km/h for 1 minute in between
I always try to increase the speed of the intervals as I go-although this time I thought I’d pushed the speed to high on the last rep..but through sheer determination just stayed on to complete the minute!
I didn’t have time to do the planned rowing intervals after the treadmill intervals today as I hadn’t really given myself enough time in the gym before I had to get to work and coach my track and field athletes. Even so, I thought the effort on the treadmill had the desired ‘high intensity’ effect (hopefully with a good EPOC) which was what the session was all about!
Before leaving work I did 8 handstand push ups followed by 12 wide grip chins just to keep the bodyweight training going.
Day 10 Tuesday 6th Jan
Ferry across the MerseyAlthough I’d planned my recovery cardio for in the gym I couldn’t resist getting on my bike and cycling to work (I work out of a ‘satellite’ Institute of Sport gym at John Moores University on a Tuesday), this meant 60 mins (HR 120-140) cycling to Seacombe ferry terminal and nostalgic trip on the most famous ferry in the world across the River Mersey- see picture (what a great view)
On arrival at work I did 15 underhand chins and had a good stretch
4th JanuaryHi all
Ok, so hopefully you’ve all had a good think about your goals. (Make sure you’ve read my first email). Below is how I’ve set mine out. If you haven’t already written yours down, feel free to copy and paste my tables.
Now my weekly plan:-
Info:-
Cardio training: cycle 4 days on 1 day off- 2 of the 4 cardio days will be high intensity intervals with the other two being longer runs- Ideally I would prefer to do only one long run but as the toughguy at the end of the month is over ~12 miles I’ve got to get my mileage up as the last time I ran that sort of distance I was 21!!
Day 1 Run 8x1mins with 1 min jog recovery + Row 30secs hard rest 30secs x6
Day 2 10 mins row,20 mins Xtrainer, 20 mins bike –Heart Rate ~140-50
Day 3 **Run 1km x5 with bodyweight exercises between reps
Day 4 Run 6 mile or repeat day 2 -depending on how legs are feeling
Strength training: Some type of bodyweight exercise 6 days per week—again this is linked to my 1st mini goal as the race is basically one big assault course I’ll need to be extra good at handling my bodyweight for the climbing/pulling etc.
**Towards the end of this week I’ll combine the running and bodyweight sessions to be a bit more specific e.g run 1km do 20 press ups, 10 chins & 15 dips..trying to repeat this 3 or 4 times to begin with- but that’s next week!!
In the past I’ve set goals but failed to hit them for a variety of reasons, so last year I thought that I had to make myself more accountable for all of the areas that were involved in reaching my goal…..that’s when I came up with a daily ‘accountability sheet’ (DAS). Now this can be as in depth as you want but I’ve found after using it, the more in depth the better- I suppose it depends what type of person you are, some people do this in their head. If you do fail to hit your desired goal a quick look at your DAS will highlight where you went wrong.
Here’s my daily accountability sheet as an example, this was last Friday for me
As you can see not too bad but I think more of a regular pattern when I start back at work on Monday will help to get the desired 75%+.
Any questions about any of the above, just ask!
Train hard & train smart
Neil
Training tip: if you always train indoors try and find a way to get outdoors and do some training- variation is a great way to remain interested in your training!
Today’s preparation determines tomorrow’s achievement
Lance Armstrong
My training log
Day 7
Hills of doom
Training today was a 4 mile multi-terrain run on a cold but glorious day. I ran with my sister Kate, her good man Tony and my wife Louby. The pace was nice and easy for the first 2 miles which is a good job as I’d promised to take my little sister on this particular run for a while now mainly due to-the hill of death!! This hill is about 300m steep climb on road which flattens out while you cross another road, followed by an off road climb of about 300m which starts off that steep you are almost on all fours scrambling, flattens out…well not really, it just becomes steep and then finishes the way it began and all the time you are weaving in and out of heathers and being challenged with uneven terrain!!!
Fair play to all concerned maximum effort was put in on the hill and other than the abuse launched at me while I was nearly puking myself at the top, the hill reminded me personally that I’ve got a long way still to go to get in toughguy shape!!
I must add that Louby proved that a solid base of years of hardcore high intensity training cannot be underestimated as this was only her second run in 4 ½ months (not to mention the birth of Alfie 7 ½ months ago) and she finished the stronger out of the four of us!!
Day 8
Rest day
No training today- thank goodness…to be truthful I had planned to have yesterday off and run today but my sister was flying back to Amsterdam early today and I really wanted to show her the killer hill run we did (as I knew they’d both love it).
Anyway, really needed a day’s rest as I could feel myself getting slightly run down although I’m really looking forward to hitting the intervals hard tomorrow.
January 2nd
Hi all
Happy New Year
I’ve spoken to some of you about an idea I’ve had regarding a website which would look to, in a nutshell, convey everything I’ve learnt in the last 15 years of training and living sport as both a passion and a job. The site would have various components e.g. videos of correct exercise technique, up to date articles, info about athletes that I train, motivational messages etc. As part of keeping the site up to date and interesting I would look to keep a blog- A blog (abbreviation for web log) is supposed to provide insight or news on a particular subject on a regular basis.
So… to make sure that I won’t waste my time and money and to check that I can convey what’s in my head onto a computer-on regular basis, I’ve decided to start by writing a daily blog to the people I know will tell it to me as it is- My family and best mates!
OK here we go….
I know what you’re all thinking…New Years Resolution let’s get training more, get fitter and looking better, great let’s do it!!!……..but most people unfortunately won’t accomplish there goals as they don’t plan exactly HOW they are going to achieve them. Successful people no matter what they are doing have a plan….some people can get lucky and succeed without planning but the success rate is much higher with some simple planning.
