Running into the Wind

This is a personal choice. Do you run with the wind? Against the wind? Do you keep it to your side? For me it depends on the season.

During the winter months, I try to keep it to my side. That way I’m not fighting a big wind chill. During the summer months though, I like to finish in the wind. This may go against common sense. After all, you are normally not at peak performance at the end of your run. I like to do it for two reasons. Finishing in the wind while I’m at my weakness really drives home the workout. I also like it because it helps me stay cool. I run hot. There is no question about it. While training for a marathon, even at night, I am soaking wet when I finish. Running into the wind help provide a little bit of wind chill to help get rid of some heat.
Don’t be afraid of the wind.

The Century Workout

In every fitness routine, you will hit a plateau. A plateau is a stop in progress. You may be eating right and exercising right, but you measurement of progress has stopped. This measurement may be your weight, how fast you can run or how much you can lift. You need to get past the plateau. To do this, you need to try something different. Try this workout out.

The century workout should tell you that you are about to do something 100 times. Reduce your normal lift for each muscle group to 1/3 of what you have been doing. Now, try 1 set of 100 reps. It may seem like a waste of time for about 50 reps. It will become a muscle burner after that.

Doing this shocks your muscles because you are doing something completely different. This is how you can help push your way over the plateau.

How Much Have You Burned?

Right off the bat, I am not big on counting calories. For our people at sea, that would be a little difficult. I do look at the food labels when I'm at the grocery store. I'm interested in the servings, calories, fat, cholesterol, sodium, and protein. But I do not keep a log of my caloric intake. I do like to see how many I burn off though. Here is a tool from Runners World to help you estimate how much you have burned off.

http://www.runnersworld.com/cda/caloriecalculator/0,7153,s6-242-306-313-0-0-0-0-0,00.html

Remember, 3,500 calories = 1 lb of fat. This tool does not take into account intensity, elevation or topology. But it still serves a purpose. Are you burning enough on your cardio days?

Kick an Addiction and Start a New One

I was in the Navy Exchange with a good friend of mine at Naval Station Great Lakes. Yes, home to our Recruit Training Command. Both of us stood in awe at a disturbing site. You see, over the past year our Navy has been pushing a "Culture of Fitness". This blogsite supports the Navy's effort in every way to help Sailors become healthy, productive members of the fleet. What we could not understnad is the special section of the Exchange dedicated to the selling of tobaco products. What message are we sending to our young sailors? I also noticed that the parents of our new shipmates were also taken back at the length of the line waiting to purchase their drug of choice.

I took the time to visit the Surgen Generals website. By the way, the current Surgen General is Rear Admiral Steven K. Galson, M.D., M.P.H. In the Reports and Publications Section, I invite you to look at Tobacco Cessation - You Can Quit Smoking Now! It not only provides resources to help you quit smoking, but also tells you how you are affecting those around you.

For us non-smokers, that same report offers tips and advice on how to protect ourselves from second hand smoke.

Your health and the quality of your life, and your families is in your hands. I invite you to quit this addication to nicotine, and start an addiction to living a healthly lifestyle.

Carry the Burn

Carry the Burn is a new exercise technique that I've been working on. The idea behind Carry the Burn is to get your muscles to work past exhaustion (and give you a really great pumped up look). Here is how it works.

• Select the muscle groups that you want to work on. Now focus on one group.
• Ok, now select an exercise. You want to set the weight to be fairly strenuous.
• Do 8 - 15 reps.
• Rest for 15 seconds.
• Set the weight to the next lowest setting and repeat.
• Do this process for 5 sets.
• Move on to the next muscle group.

The idea is to create a burn that is carried to the next set. Once you get adjusted to this workout, repeat the process on the same muscle groups, but with different exercises.

Enjoy!

Summer Time Burn

No, we are not talking about sun burns here. We are talking about keeping our bodies in burn mode. First off, good job CPPD-MW on the PFA. I'll be sending each of you individual progress reports to let you see how you did. Now, let's burn.

I would like to invite everyone to take advantage of the summer time and lose a uniform size. One way to do this is to burn calories while sitting on your butts. No, this is not an infomercial for some new expensive gadget that has a better chance of emptying your wallet then making you thin. It is simple biology. Our bodies are genetically tuned to store fat for times of famine. Well, I don't know about all of you, but my local super market is not showing signs of a food shortage. Your body will store fat if it perceives that there is a shortage of food. So....make sure you are feeding the beast, often.

I would like everyone to try eating 6 times a day. You should eat every 2 to 3 hours staring with breakfast. Maybe I should clarify, you should eat smart every 2 to 3 hours. The idea is to put real food into your bodies before your body realizes it is hungry. By doing so, your bodies will continue to burn calories as opposed to store them. What I mean by real food is food that is not over processed or cooked in grease. Also, eat in moderation. If you need to loosen your belt and take a nap after each feeding, this will not work. I will warn you, once your body becomes accustomed to eating this often, it will let you know when you are running late for a feeding.

This is only one part for my fitness triad. Look for the Summer edition of the CPPD-MW Fitness Newsletter next month for the complete triad.

New Look!

Navy Fit has changed its look!

Now that the spring time Physical Readiness Test has passed, it is time to start working on some life long changes. Stay tuned for the weekly update with new fitness tips and stradegies to help you find the right plan to live life to its fullest.