1 Minute, 1 Mile

Image Found on Pixabay done by alan9187

     Running. “It’s healthy.” “It’s good for you.” “It’s not so bad once you get used to it.” These make it sound like liver. Then again, some people like liver. We know that running is an excellent exercise. We also know that, due to our increasing use of technology, we have become less active.

     I can hear you now, “What do you mean ‘we’? Do you have a mouse in your pocket?” No, I do not have a mouse, there are a heap of medical and health statistics. According to the CDC, going back as far as 1991, people ranging in age from 18 and up were found to be more and more sedentary. At a rate of 58%, people have been moving less. It has only gotten worse.

     What are we going to do? Busy schedules that are packed full. Commuting times that are unbearable. Meetings with school administrators and teachers. What can we do?

     1 minute of running per day. Really. 1 minute of running per day. According to the researchers at the University of Leicester who studied data from a variety of sources on more than 2,500 women, just one minute of running a day was beneficial. The researchers used information from the UK Biobank and the University of Exeter. Researchers found that one to two minutes of moderate to high intensity aerobic activity like running was bringing about positive results. The results showed a 4& to 6% increase in bone density and an overall improvement in bone health.

     Let’s consider what the risks of a sedentary lifestyle and benefits running just one minute a day look like:

Health Effects of Sedentary Lifestyle 

     Caloric expenditure and health outcomes 

     Contribute to anxiety and depression

     Increased risk for cardiovascular diseases

     Increased obesity

     Decreased musculature

     High cholesterol

     Increased risk of diabetes

     Increased risk of cancer

     Increased risk of stroke

Benefits of fast, short runs

     Improve cardiovascular fitness 

     Time compatible with most schedules

     Can be done daily

     Strengthens heart

     Prevents heart disease

     Less depression

     Lowers body weight 

     Lowers cholesterol 

     Lowers risk of cancer

     Lowers risk of diabetes 

     Lowers risk of stroke

     When talking about this with people, it was found that almost everyone responded with, “It takes me longer than the run to get ready for it.” That was the most common response. Another consideration is the likelihood of doing just one mile. One mile, that is all. Most people who are just starting out will be able to do a mile in about 15 to 20 minutes. While that is longer than the one minute just talked about, that is not a large amount of time invested. US Dept of Health advocates 150 minutes, 2 1/2 hours, weekly of exercise. How many people hit that goal? According to what we have seen so far, not very many.
     Running one mile can be a great workout. A beginner is going to finish that mile somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes. That time is not going to stay like that for long. Oh, no. Running one mile is short enough of a distance that, as mentioned, you can run it as hard as your body can handle it and recover enough to run it again the next day.

     In time, if you keep up with this, you will find running to have become easier. Walking around stores much easier. Your doctor will see your cholesterol levels going down, too.

     This type of running can even fit in if you are already going to the gym and working out. While it will push you and burn excess calories, it will not take too much out of you and ruin your weight lifting. You will be able to burn a few extra calories, cut some bodyfat, build your wind, and still pump up your lifting numbers. What is not to like?

     This is an ideal way to begin a running routine. Running daily becomes something you look forward to. If you are challenging yourself to go a few seconds faster each day, it becomes a game. Get your kids involved and you have a competitive game going. Set rewards or trophies for who can take the most time off their run in one week or who has the fastest mile. Have fun. Make it fun. The more you do this, the less time you spend doing it as the mile run gets faster.

     It takes about 21 days to make a new habit stick. On another blog, I’ve written about making habits stick and you can read about that here if you are curious.

     By the end of one month, you’ve built a one-mile habit. Now, harping on the creativity, make that mile into a Tabata or wind sprints. Tabatas are a form of training that was developed by a Japanese sports scientist and Olympic coach. If you want the details, this post is a good source. The down and dirty is you download a Tabata Timer. This timer will count 4-minutes off in 20 and 10 second intervals. Run like your life depends on it for the 20 seconds then jog or run lightly for the 10 seconds.

     The other easy option I’ve used for running the mile is doing it in 100-meter sprints. 

The quarter mile track is usually marked off in four 100-meter increments. Run the first 100 as hard as you can. Lightly run or jog the second 100 meters. Keep alternating 100-meter blocks until you have finished the 1600 meters. 

     Running 1 mile in as many different ways as possible will serve you well. It is short enough to not interfere with the rest of your training, get silly with it. Run it once, then beat your time. Daily.

