As a runner, the focus of the upper-body workout should be to gain muscular endurance. So, go with lighter weights and higher repetitions. 10lbs to 15lbs dumbbells are sufficient for this workout. You can also use light or medium resistance bands or resistance tubes instead of dumbbells.
The workout consists of a 7-exercise circuit. Do each exercise (10-15 reps) one right after the other without taking a break. Once you’ve completed all 7 exercises, take a 1- to 2-minute rest; then repeat the circuit a second time. If you’re new to upper-body exercises, then begin with 10 repetitions. Each day add an additional rep until you get to 15 repetitions. Also, if upper-body exercise is new to you, begin with one cycle of the circuit for the first week. During Week 2, complete two cycles of the circuit. If you’re advanced, try three cycles of the circuit.
It’s fine to pair the upper-body circuit with the core workout on the same day. Try doing the core workout in the morning and the upper-body circuit in the evening. You can also rotate days. For example you could do the upper-body workout on M,W,F and do the core workout on T,TH,S. The great thing about circuit workouts is that they’re quick. You’ll have a strong core and upper body before you know it and you’ll start to see the benefits in your long runs too!
Well, I apologize for being out of the Landice blog loop for a little while. My wife and I made the move back to northern Michigan a couple of weeks ago as that is where we are originally from and both our families reside up there. We both were very fortunate to find jobs and couldn’t turn down the opportunity to be back closer to family. We are finally all settled in and I have had a blast searching out the different lakes, roads and trails for swimming, riding, and running. There are hills after hills and they are already making me stronger!
Before we left for Michigan, I blogged a couple of times about different aspects of mental conditioning. I’m going to continue on that path for the next few blogs. Today we’ll cover hormones/how feelings dictate actions, emotional manipulation through action and attitude, and finally distraction, and selective attention.
We are all aware that feelings, for the most part, dictate our behaviors. When an athlete is feeling well, it is due to a hormonal balance, and the needs of the “real self” are met. When an athlete is not doing well, it wants to show on the outside. Unfortunately, this often times reveals potential weaknesses. More importantly, bad feelings can spawn a downward spiral of negative thinking and affect performance. When I read this I think of splits in a race. If you are hitting your goal splits mile after mile you will likely stay motivated and encouraged to keep pushing the pace. You may even have a big breakout performance because seeing those splits may really excite you and allow you to do something you didn’t think you were capable of. The problem is, the direct opposite can happen. If you get a bad split of two you may allow it to get to your head and suddenly your race is over because your head and heart are no longer into it. This is one of the reasons I advocate not being overly concerned with always knowing your splits, and focusing more on how you feel and staying in the moment. I rarely ever race with a watch anymore as it tends to limit me more than anything. Continue reading 'Acting to Influence Success'»
In our last beginner fitness tip, Where’s your heart? we looked at the concept of heart rate based training and its application during the foundation phase of the annual training plan. As previously stated, for the beginner runner, the safest and most effective means of determining appropriate pacing objectives during your treadmill based workouts is via the monitoring of your heart rate response. One of the advantages of owning a Landice treadmill is the fact that you can effectively track your “HR” response via the wireless heart rate chest strap that is included with the majority of the Landice models.
During the first 4 weeks of your build up, you’ll want to limit your HR to 80% of max during any of your workouts (click here to determine how to estimate your maximum heart rate) in order to allow your body ample time to adjust and to the new forms of stress its facing when undertaking a run specific training program. Never forget this simple principle: Effective training is nothing more than optimizing the balance between stress and recovery; hard training breaks the body down, and easier training allows it to adapt to the stress and grow stronger. Continue reading 'Aerobic Fartlek Session – Train your heart'»
Let’s review: What is your Aerobic “engine” and how can you specify your training to strengthen it?
Building Your Aerobic Engine
In order to compete at a high level, a triathlete or distance runner must be able to run fast for very long periods of time. A common misconception is that endurance athletes are, by nature, “slow.” Although it is true that an athlete like 100 and 200 meter Olympic champion and world record holder Usain Bolt would make an elite marathon runner seem slow by comparison, many of the world’s top marathon runners can run close to, or under, 4 minutes for the mile on the track (that’s 15 mph on a treadmill for 4 minutes!!!) and would give just about any regional sprinter a good run for their money from 200 meters on up. Continue reading 'What gives you your “Go?”'»
Photo by Chris Milliman. Courtesy of Craft Apparel.
As stated multiple times in many of my previous training tips, effective training is nothing more than subjecting the body (and mind!) to appropriate doses of event specific training stress and then allowing the body to recover, absorb and adapt to this training stress via the insertion of easy training sessions and/or periods of complete rest. Although this formula may sound overly simplistic, that’s the way the cookie crumbles and the way that progress is made! Ignore the simple stress:recovery relationship and you’re setting yourself up for subpar results and a frustrating training experience.
