I know what you mean. My whole life is one big self improvement endeavor. Goes along with my body building.

ROFLMFAO!

LCJ...dear god you are busy!!

football conditioning coach, traithlete, good catholic, loving husband, devoted father, kickboxer, century rider, 5K runner, drinker and partier, Dr Phil follower, marathoner, possesor of 14 inch pythons...sheesh I am tired just reading your resume...though I am sure if we wait long enough your past life as a supermodel will be revealed (your slight build gives you away )


I can proudly say I am able to walk, talk and chew gum at the same time...and that is all....but with a muscular kinda chewing

Have a good weekdn and it has been fun reading all this banter !!

No, never a supermodel....I did marry one, though, ....at least I think so!

Had to give up the football, but that was my real love; after I couldn't make it as a rock star. Oh, did I mention that I was a rock drummer in my teens and early 20's. Still have a kit and have done a few recording sessions over the past few years. Now, my son is the drummer in the family, through.

I've never really thought of myself as hyperactive, I always thought that my wife was the hyperactive one in our relationship, but after your posting, I have to rethink that.

Are you in The City, or in one of the many other beautiful cities of the Bay Area? Do you know where Pleasanton is? out here in indian country? Night Ranger is playing at the Alameda County Fair tonight! I live less than a mile from the fairgrounds and catch a lot of shows, and on the Fourth I was at the Marin County Fair, my favorite fair around here.

J.

P.S. You could say that I'm a jack of all trades, but master of none!

First post for me.... I found this thread very interesting.

I read Dr. Bernstein's diabetes book and The Ketogenic Diet by Lyle MacDonald and I agree with both of them that anaerobic training is better. I always tell my friends that cardio can always be sacrificed in favor of weight training if time is an issue. I agree with Built that cardio is way overrated. Muscles gained increase metabolism even while sitting at a desk but cardio provides negligible benefits in that regard. The problem for me is that I don't enjoy weight training very much. Therfore I have to pick weight training exercises that provide the biggest bang for the buck and use moderately high intensity (<=8 reps per set) for the precious short time I'm in the free weight room. I tend to pick the leg press or squat, bench press, crunch, row, bicep curl, and tricep pushdown and then I'm outta there. Nearly all of those exercises hit many muscles at once on every repetition so no set goes to waste. I don't do cardio on my weight training day except for a quick and easy 5 minute warm up jog. My weight training workouts usually last less than 25 minutes.

On the other hand, trail running in the hills is partially anaerobic, easy on the knees, enjoyable to me, and provide me with an incredible base of endurance I can use on half marathons or hilly day hikes of up to 20+ miles. I stay injury free on this regimen. I run only 3-4 times a week. My resting heart rate is around 48 beats/min so I know my heart is a very strong muscle. I've given up on marathons or any run longer than two hours since they tend to make me vulnerable to illness and injury.

Basically, I'm striving to get the best of both worlds by making nearly all of my workouts involve some amount of anaerobic exercise.

Hey there, TrailRunR,

Thanks for posting and for making this thread your first posting!

It's sounds like you really enjoy running through the hills and that you want to gain some muscle. You're right that nothing will do a better job building up muscle than resistance training. And resistance training is anaerobic.

I am also with you in that I don't like it very much (weight-lifting, that is) and that I also try to get the biggest bang for the buck when lifting.

Like your trail-running, most of my cardio activity is also resistance training (tomorrow I'm doing a considerably HILLY century ride). And like you, I enjoy it much more than just lifting.

You have a great "Resting Heart Rate". I usually come in somewhere in the low 50's. I also, recently checked my "Heart Rate Recovery", and found that it dropped around 60 beats per minute after a 60 second rest. Built had reminded me of that particular measure of cardiovascular fitness.

Regarding whether or not aerobic or anaerobic is better. I feel that it is best to train right at your anaerobic threshold and perform occassional intervals of higher intensity training that pushes you into your anaerobic zone. It's very hard to stay anaerobic for very long without either carbo-loading or depleting your glycogen stores.

If you carbo-load to carry yourself through, you might not ever improve the level of your anaerobic threshold. If you completely deplete your glycogen stores, you might 'Bonk' or 'Hit the Wall' and your body could just shut down to save your life. If you gradually condition your aerobic capacity higher and higher, by pushing your anaerobic threshold higher and higher without 'Bonking", you might not become anaerobic at your previous levels and could therefore increase your overall stamina and endurance. If that's is something that you are interested in.

Thanks for speaking up and I look forward to more of your posts.

J.

hey J...yes I am familiar with Pleasanton..my boyfriend does tri's there, I lived in Dublin for a few years. Currently I do live in San Fran...but work in San Jose...so I have a fair bit of cummuting. Hope you enjoyed Night Ranger...I have not gotten out to the fair yet, we usually do go to see music acts though.

yay! A cardio link inhabited by fellow lifters. Love that.

I`m all for economic cardio-- mostly because I have fat, and not time, to burn. Anyway, I usually do my cardio 3-5 times/week on the natural runner at my gym with NO resistance, for 20 minutes, and burn (according the the useless calorie counter that thinks I am 25 pounds heavier than I am) 200 calories. If my legs are a little sore, I`ll do the treadmill on "mystery hike" instead, with a level 8 incline, and a max speed of 4.1, and if it is too nice out to be in the gym, I`ll do a brisk 3 mile walk. I am only 5' tall, so I have speed limits based on stride length.

Anyway, I`m beginning to think that I am not maximizing my cardio time. My diet is clean, and I lift heavy 4 times a week, but I`m stuck at the same spots on the scale and the measuring tape for a couple of weeks. I can`t lift any heavier until my strength increases-- and I am satisfied that it IS increasing. I know I need to tweak the cardio though.

Any ideas? HIIT maybe? Anyone have some tried and trues they feel like sharing? I definitely do not want to increase the time I spend on cardio--- just the effectiveness of what I do.

Suggestions?

-db

hiit is definitly the way to go as it is muscle sparing. Try 2 sessions a week....warm up walk for 4 mins , sprint all out 20 sec, recover walk 60 seconds...repeat this for 6-8 cycles, then briskly walk for 10 minutes after to release the free fatty acids released in your system.

If you can do this on a track or outside you will notice a big difference, other wise use the treadmill, just make sure you are going all out for the sprint. These kick your ass...but really work. Maybe pair this with 2 sessions of 30-40 min steady state cardio a week.