I wrote in yesterday's dailies that I am starting strength and power training. I wanted to ease myself into it so that I don't injure myself. These kinds of training has to be done carefully especially when not done for a long time. Over the next few weeks I will try different kinds of workouts using bodyweight, a gym ball and other paraphernalia.
This morning I tried out Jillian Michaels (of Biggest Loser fame) Shred Workout which I bought on video. I had tried it our many moons ago and it was tough then so I stopped. I did the first level workout and though my cardio has improved tremendously since I last tried it out (about 4 months ago) the strength workout was very challenging (even at Level 1).
After 30 minutes I had burnt 303 kcal at an average of 67% MHR. Not too bad. I plan to do this every morning when I wake up for the next few days to see how my body handles it.
Later on in the day I bought some stretch cord and a book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Core Conditioning. Whenever I start or learn something new I always turn to either The Complete Idiot Series or the Dummies Series. They usually provide a good base of knowledge to start with and once I get an understanding of the base then I can go for more specific material.
Anyway, I spent the afternoon doing another half an hour workouts with the stability ball as well as the stretch cords. I ant to get a feel for the workouts and discover what I like or don't like. It doesn't necessarily mean that I will only do the ones I like but at least I have an idea of what's going to happen.
SWIM
I spent over an hour in the swimming pool tonight. My previous outings in the pool have consisted of mostly drills of all sorts of kind. Tonight I wanted to give the drills a break and just focus on swimming. I swam a total of 30 laps (50m per lap) trying to get a feel for continuous swimming (well maybe not continuously continuous- I did take a 20 second breather here and there). By not doing drills I can focus on really getting a feel for my swim stroke and just allow myself to swim without much thought to technique. Interestingly enough, it felt very calm and relaxing especially in the final 10 laps when Ireally let my thoughts go. I counted my strokes and find myself completing a 50m lap in 54 strokes (it used to be about 70 strokes when I first started).
As a result of the much reduced number os strokes, my calorie burn for swimming is reducing quite dramatically. I used to burn about 100 calories in an hour. In tonight's swim I burnt about 700 cal in just over 70 minutes. Though I'm quite happy that my swimming is getting efficient, I am a bit stressed that I'm using less energy (and hence less body fat) as it makes losing weight a tad more difficult.
my POLAR data for tonight's swim:
Time 73 minutes
Average heart rate 64% MHR
Calories 708 kcal
I'm going to ease up a bit on the running this week, preferring instead to swim or cycle. Tomorrow will be core workout, some cycling and some swimming.
Enuff said.
About Reza Ali
Reza Ali Reactivated tells of the journey of Reza Ali as he embarks on transforming himself from a 120kg (35kg overweight) 46 inch waist unhealthy and unfit person to someone who can compete in a triathlon. Don't be afraid to dream. Take action. Correct your mistakes. Learn from failures. Bit by bit, you will get closer to your dream.
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