When approaching key training sessions such as tempo runs, interval sessions, pace runs, etc. you’ll want to keep the stress:recovery principle in mind. Note that I used the term “appropriate doses of event specific training stress” in the previous paragraph. Training stress is a relative term; what constitutes a stressful workout for 1 athlete (i.e. a set of 5 x 1 mile repeats at 7 min/mile pace) might constitute a very easy/recovery session for someone else. When subjecting yourself to high stress training sessions, it’s important to go into the workout with a specific objective in mind, but to never forget the importance of tuning into your body’s signals over the course of that workout in order to tailor the session to your body’s status on that given day. Continue reading 'When to Say When'»
Some of our customers sent us this video of their Landice treadmill purchased in 1996. After 13 years, it’s still going strong, and they love it! Check it out!
To learn more about Landice treadmills, or to find a dealer near you, visit our website at www.Landice.com
Whether you’re training for an upcoming race, or simply working out to stay in shape, there is one essential factor for every workout. Any workout for any athlete, from beginner to elite must include this one element: The Fun Factor. Today’s post wraps up our review of basic training tips from Janda Ricci-Munn.
The Fun Factor: Above all else, road racing is a great sport and a great way to get into shape. Have fun with your training and racing and never lose sight of why you’re out there in the first place: To challenge yourself and to enjoy the process of building your body up into a running machine!
Photo by Chris Milliman. Courtesy of Craft Apparel.
Back by popular demand, our beginner running tips from Janda Ricci-Munn.
Physical training is never easy. Learning to have discipline can be painful. Pushing your body to its limits can often have painful immediate results, before reaping the true benefits of training. Have you decided it’s time to get your body in motion? Are you setting physical fitness as your New Year’s Resolution? Perhaps the thought of becoming a runner is scary for you. Or maybe it seems impossible. Maybe you just don’t think you’re capable because the times you’ve tried to commit to working out only left you frustrated. Let us help you.
At Landice, we want to help you be the best YOU you can be. We’ve enlisted the help of Janda Ricci-Munn, accomplished triathlete and coach. Together, we want to offer you practical training tips to help you reach your own fitness goals. Let us journey with you. Leave us comments and updates. Tell us how you’re doing. Let us know when you’re training for a race so we can cheer you on. Let’s get moving! Continue reading 'Back to the Basics: Learning to Walk'»
I can’t tell you how many times, all is going well and then when I ramp up my marathon training, I seem to get sick. It’s usually something like a cold or in the most severe cases, more like the flu.
Guess what? According to David C. Newman, Dr. P.H., FACSM, who is a professor and director of the Human Performance Laboratory at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, there’s a reason for this bad-timed bug. “During periods of heavy training, the immune system reflects the physiological stress experienced by the athlete, and illness rates climb.” So, that old saying “Too much of a good thing, can be bad.” is true!
Problem is that there is no cure for all runners. Each runner has to find his/her training/rest balance. Newman suggests that nutrition along with rest is a key factor during these stressful times for athletes. So, you should pop a bunch of supplements during this time, right? NO! Newman says that making sure you’re eating a balanced diet during this time is the best way to provide support for the immune system in its fight against viruses and bacteria. Research shows that vitamin and mineral supplements don’t really boost your immunity above normal levels, so why spend that extra money on bland tasting pills? Just eat a good diet. This basically supports my thinking in a recent post, “Supplement the Natural Way…Eat!”Continue reading 'Train hard, stay healthy!'»
by Dave Smith http://davesmith-smitty.blogspot.com/
In the last blog we talked about the role that motivation plays on one’s mental conditioning. Today we’re going to dive into recovery, understanding and negotiating threats, and centering and re-establishing focus.
Recovery is the key aspect that determines whether or not a manageable stressor is eustress or distress. Eustress is positive stress, but only if proper recovery is taking place. Distress is negative stress that occurs because proper recovery does not take place. Stress from every day life has everything to do with one’s training/racing stress. If you don’t recover from your every day stressors it will negatively affect how well you’re able to recover from your training. This is one of the main reasons elite endurance athletes can train so much more. They tend to be able to recover better because they don’t have a job that can add a lot of stress. That and they have more time to devote to all the various recovery techniques.
Allowing your mind to recover is often just as important as allowing your body to recover. After all, it is the mind that determines whether or not you perceive something to be stressful in the first place. Getting rid of as many distresses as you can will help you improve your training for whatever sport you choose to partake in.
It is important that you be able to understand and negotiate threats. By threats, I mean things that can get away in the way of your optimal performance. Threats can get in the way of focus, ego, output, motivation, confidence, enjoyment, outcome, and more. You must be able to negotiate both objective and subjective threats in order to come out the other side successful. Objective threats are those that you have no control over (weather conditions, mechanical failure on bike, what others are doing in the race). Subjective threats can be reduced or even eliminated with proper preparation (nutritional issues, pacing, mental aspects, etc.). Continue reading 'Mental Conditioning: Part 2'»
RT @FitnessExchange: According to the American Medical Assoc., a treadmill workout ranks #1 among workouts on cardiovascular machines. [landicefitness]
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