Now I’m not saying you need an integrated periodised plan that world class athletes use but I do think you need to:-
Define your ultimate goal (amount of weight to lose, bodyfat % decrease, inches to lose, fitness improvement, amount of weight to gain!)
Do a bench mark test- could be a photograph, waist measurement etc, fitness test, weight on scales, obviously linked to your goals. Try to ake sure you do something!
Set some mini goals- Not too many but I suggest having at least one by the end of this month. e.g. lose 4lbs by 31st Jan or lose 1 inch off waist by 31st Jan or get fit for a race
Write down what could stop you achieving your goals- work, poor nutrition etc
Write down a simple training/ nutrition plan to achieve your first goal e.g run mon , wed, & fri with body conditioning after each run + in general increase protein intake but decrease amount of complex carbs and cut out any desserts/ treats mon-fri
Ok so have a go at putting your plan together and in my next email I’ll describe mine in a bit more detail.
As it’s the weekend tomorrow it’s a great chance for everyone to start their new regime!!
My training today- Day 6
25 minute run (which has a few nice hills included) followed by a good lower body stretch, 1set of 12 overhand chins and 1 set of 10 roll outs using the ab wheel. Total workout time 45 mins. I felt good at the start but struggled a bit later on a couple of the hills
** I have a little rule on hills, which is- Hit them hard and go as fast as you can on the up as you can get your rest on the flat or on the downhill!! It seems a bit sadistic but again it comes back to training hard physically and getting mentally tougher as well.
Good luck
Neil
The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will."
Vince LombardiNFL Coach (1913 – 1970)
PS Below for interest is a bit of background info to go with my training plan.
The past 3/4 months I’ve had a few problems from a health perspective in as far as my asthma has been getting gradually worse. I’ve put this down to a few reasons- which I think personally are all linked:-
Lack of sleep due to arrival of Alfie (now 6 months old)
Regular illnesses
Lack of cardiovascular training
Poor nutrition-my asthma is also triggered by various foods- I know what they are but unfortunately they’re some of my favourites- cheese, eggs, red wine!!!
So, if sorting out my health is my ultimate goal, I decided first of all I need a mini-goal to ensure that I had something to give me the required discipline to begin with. I chose the Tough guy race (http://www.toughguy.co.uk/) which will take place on 1st Feb 2009.
I’m basically going to write down all of my training and various thoughts as this may give an insight into a variety of training techniques for someone with a particular goal (a 12 mile cross country/assault course) with limited time to train due to work and family commitments.
I decided not to wait until the 1st Jan for 3 reasons-1. My lack of fitness 2. lack of time till the run and 3. I thought, get some discipline and get focused now!-that was on the 27th Dec so my first day of training and good nutrition was 28th Dec.
Day 1-28th Dec
Let’s get started!
1. 4 mile bike ride. Heart rate 120-140. I really had to fight with myself to take it easy throughout as over the last 4 months I’ve tried to return to cardio training and gone mad with high heart rate sessions (180+) which have consequently made me ill again.
2. 50 press ups just before I undressed to get into the shower- I’m going to aim to do some kind of bodyweight conditioning (chins, dips, press ups, sit ups, 1 leg squats etc) before every shower regardless if I trained or not!
[**In the past my cardio training has always been about high heart rate interval sessions with very little low intensity/ recovery sessions. The reasons for this type of training are twofold, firstly, I’d always believed interval training made you really fit (the good thing is I know that this is true as it is backed by many research papers) and secondly interval training makes you mentally strong- a quality that is great to have for all manner of situations.]
Day 2-29th Dec
Nice and steady!
20 Minutes slow jog on the treadmill. I only covered 4Km but again I didn’t want to push my heart rate too high as it was more about getting it done and being healthy again to train tomorrow. I followed the run with 1 set of 15 overhand chins(equalling my PB!) and 1 set of 30 dips.
Day 3-30th Dec
Time to try out my Christmas present!
Ok I admit, I gave a huge hint to my wife to get me a toddler seat for my bike for Christmas(see picture) as I thought that it would be a great way of getting some much needed cross training done as well as combining this with spending time with Josh (and I knew Josh would love going fast down the hills)
Day 4-31st Dec
A change of plan!
I arrived at work early to do some intervals on the treadmill. One problem the building was closed as I’d forgotten about the Christmas/ New Year opening times. So instead of cancelling the workout and sitting in my car on my laptop I braved the
-4 temperature and did ½ mile warm up jog followed by 6x150m hill sprints(with slow jogging back down the hill recovery) on a decent hill not far from Sportcity. After jogging back I did 50 press ups before showering.
Day 5-1st Jan
It’s cold
New Years Day saw the Parsley family head to the hills of North Wales in search of some much needed fresh air. Llandegla forest was the chosen destination picked by my brother Matty. So we eagerly set off with my bike with the toddler seat attached (for Josh and I) and the baby-backpack that my wife would wear for Alfie. As we got closer to Llandegla is was becoming more obvious to me that the temperature was decreasing and that the wind-chill factor would be seriously cold. On arriving and getting out of the car my previous thoughts were reinforced…it was bloody freezing!! That meant a plan a B was needed- as there was no way that a 6 month baby and 2 ½ year old could be out in the open let alone on the back of a bike. My sister Kate and her new husband Tony suggested a run on the mountain bike trail while my wife would push the two boys around the same track-PERFECT. So off we went fully ‘clad’ in Under Armour ‘Cold Gear’ kit for a 30 minute off road run in -3 temperature that actually felt more like -10…God love Under Armour- Cheers Tony
