Basic Exercise Principles
1) Warm-up
Always try to warm-up for 5 to 10 minutes. A good warm-up for your lower body would be to use the Self-Myofascial Release technique (also known as foam rolling technique). You can use this technique for your upper body as well. Moreover, a good warm-up session would be either running, swimming, biking, walking, rowing at a fast pace or doing "kata" moves.
2) Vary your FITT
One of the most important things to remember with working out is to vary your Frequency, Intensity, Time, and Type
3) Cool Down
Cooling down is very important after your work out. Your cool down session should consist of stretching, and a slow cardiovascular exercise for 5 to 10 minutes. Important note here is to concentrate on your breathing and clearing up your mind. If you finish up you workouts with SMR technique is even better.
1) Warm-up
Always try to warm-up for 5 to 10 minutes. A good warm-up for your lower body would be to use the Self-Myofascial Release technique (also known as foam rolling technique). You can use this technique for your upper body as well. Moreover, a good warm-up session would be either running, swimming, biking, walking, rowing at a fast pace or doing "kata" moves.
2) Vary your FITT
One of the most important things to remember with working out is to vary your Frequency, Intensity, Time, and Type
3) Cool Down
Cooling down is very important after your work out. Your cool down session should consist of stretching, and a slow cardiovascular exercise for 5 to 10 minutes. Important note here is to concentrate on your breathing and clearing up your mind. If you finish up you workouts with SMR technique is even better.
Plyometric Exercises:
Do you want to improve your power and strength and energize your workouts? Moreover, do you want to finish strong after a marathon, a long bike ride, or an ironman race? Then, you should try plyometric exercises. The idea is to generate the greatest amount of force in the shortest amount of time. You can give it a try to these exercises below only if you are at an intermediate/advanced level. Please just make sure you start with a warm-up session of 5 to 10 minutes and then do a cool-down session for another 5 to 10 minutes. Plyometrics will improve your running, biking, swimming goals, and also it will improve your lactate processing. So, let me help you reduce the risk of overtraining injuries and burnout. Here are some examples of the plyometric exercises you can try:
1. You can use the medicine ball to practice chest passing with your partner. Keep your knees bent, elbows soft and the ball moving without rest in between.
2. Wall-ups: Perform a handstand using a wall for balance. Place your hands a little less than shoulder-width apart. Bend your elbows slowly slightly and explode backup into a handstand.
3. Lateral push-ups: Press-up into a push-up and slide both hands 6 inches to your left before returning your hands to the floor. On your next push-up, slide your hands back to the right. Even better, you can add a small platform on the center (6 inches high), place one hand on platform and other hand on the floor, press-up into a push-up and slide both hands 6 inches to the left, then center, then 6 inches to the right.
4. Double-clap push-up: Press-up into a push-up position and clap your hands twice before they return to the floor.
5. Clap push-ups: Press-up into a push-up position and clap your hands before they return to the floor.
Understanding Heart Rate Zones:
There are five heart rate zones you need to keep in mind when working out:
Zone 1: Healthy Heart Zone which is 50 to 60 percent of MHR (Maximum Heart Rate)
Zone 2: Temperate Zone which is 60 to 70 percent of MHR (Maximum Heart Rate)
Zone 3: Aerobic Zone which is 70 to 80 percent of MHR (Maximum Heart Rate)
Zone 4: Threshold Zone which is 80 to 90 percent of MHR (Maximum Heart Rate)
Zone 5: Red Line Zone which is 90 to 100 percent of MHR (Maximum Heart Rate)
Important note here is to estimate your MHR based on your age. One way to do it is for example using the stationary bike (spinning).
Warm up for five minutes, then cycle at a rate you feel is easy for two minutes. The easy zone is based on perceived exertion, which mean that you just need to pedal with minimal resistance (you should be able to hold a conversation with a person) with minimal effort at what one perceives to be an easy level. You will discover that the easy zone is right around 70 percent of your MHR, once determined. Note the number your heart rate monitor is showing. Next, pedal at a moderate level for two minutes to a point where breathing becomes somewhat labored and some degree of effort is required to maintain. The word hard comes to mind. This is often around 80 percent of your MHR. Again, record your heart rate. During the last two minute period, cycle at the hardest level you can maintain, breathing should be hard and heavy. This approximates 90 percent of your MHR. Add the following numbers to your heart rate scores to estimate your MHR. To the easy number, add 60. To the moderate number, add 40. To the hard number, add 20. For example, let's say you recorded at easy pace 115, at moderate 137 and at hard pace 157. Using this formula, your MHR would be: 175 , 177 and 177, your MHR for cycling is approximately 176 (this is an average of the three measurements taken). This gives you an estimation of your MHR for cycling. Using the Heart Rate Zone chart above, you can determine your zone spreads.
