Can't do the gym thing any more

"Me and my parks are one."

I may have shared this before that once turning age 65 and becoming a Medicare Man a few months ago, I got a free gym membership with my health insurance plan.  I hadn’t belonged to a gym in probably five or more years so the thought of getting something “free” caught my attention.

It wasn’t as if not belonging to a gym was compromising my middle-age man fitness.  I’m fit right now by my middle-age man historical standards.  Since quitting the gym, I had used various public parks as my training landscape.  There are about five that I regularly frequent depending on what I’m doing.   

I have a favorite park for running, a favorite park for doing pull-ups and a preferred park for doing burpees and kettlebell workouts.  I enjoy my outdoors workouts at these parks.  I’ve found little nooks and crannies at these parks where I can pitch my fitness tent and get a good workout without calling too much attention to myself.  Trees abound at these training sweet spots that have become my training oasis. 

Nonetheless, the free gym membership thing enticed me so after exploring the various gyms that I could join for free, I chose a 24 Hour Fitness gym located downtown about one mile from my office.  It’s one of their bigger gyms that they’ve coined as a super-sport gym because it’s huge and loaded with every exercise equipment you can imagine, plus it has many other amenities like a swimming pool, basketball court, you name it; it has it. 

After joining, I decided that it would be a supplement to how I was currently training because all was going well doing it that way.  Pull-ups, bar dips, kettlebell complexes, burpees and running had been doing me good and I saw no reason to change anything.  As the saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

I’d say during the first month of membership, I visited only four times.  This gym frequency was unlike my past when I would go to the gym five days a week.  I found that my new gym was densely populated with people exercising and it was noisy with loud music.  I also learned that, unbeknownst to me, I had become a reclusive middle-age man fitness dude from several years training in the park solo style.

I tried my best to work around this gym density and noise by reminding myself how endowed it was with every imaginable fitness exercise equipment and weights under the sun.  Still, as time passed, I was continually dodging my new gym, taking a hike, instead, to one of my favorite parks.

Then, Coronavirus struck, and all gyms closed and remain closed to this day.

It was during this gym lockdown that I decided I wouldn’t be going back.  I cancelled my free membership about a week ago.  It felt good doing this because it got a monkey off my back that I wasn’t using my free gym membership.

It was a paradigm shift – a stepping over the line in the sand to the other side – and a realization that I can’t do the gym thing anymore.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Cafeteria-style fitness training menu

I describe my fitness training as intuitive fitness training because I don’t follow a specific workout program that’s spelled out for me with specific exercises, weights, sets, reps or times that I follow to the “T”.  My approach, rather, has me never knowing exactly what I’m going to do until I step into the batter’s box ready to swing.

To make what I do legitimate, I’m guessing that 80 to 90 percent of the time what I do will be done with intensity. 

Otherwise, I risk the chance of being a sandbagger playing or working out below my potential.  Sort of like a B-level racquetball player who plays the D-level competition ladder at his local racquetball club.

Intuitive training works for me because I never know how my body is going to feel on any given day.  How my body feels depends on what I may have done the previous day.  For example, as I peck away on my keyboard composing this blog post, I’m very sore in my wheels because yesterday I ran six miles.  If I had some very specific plan to do this or that today, I’d probably not do this or that today because I wouldn’t feel like it.

Therefore, intuitively, today is a rest day but tomorrow will probably be an intense workout day.

This works for me.

So, the way I do things is like going into a cafeteria to have a meal.  As I walk down a cafeteria aisle, there are several foods to choose from: main dishes, side dishes, desserts, and beverages.  I might have a little of this and a little of that. As I approach the end of the aisle, chances are my plate is full and I’m about to begin having what’ll hopefully be a good meal.

This is how my workouts are put together on any given day.  I chose from a menu of fitness activities and exercise selections from my cafeteria-style fitness training menu.

Here are the exercises and activities currently on my menu, in no order of preference or training frequency:  

Pull-ups and chin-ups – Lately, a typical workout consists of about 100 repetitions done greasing the groove style.  I like doing this while at work where I have a pull-up bar.