     Do wind sprints.

     Run it with the kids and race with them. Make bets to see if they can beat “the old man.” Then win.

     Talk to your doctor about this before you start, though. Make sure that your heart can handle changes like this. You do not want to have anything seize up on you, so make sure that your physician agrees that this is safe for you to do.

     Oh, yes, both the Tabata and wind sprints will hurt if you do them right. That is what they are supposed to do.

     However you choose to add and run the Daily Mile, add it. Rain, shine, cold, or hot it’s only one mile. Anyone can do one mile. Too easy.

     Train hard.

     Train smart.

30 Minutes to Train

     You have only 30 minutes to hit the gym and train. You have been training. You are no novice. Your schedule has changed and this is what you have. 30 minutes.

     By now, you have most likely heard about High Intensity Training, High Intensity Interval Training, or even Tabata Drills. You may have heard about them, but what are they? Are they just fads or do they really work? In short, yes. These training techniques do work and they work very well. Let's go through the science behind them and then look over some routines to get you started.

     Most of us train to lose fat, get stronger, leaner, and to perform better physically. With the goal of cardiovascular training covering most of these, we can probably accomplish this by focusing on nutrition and weight training. Although, High Intensity Training (HIT), High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), and Tabata Drills have proven to be far more effective and efficient in achieving these goals.

     Dr. Izumi Tabata, a researcher at the College of Sport and Health Science, developed the theory behind HIT and HIIT. He is clearly the one for whom Tabata Drills are named.

     Intensity may be defined as that percentage of instant capability to do an exercise. HIT differs greatly from the training methodology which has held for decades. That being, the 3 sets of 10 repetitions to achieve muscle failure.

     The principles of HIT are

1. Exercise that is as intense and strenuous as possible while maintaining proper form
2. Completed during a short duration
3. Low frequency of workouts, not more than 3 per week

     When doing this, you need to focus on the quality of the movement while going to muscular failure, not the overall number of repetitions.

     These training methods have been proven to have an increased effect on burning fat stores. These techniques increase your metabolic rate during the training event; however, unlike jogging and other traditional aerobic exercises, HIT/HIIT/Tabata increase your metabolism for up to 48 hours after your session. So, for 1 to 2 days after your Tabata time, you are still burning fat stores at an accelerated rate. When your body repairs all that muscle, your resting metabolism will remain at a higher rate due to the lean mass. How cool is that?

     The Tabata protocol consists of 20 seconds of maximum intensity exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated continuously 8 cycles. This training was done 3 times a week for 8 weeks. After which, studies show the anaerobic capacity was increased by 28%, while the VO2 max was increased by 14% (Tabata at al.,1996).

     Study results prove that even 15 minutes of HIT/HIIT is more effective at burning fat than 60 minutes of jogging. Research conducted at the University of Montreal showed that even a 15 second interval of intensive workout is optimal for increasing maximum oxygen capacity in patients with coronary artery disease (Guiraud et al., 2010).

     Are HIT/HIIT/Tabata Drills a fad? No. They really work and they are here. Grit your teeth. Knuckle down. Do them. Three times a week. 30 minutes each session. That's it. First, let's go over some important points to keep in mind

• Keep training until muscle failure (sometimes even longer) to stimulate the new muscle growth

• Design a short and concise training program

• Recovery period differs from person to person, if you don’t see the results, it is possible that you are overtrained

• Nutritional requirements are going to increase. Eat high quality proteins, complex carbs, and drink plenty of fluids

• This training is not meant for the novices, patients with cardiovascular problems and other risk factors

• Sessions should not last longer than 10-20 minutes for an 8 week cycle

• High insanity cardio in more appropriate than high intensity cardio

     In practice this is very effective and adaptable. It can be carried out at running track, in nature, in water, in the gym (treadmill, stationary bike, elliptical, jumping rope, punching bag, weights, and many other training aids).

     Warm up and cool down cannot be under stated. Nor can talking to your doctor first. Seriously, this level of exercise is going to put massive strain on your cardiovascular system, your skeletal structure, and your muscles and ligaments. If you have not talked to your physician about this yet you need to talk to your psychiatrist because, dude, yer nuts. Seriously, talk to your doctor BEFORE you try this.

Here is a short list of exercises to try:

• Mountain Climbers/Dips/Pull-Ups/Russian Twists
• Bodybuilders/Bicycle Crunch
• Push-ups/Pull-Ups/Squats/Bicycle Crunches/ 8 times for a full 16 minute Tabata cycle

Exercises included in the 20-minute Tabata workout. Try this 3 times per week for 8 weeks.

	1	2	3	4
Segment 1	Push-Ups	Bodybuilder	Dips	Bodybuilder
Segment 2	Pull-Ups	High Knees	Pull-Ups	Side Lunge
Segment 3	Squats	Sit-Ups	V-Ups	Crunches
Segment 4	Bicycle Crunches	Butt Kickers	Jump Lunges	Mountain Climbers

     As you can see, these have been put together in groups that are suitable for Tabata workouts. Whichever exercise you choose, your choices should use a large number of muscles to get maximum benefit. Think compound exercises, compound muscle groups, and you should do fine.

     Here is a longer list of exercises that you can use as a jumping off point to designing your own HIT/HIIT/Tabata Drills workout:

1. Burpee: Start standing, then crouch to a low squat position with the hands on the floor. Then, kick feet back to a plank, then down into the bottom of a push-up. Push off the ground and quickly return to the squat position. Last step? Jump up as high as possible before squatting down again and jumping back into the next push-up. Add a pull-up and you have just about hit everything, head to toe! This is what I call a Bodybuilder.
2. Jump squat: Stand with the feet hip-width apart, toes pointing forward. Sit back into a squat (hips below parallel, please!) then drive the whole body up through the heels, shifting weight onto the balls of the feet as you lift off. Be sure to land on the balls of the feet and immediately bend the knees into a full squat. Make sure the knees aren’t wobbling side to side while squatting or landing from a jump.
3. Lunge jump: Start standing with the feet together and lunge the right foot forward, bending the knee about 90-degrees and keeping the torso vertical. Then, jump straight up, and while in the air, switch legs and land in a lunge with the left foot forward.
4. Dumbbell front squat: Hold a dumbbell at the sternum (the center of the chest) and do a basic front squat. Place feet a little wider than shoulder-width apart, hips stacked over knees, knees over ankles. Inhale and unlock the hips, bringing them back as the knees begin to bend. Keep the chest and shoulders upright, and continue until the hips are slightly less than 90 degrees from the ground. On the way back up, engage the core and drive through the heels to return to standing.
5. Kettlebell swing: Stand up straight, with feet a bit wider than hip-distance apart. Grab hold of the kettlebell with both hands, keeping the palms face down and arms in front of the body. Keep the knees slightly bent and drive the hips and bell back (it’s not a squat, so the knees shouldn’t have to bend that much), lowering the body just a bit to an athletic stance. In one fluid motion, explosively drive the hips forward while swinging the kettlebell, engaging the glutes and core.
6. Push-up: Get into a plank position with hands planted a little bit wider than shoulder width apart. Keep the elbows close to the body throughout the movement. Ground the toes into the floor and engage the abs and back so the body is neutral. Lower the body in one straight line until the chest touches the floor. Keeping the core engaged, exhale, and push back to the start position.
7. Overhead neutral grip press: Stand with the feet shoulder-width apart core tight. Raise the dumbbell, kettlebell, or barbell up to the shoulders with palms facing each other and the elbows below the wrists. Press the weights upward until the arms are fully extended overhead, and then lower back to the shoulders.
8. Sprints: To get extra speedy, make sure form fits function. Hold the correct posture, with eyes up, chest tall, shoulders relaxed, and arms swinging up and down with the elbows at 45-degree angles.
9. Stationary bike or rower: Hopping on the bike for a quick spin is pretty self-explanatory, but the indoor rower is a bit trickier. First, strap feet into the foot stretchers, sit up tall, and grab the handle. Roll forward until legs are completely bent and arms are reaching forward. From this starting position (called the “catch”), explosively drive the legs back. When the legs are nearly extended, swing the torso back and pull the arms in so the handle is almost touching the rib cage. From here (aka the “finish”) recover by stretching the arms straight out, returning the upper body to a straight, vertical position, and bending the legs back to the catch.
10. Russian twist: Sit on the floor with the knees bent and feet together and lifted a few inches off the floor. With the back at a 45-degree angle from the ground, move the arms from one side to another in a twisting motion. Go super slow, twisting the shoulders completely from side to side. Or, try bicycle crunches as an alterntive.
11. Ski abs: Start in pushup position with hands under the shoulders and core engaged. Jump the feet to the left side of the body, as close to the upper torso as possible. Jump the legs back to a straight plank position and repeat on the right side.

