Starting an Exercise Program: Recommendations from Dr. Mirkin www.drmirkin.com

If you want to lose weight or just maintain your healthful weight as you age, start an exercise program or increase your current program. Recent data show that interval training takes far less time than continuous exercise, and can be even more effective in strengthening your heart. You can do interval training by cycling, walking, jogging, skating, swimming, using an elliptical machine or any other form of continuous exercise.

1) Pre-Conditioning: Every day, go out and exercise slowly and continuously until your legs or arms feel heavy or hurt and then stop. Do this every day until you can work up to 30 minutes of continuous exercise. This usually takes three to six weeks.
2) Intervals: Every day, start your workout by going slowly for five to ten minutes. Then pick up the pace for ten seconds and then slow down. When your legs feel that they have recovered, pick up the pace again for ten seconds. Alternate these pick-ups and slow down intervals until your legs start to feel heavy or hurt and then stop for the day. Do this every day and progress by extending the time of your intervals. You do not have to do intervals longer than 30 to 60 seconds. It is irrelevant how long you rest between intervals. If your legs feel heavy or hurt during your warm-up, take the day off.

Caution: Since exercise can harm people with already damaged hearts, you may want to check with your doctor first.

If you like what you see from Dr. Gabe Mirkin, please subscribe to his eZine at drmirkin.com

The following comments are not from Dr. Mirkin.

Play close attention to the last sentence from Dr. Mirkin's recommendations and the Caution. 

First a word about overtraining with regards to interval work. Interval work done day after day without proper rest and recovery can cause serious overtraining in an athlete. So like the Doc said, "If your legs feel heavy or hurt during your warm-up, take the day off." Many athletes go out and start training slowly for ten to fifteen minutes and see where they are or how they really feel. Are they going to be able to put in the training (hard enough effort to make a difference) or did they work too hard the day before? The wise-athlete lives to train another day. The un-wise athlete battles on and gets an injury that knocks them out for almost a month or longer. It is not worth it!

One cannot go into interval work with less than a full effort. One must be prepared to go all-out. Going all-out can be very dangerous so the caution Dr. Mirkin speaks of is real and getting your doctor's approval can save your life. Years ago when heart-rate monitors first came out, I used one while training. After noticing something out of the ordinary with my numbers, I went to my doctor and she diagnosed me with eschemia. I see my heart-doctor twice a year to make sure there are no complications.    

Care and Prevention of Heat Related Issues

Beware when you exercise in the heat!

• Watch the temperature. Know your limits! I, for instance do not train in temperatures higher than 90 at the start of the ride. I know to avoid that because I have had issues in that temperature range in the past. I also use time of day which we will talk about more a little later, but for me starting a ride at 11:00 am just doesn't make any sense. Why risk the higher temperatures?!
• Get acclimated. Your body requires time to adjust. If you are starting a program at the same time that you are also trying to get acclimatized that will also take longer. Plan on twenty-three days to get your body used to something. If you had already been training through April and May getting going won't be such an issue, but getting going in June will take you a little longer.
• Know your fitness level. I use this to my advantage in later stages of training because then I can go and strain with people that are at a higher level of ability and training and gain from the effort required to workout with them. When working out at a higher level your body requires more of you, your muscles require better circulation, your body needs better cooling. So employ the best strategies and use the best equipment to facilitate the higher output.
• Drink plenty of fluids. Hydrate before the event. No you can't store up nuts for the winter like a squirrel, but you can be less dehydrated. If you were exuberant in the festivities the night before an event chances are you will be less hydrated. If you're not peeing clear before the event you'll be in trouble during the event.
  
• Dress appropriately. Nowadays, with high-tech fabrics and UV rated fabrics there's no excuse for wearing cotton and end up looking like a puddle at the end or during the event. Use sports specific clothing. You're better off if you wear what the athletes in your sport wear. Lighter colored fabrics do a lot to reflect the heat. UV rated fabrics although they seem hotter at first when the sun is blazing do their job very effectively. Dousing oneself with water also works to create a cooling effect.
• Avoid midday sun. Also avoid the hottest part of the day. Midday sometimes is not the hottest. You have to be aware of when the hottest is in your area. Don't be fooled by a cloudy day, that midday sun going through a soaked cloud is magnified and will do even more damage to you and your skin and your inner-core temperature. 
• Wear sunscreen. Some of the real potent sunscreens have a bit of menthol in it and actually produce a cooling effect when you wear it in the blazing sun. The only concern I have not yet solved is they tend to stain our fancy modern fabrics.
• Have a backup plan. Make sure somebody knows where you are. With social media - leaving an app open with a route is really no big deal. They also have to know where to find you and how to get there. Also have a back-up on your back-up! I have a buddy with which I have made a deal, he can call me anytime for a rescue and I can call him anytime for a rescue :-) Sometimes, that's all you have!
• Understand your medical risks. If you're taking medication that will dehydrate you, you need to beware. Talk to your doctor, inform him or her that you are an athlete and somethings will wreck havoc on your system when you are out training. Make sure when you get a new prescription for something serious that you test out your training. Recently, I was prescribed something that caused me to dehydrate. I could not do even thirty minutes of my regular routine. My doc asked me to try it for two weeks. I did for two weeks, and two weeks only. My doc is a runner, so he knew exactly what I was going through. He shrugged it off, "No big deal, let's try something else!" Love it!
• When is it an emergency?! If you get clammy, and tingly you are playing with fire and it is time to stop to rehydrate. The fire here is heat-stress. If you are cramping, with a stomach-ache, a head-ache, blurred vision or tunnel vision, then stop immediately! This is full-blown heat-exhaustion and you will be in deep kimchee if you continue. Get out of the heat, hydrate if possible, and rest while whomever you called can come to get you hopefully bringing something to drink, clothes and recovery foods etc. If you were silly enough to continue which is in-advisable, then you are within minutes of suffering heat-stroke! Heat stroke can kill you! Heat-stroke can stop your heart. If you are in heat-stroke conditions then you need to go to emergency! I've seen someone in heat-stroke, and they were taken away on a stretcher. He survived, but was out of work for a week. He was heat stress prone from then on. Just like Northerners make preparations for blizzards, Southerners make preparations for the heat!