For example, I might perform 10 sets of 10 repetitions during the morning or throughout my workday depending on how busy I am.  Last summer, I did more weighted pull-ups and chin-ups; lower rep volume of course with a 20kg or 24kg KB hanging from my waist using a lifting belt.

Bar dips – I have a bar dip unit in a spare room in my office and do most of my bar dip work while at work just like pull-ups and chin-ups.  I generally shoot for about 100 bar dips when I do them.  I’ve also done weighted bar dips but not lately.

Slam ball work – A couple months ago, I purchased my first slam ball; it weighs 15 lbs. and I’ve used it for about four workouts.  Honestly, I thought I would have used it more than I have thus far.  Also, honestly, the slam ball workouts I’ve done have spanked me big time in a short amount of time.  I’m looking forward to more slam ball work in the months ahead.

Burpees – I hate and love burpees in the same breath of air, just like everyone else.  I hate how they make me feel and how they keep me humble whenever my head swells thinking what great fitness conditioning shape I’m in, but I love the fitness conditioning results they deliver.  

Lately, I’ve been doing burpees a couple times a week and am chasing a goal of completing 100 of them in ten minutes or less.

Running – I don’t know how many times in the last ten years I’ve retired as a fun runner only to come back out of retirement.  I’m currently out of retirement again and have been so for almost two years.  It was tough coming back and I swear I’m not going to retire again but, rather, ramp up or taper the running I do depending on what else I’m doing.  

Lately, I’ve been running at a slower and steady-state pace only once a week for between 30 and 60 minutes.  During this summer, I’d like to do some more speed work and see how fast I can fun a one-mile distance on a high school all-weather track.

Kettlebell work – I really like kettlebell training and the stuff I do tends to be kettlebell complexes or chains.  I have a limited inventory of kettlebells that I own but enough to get awesome workouts.  I have a couple favorite routines or complexes I like to do so progress doing them comes from completing a certain number of rounds faster than the last time.

Other items that have been on my fitness training menu in the past – Certain menu items in a cafeteria menu might be seasonal and not always available.  This is also the case with my fitness training menu selections.  Things that I enjoy doing, have done in the past but am not now doing include pull-up hang and handstand against the wall holds for time, Heavy Hands workouts using a pair of 5-lbs. dumbbells and higher-repetition step-ups using a 12-inch step.  

I’ll add these exercises to my training when they come "into season" according to my whim.  I may also add new selections to my menu.

As a middle-age man fitness training warrior trying to achieve age-adjusted upper-percentile cardiovascular-respiratory and strength endurance conditioning, I do best with my intuitive fitness training approach and having a diverse selection of activities and exercises to chose from in my cafeteria-style fitness training menu.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

A speeding bus with my name on it

Last Monday, I shared my latest interest in heart rate recovery (HRR) after my workouts after recently reading an article written by a medical doctor cardiologist.  This article shared the doctor’s experience in measuring his HRR after a workout he did and how research evidence indicates that HRR is a simple and powerful predictor of mortality. 

Again, what’s HRR?

It’s the rate of decline in heart rate beats per minute (bpm) after you quit exercising and again a minute later (and/or two minutes later) and subtract one from the other.

There’s a 1999 study that examined the relationship between HRR and mortality risk.  This research revealed an average one-minute HRR of 17 bpm, but 26 percent of patients had an HRR of less than 13 bpm. Patients with an HRR of less than 13 bpm had a double risk of dying.

Another follow-up study of about 10 thousand patients found that an HRR of less than 13 bpm doubled the 5-year risk of death.

Yet another study reported that a 2-minute HRR of less than 22 bpm provided a better measure predicting mortality at seven years than the one-minute test.

Being an analytical beast, I decided to capture my HRR for three recent cardiovascular conditioning workouts.  Below is an HRR analysis executive briefing of them.  Note that my perceived maximum HR is 180 bpm.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Workout – Run 6.0 miles in 1:04:44. 

