KBs

KBs

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Oil for your Muscles

One of my chronic bad habits is poor hydration. I am constantly drinking less water than I should. As a result, I get more sore after exercise; recover slower; wake up groggy and get more fatigued throughout the day. In extreme conditions (walking through equatorial jungle for two days) I have experienced extreme dehydration in the form of nausea and severe vertigo. Not fun and potentially dangerous. On the flip side, when I start hydrating early in the day and keep it going for a few days, I find myself more alert, more eager to exercise and full of energy when I do. Bottom line: I need to drink more water. We all do.

I was talking with a man in his 80s yesterday and he mentioned that he had had bad leg cramps for years and only recently learned that "water is like oil for your muscles." I would not be surprised if this was a revelation for people of all ages. Unless you play organized sports, hydration is rarely emphasized as a health matter. For most of my life, I never really consciously hydrated. I just drank when I was thirsty, which is a sign of dehydration. It wasn't until I started to really push myself physically that I realized you have to hydrate. Most of us spend our lives in a perpetual state of semi-dehydration, not knowing what it's like to be truly hydrated. We all need water to survive.

I've met people who prefer soda to water because they don't like the taste of water. In some places (coastal areas, usually) I can relate. Water's taste can range from delicious to rotten egg to chlorine. Our tap water is gross and flouridated so we bought a 5 gallon glass jug that we fill for 25 cents per gallon about once a week. We go to a local store that filters their water to remove ". . .bacteria, mold, viruses, chlorine, fluoride, prescription drugs, MTBE, arsenic, and lead." This option is cheaper and healthier than buying plastic bottles of water (most of which is just tap water and can have BPA leach into it). And it tastes better. Yet I digress.

How do we make sure to drink enough water every day? Here are a few of the habits I've been trying to adopt:
  • Start Early - I make sure to down a glass of water upon waking each day. This ensures that, even if I don't drink anything else until the afternoon, I still get some water in me. The alternative is nothing but coffee until late in the day; a bad option.
  • Use the Same Vessel - I use the same 20oz aluminum bottle every day. My daily intake goal is four of these bottles.
  • Keep Track - I've found that keeping track of how many ounces I drink each day makes it more likely that I will meet my daily intake goal.
  • No More Sugary Drinks - While I'm not on board with the NYC ban on giant sodas, I do think that we drink way too many drinks that are full of sugar. Soda, frilly coffee, sports drinks and even fruit juices are mostly sugar. If water bores you, try a sugar free tab or powder. I like Nunn (http://nuun.com/) and Ultima (http://ultimareplenisher.com/).
Water is the essence of life. And wetness. Wetness is the essence of moisture. We are fortunate enough to have abundant fresh water available. Make sure you drink enough.

PS - If you are interested in the effects of flouride in water, here is an article with some good info. There is much debate on both sides of the argument, but I choose to avoid flouride intake. It seems that something intended as a topical dental hygene chemical should not be ingested in any scenario, let alone daily. http://www.naturalnews.com/038217_fluoride_tap_water_side_effects.html


Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Go Deep

Multitasking. We all do it every day. Driving, eating and listening to the radio. Talking with your loved ones and checking your phone. Writing your weekly blog and watching the NBA playoffs. . . We live in a world where technology makes multitasking a way of life. How many times do you find yourself with ten or more tabs open on your Internet browser? Me? All the time. Am I really working on all of those at the same time? No way. Am I jumping around from one thing to the next, not really getting anything done? Usually.

There are numerous advantages to having so many options in our daily life. We have nearly unlimited information available instantly. I can check social media, read the news and manage my fantasy football team all in the same place. Text, email and even face to face chatting exponentially increase our ability to stay in touch with people far and wide.

But at what cost? Are we sacrificing depth of learning and experience for volume and instant access? We would drive better if we stopped eating and messing with our phones. We would learn more if we weren't constantly switching between media. We would develop and maintain deeper, better relationships with our friends and family members if we took time to have conversations instead of relying on tweets and facebook status updates. Our time does not need to be constantly filled with new information. Sometimes it is best to cut off the fire hose of new data and go deeper into the info we already possess.

Here are a few of the ways I try to control myself when it comes to multitasking:
  • Silent drive - Instead of pumping the jams or listening to talk radio or talking on the phone while you drive to work, try driving in silence. I do some of my best thinking when it is quiet. Also, it helps curb road rage.
  • Turn off Tones - Unless you are waiting for some very important phone call, turn off any alerts or ring tones. Don't be a slave to technology. If you find yourself on your device with no idea why, you are doing it wrong.
  • Read - I found that the more I accessed fast sources of media, the less willing I was to sit down and read something longer than a few pages. So now I make an effort to actually read books and articles with more depth than a tweet.
There is a time and place for multitasking. It's a valuable skill. But so is the ability to focus on one specific task and do it well. Take time and go deep once in a while.

Jack

PS - Here is the article that inspired today's topic:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/brain--interrupted-173621758.html

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Sprint

When I run, I like to think about a real world scenario when I might need to run for survival. I can only think of a few situations where I might need to run more than a mile. Maybe there is an accident and nobody's cell phone works so someone needs to run for help. Maybe the Persian army is coming and you need to warn Athens. Maybe I'm really hungry, my car won't start, my Uber app won't open and the nearest food is really far away.

We rarely need to run anywhere. Most of the running we do is for exercise and fun. A long run can be a scenic experience, especially if you are running a new route. But running miles on end at a steady pace is like cruising around town in second gear; low RPMs. 

Sprinting, on the other hand, puts your motor in the red. The high burst of energy required for a sprint boosts your metabolism (burns fat) and makes you faster.   

You don't need any equipment to get sprinting. Football fields, tracks, parks, alleyways, and quiet streets offer everything you need to get your sprint on.  

Here are a few ways to organize your sprint workouts for max effect.  You can mix and match any of these ideas to fit your needs. You can also add in other exercises to make a sprint circuit (e.g. sprints, situps and pushups).

-Flying starts. These are a good way to start a sprint workout.  First,  mark a starting line,  a halfway point and a finish line.  Start your drill at the starting line (duh) and run with the goal of hitting your top speed at the halfway mark, then sprint at top speed through the finish line.  This drill is meant to increase your top speed.  I do 4-6 reps.  

-Find a loop between 100 and 1000 yards.  Run that loop as fast as you can.  Rest between laps as necessary.  I aim for 3-6 laps,  depending on the distance. 

-On a 100 yard stretch (football field is perfect), sprint 10 yards and then walk back to the start.  Then sprint 20 yards and walk back.  Keep doing this (aka adding 10 yards, then walking back to the start) all the way to 100 yards.

-Pick a stretch of grass/pavement and mark off 40 yards. Sprint the 40 yards as fast as you can and record your time. Rest until you fully catch your breath, then repeat, trying to hit the same time each sprint. I do 8-10 sprints, depending on how I feel. 

Whenever you sprint,  listen to your body.  If you are dizzy or your hamstring feels weird,  don't keep sprinting.  Sit down,  stretch and take a drink.  I've backed out of sprint workouts during the warm up because my quads felt really tight from squats a few days prior. Live to sprint another day. 

Adding sprints to your workout tool box is a cheap, simple way to burn fat and get faster.  And, as a bonus, you can rest easier at night knowing you will most likely be able to outrun your friends in the zombie apocalypse.