Trying Something Different - Estoy Tratando de Hacer Algo Diferente

Aquí Estamos De Un Modo Diferente-Español

Pos como tengo amigos en varios países, yo quería compartir mis experiencias en sus idiomas. De vez de cuando voy usar Portugues o Español para escribir mi blog.  Hoy día estoy sentiendo mal  con problemas relacionados al calor y las altas temperaturas. 

Espero que realicen que cuando tenemos problemas con el calor esto causa problemas en el futuro también. La tendencia de tener problemas con calor va continuar. Acuerda también la regla de que para acostumbrarse con algo necesitas veintitres días para realizarlo. Entonces como yo estoy empezando un programa de ejercicio si ya estuviera acostumbrado a este tiempo no sería tan mal ahora. Pero porque yo tuve tantos problemas con la gripe y problemas relacionados no podría entrenar a lo normal. 

Todo esto empieza con las temperaturas porque ya a las once de la mañana las temperaturas ya están allá de los noventa grados. Mi esposa y yo cuando salimos infortunadamente, en un coche/troca que no tiene aire condicionado. Ya hemos tenído varios días en que nosotros sufrimos con calentura. Queremos estar listos para toda la caminada que vamos tener que hacer en julio. Las distancias chicas que estamos haciendo ahorita podemos acrescentar más para tener el entrenamiento suficiente cuando es necessario. 

Yo esperaba ya tener más millas hechas para estar más preparado por las millas que quiero hacer en la bici, pero con los problemas de calor es bien difícil hacer algo. El entrenador estacionario fue una bendición pero no he tenido suficiente oportunidad sin problemas de calentura para usarlo bien.

Estoy veyendo las opciones que voy tener cuando tengo tiempo y salud apropiada para hacer el trabajo en el entrenador estacionario. Me alegra mucho que mi amigo em empresto el cyclops. 

Back On the (Stationary) Horse

So today I did my first trainer ride. 0 miles 0 mph, but an hour plus of riding! I was still able to post it to Strava. Learn something new "ever day!" Felt great to get an hour in even though it was inside! Luckily for me, spinervals made cycling videos common-place. I found a bunch of stuff on YouTube! I ended up using Cycle Scenery and was riding Virtually in the Virgin Islands. Oh so cool! I did a warm-up in town. Then a trip through traffic to get out of town then a couple of other workouts one out in the flat-country and another out in the hills of the VI :-)

So many possibilities are open now, two a days, long trainers when my family is sleepin' - an exciting turn of events. Thank you God! Stay tuned for more stationary bike rides! Although, tomorrow I really want to ride outside with my Brasil jersey! Viva Spurs - Viva Brasil

Long Time No Blog - New Routine

So here it is high-time I get going with my training! The excuse for little to show for the time is an upper respiratory thing that turned in to a chest thing - rain the last few weekends before the end of the school year didn't help although there's a new advent coming up on that front. 

Strava (strava.com) tells me I have less than a thousand miles to show for the year. With two rides per week - I can't do much more. So it is time to build. Planning on building on the MTB mountain bike rather than doing a bunch of junk flat miles on the TT rig or the Goat. If I can add any commuter type miles I'm game on the Muddy Fox, thinking of putting the baskets on so I can take it to the store also for more base miles since I'm about 700 miles shy to start serious training with intervals and such. It did kill me to dns (did not show) on rides like the wildflower - but I couldn't see showing up shelling out sans training. It was the right thing to do. 

So just now we arrived home, it is the beginning of June and it is time to be out in nature like I love to be, but I can't because of the temps (temperatures). In order to be safe from the heat in the Summer I have limited myself to no rides after eleven or after it's reached 90° degrees. So here I am blogging instead :-)

So why is the heat on my mind, no not because I want my Spurs to kick their butts tonight in Miami, but because yesterday we had a packed and stressful day with issues with Pop (father-in-law) and issues with my check-out at school. Did I expect to have heat issues? Nope! But I did! I do have to remember once you have issues with heat you will have issues again. I couldn't pin down exactly what happened, but there was a lot of sweating going-on! 

So the new advent with the rain, is that Mike from church has a trainer sitting in a closet, and he's perfectly willing to let me get some use out of it. I look forward to getting some indoor miles done when rain does not allow or I'm prudent and satying out of the heat. A ride folloeing one of those beautiful scapes on computer would be cool to do.

Look forward to writing some more this Summer!