HRR analysis - end of run 160 bpm - 1:00 = 120 bpm (-40 bpm) - 2:00 = 111 (-49 bpm). 

Monday, January 20, 2020

Workout – Bodyweight squats for 110 reps completed in 4:48.

HRR analysis - start 110 bpm end of BW squats 147 bpm - 1:00 = 116 bpm (-31bpm) - 2:00 = 106 (-41 bpm). 

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Workout - 20kg kettlebell snatch, right side x 5 reps and left-side 5 reps every minute on the minute for 10 rounds completed in 9:48.

HRR analysis - end of workout 157 bpm - 1:00 = 133 bpm (-24 bpm) - 2:00 = 117 bpm (-40 bpm).

These results indicate I enjoy a lower risk of cardiovascular-related mortality, so I’ll keep doing what I’ve been doing with my cardiovascular conditioning training.

But there are no guarantees in life regarding my premature mortality.    I could have an early meeting with the Grim Reaper if, for example, one day I’m crossing the street and am met by a speeding bus having my name on it.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Back on the fitness training pony

I’m back, did you miss me?

Pierini Fitness took last week off for active rest and recovery.  It had been a while and was time.  It felt good to spend time in a heart rate zone where most people do, rather than way up there in the anaerobic or fire engine red zone.

He ended the week of active rest and recovery on Sunday with a serious late afternoon and into the evening nap, waking up to take a shower and then back to bed for a finale sleep.

Before going any further, here are some photos from Wharf to Wharf 2019:

Ready for the run sans the running shades

Pierini Fitness in motion with lots of runner traffic

Enjoying the coastal breeze and temperature

Lot of people behind me but lots ahead

Within striking distance of the finish line

  

Done, tried to pass that kid but couldn't

Got to include one "sucking air" finish photo

The enjoyable week of active rest and recovery ended yesterday with the following workout done during the noon hour at a park:

Weighted alternating pull-ups and chin-ups with a 20kg kettlebell (pull-ups on odd-numbered rounds and chin-ups on even-numbered rounds - 5-3-3-4-3-3-3-3-3-3) plus double 20kg kettlebell overhead press for 5 reps every 2:30 for 10 rounds – completed 10 rounds in 23:36.

Surprisingly, the weighted pull-ups and chin-ups felt heavy, proving once again that heavy is best dealt with frequently.  It had been three weeks since my last weighted pull-ups and chin-ups workout and reps per round were higher across the board.

Enough of the details, it feels great to be back on the fitness training pony.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Wharf to Wharf 2019 results

The official 47th anniversary Wharf to Wharf poster, titled “Wharf To Wharf: A Wild Ride”, by artist Russell Brutsche with concept design by Robin Lerios

Here’s a quick and dirty preliminary report of how I did yesterday running the Wharf to Wharf 2019 in Santa Cruz where I still am.  I composed this using my iPhone which is hard for me to do.  Later this week, I’ll post an expanded version with additional comments.

Wharf to Wharf 2019 - 6.0 miles in 53:34 official results. According to my Garmin Forerunner 35, I ran 6.07 miles in 53:37. There was lots of first mile traffic so I did a bunch of zig zagging to pass other runners and this apparently added 0.07 mile to the distance.

Here is a snapshot of my official results from the Wharf to Wharf 2019 website:

And here is a mile by mile pace report courtesy of my Garmin Forerunner 35:

More in a couple days but for now, these are my Wharf to Wharf 2019 results.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Santa Cruz bound

Today Pierini Fitness is in Santa Cruz where he’ll be until Monday, the day after this Sunday’s Wharf to Wharf 2019 fun run. 

Since his last training report, Pierini Fitness has continued training hard and is now officially, in the tapering time zone. 

The hard work has been done, he feels well-prepared and does expect to meet his goal of completing the six miles at an average 9-minute mile pace.

Next Monday, he’ll give his sports fans an official report of how he did with all the statistical detail he enjoys but that may bore you to death. 

Manage the middle-aged man fort while Pierini Fitness is away Santa Cruz bound.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum