B1G Ten Biking

Last Friday I was working out at the YMCA, and as I was walking to the drinking fountain between some sets of power cleans and push presses, I stopped.  The rest of my workout went out the window as the Northwestern vs. Michigan State dual played across the leftmost TV in front of the cardio machines.  Forgetting why I had gotten up in the first place, I plopped myself on a bike and mindlessly pedaled as I watched the remainder of the 18-15 win for the NU Wildcats.

Being that I don't have cable at my apartment, being able to watch wrestling on B1G Ten Network was a rare treat.  But then a lightbulb went off - I could use the gym as my subscription to BTN.  The next day I watched a nail-biter 15-15 match between Iowa and Minnesota where Iowa won on criteria.  And yesterday I watched a replay of an equally exciting match where Iowa upset top ranked Penn State 22-16.

So what was I doing, wasting my time doing slow, long distance cardio?  While it's true that a slow jog is less efficient at burning fat than sprinting, it still has its place in a training repertoire.  For starters, if you're not in shape yet it's a good way to begin before you add more strenuous runs to your regimen.  But it can even benefit a highly trained anaerobic athlete in the midst of a tough season.  The next time you take a recovery day, don't just sit on your coach and let the lactic acid sit there; go for a light jog to increase the circulation to your muscles and aid in the recovery process.  If you're joints are killing you, opt for cycling, power walking, swimming, running on an elliptical, etc.  You just need to go hard enough to get warm and break a sweat.  When done, go through a full body stretching session.  The next day you'll be less sore than if you had done no workout at all, simply because you got the juices moving.

A close cousin to this technique can be used for recovery from strength training.  Let's say your chest is really sore, and stretching several times a day isn't doing much to alleviate it.  A day or two after the initial workout, do a movement for the same muscle group but with very low resistance.  It will be enough stimulus to signal more blood and nutrients to arrive, while not enough to break down the muscle fibers any more (this is what happens when muscles are sore - little tiny tears in the muscles occur, and they rebuild even stronger if fueled properly).

Lastly, if you like doing long cardio sessions but have trouble getting motivated to do so or get bored running that long, you can fool yourself into working out longer by watching TV.  I can't wait til next weekend - B1G Ten Network is playing Iowa vs. Illinois AND Ohio State vs. Michigan!

Active rest, not just rest,
Jeff