     Please, tell me how it works for you. If there is anything you want to know more about, just let me know.

Motivation Dedication

     Motivation, the reason, or reasons, one has for acting or behaving in a particular way. The dictionary labels motivation as a noun. I suppose it must be since it is a thing. If you ask people what motivates them to exercise you will receive varied and interesting responses. Almost everybody who is exercising because of somebody else. For some the body is the temple of God. For others, it is to be healthier and more active with family and friends. Being eye-candy and feeling sexier were also mentioned.
     The responses to this question seemed to involve being there for others. This is a great motivator particularly when those others are your immediate family. I come up with, find, and commit to working out for my family, eye-candy for my wife, general eye-candy, and ego as being excellent motivators. I am also competitive and want to be able to go at lest as far, as fast, and as hard core as people half my age. But, getting to this point took re-framing my initial view of working out.
     Motivation is great for the initial jump. It is the kick in the guts that really gets us moving on a run schedule. But, motivation, like fires, will burn out. What happens next? What do you do? You dig deeper and find dedication.

     Dedication is defined as being dedicated to a cause or an activity. Dedicated is being devoted, single-mindedly, to a goal or purpose; allocating time, energy, and all other needed resources to a particular goal, purpose, or service. Dedication to yourself is the key.
     Dedication is everywhere in our lives. We are dedicated to a project at work. We are dedicated to our children. We are dedicated to our friends and family and they are dedicated to us. In fitness, as in any other aspect of your life, you must take care of yourself. You must first love yourself. Then, you can take care of yourself.
     Dedication requires courage. The bottom line here is courage. Motivation and dedication vital to the formula, but without courage it will all fall apart.
     The kind of courage that I am talking about is from love, not just being afraid to do something and doing it anyway. The kind of courage that this takes is what the Greeks wrote about. What they held dear in their heroes and legends. The kind of stuff that writers of legend and lore like Homer from the age of lyric wrote about. The great endurance embodied in his heroes. A driving will to resist obstacles that were thrown into his path at every turn can inspire us today. Some days we feel like we need that. This will to continue, this kind of endurance, is not just for the outward enemies that Homer wrote about or that veterans of all wars have.

     This will, this inner strength, this courage, is aimed at inward passions and misfortune in general as well as the outside elements. These intangible enemies can be just as deadly and destructive as any met on beachheads and mountainsides. The courage, the heart to keep going forward at home, with family and, especially, inside oneself is the hardest courage to find on most days. But, it is the type that you already have and live every day whether you know it or not.

     Above, we mentioned your family and friends. You do almost everything for them and they for you. No questions asked. Well, there are the occasional, “Are you out of your mind?!” questions and looks. Still, by and large, there is a core group that falls into the You-Call-I-Haul category.

     Now, show yourself this kind of courage and dedication. Seriously. Many of us have a difficult time doing this. If someone you trust and love is willing to do that for you, aren't you worth doing it for yourself?

     This is ironness of heart, from the Oddyssey and the Illiad. This ironness is love. That is what drives us to greater achievements than any mindset alone ever could. It was no mindset by which Shakespeare wrote any sonnet. It was by no mindset that a squad member or platoon member ever ran back into a hail of gunfire and explosions to grab a wounded buddy. No, these were done from the heart, out of love. Courage, from love, is what gives the true warrior his heart. Love is what makes a mother such a formidable force.

     Bottom line? Love yourself enough to invest the blood, sweat, and tears into you that you would invest in your family or battle buddies without a second thought.

     Love your self enough to go that extra mile. To get to the gym even though you really don't feel like it. You show strength in the face of great pain or grief for your children. Now do it for you.

     It's 95+ degrees outside. I am going to the track to do my push ups, pull ups, sit ups, squats, and other aerobic training. I am going to do this because I want to be there for the people who need me. That list starts with Me and my Family.

What is your courage?

Health Benefits of Tea

Globally there are more people drinking tea than any other beverage with the exception of plain old water.
There are centuries of anecdotal evidence claiming a wide variety of health benefits and a mix of clinical results.

Green, White, and Oolong tea all come from the same plant. That is the Camellia sinensis. From oral hygiene to fat loss tea from this plant offers a wide spectrum of benefits.

Dental Health
Tea contains a small amount of natural fluoride, with mature leaves containing as much as 10 to 20 times the fluoride levels of young leaves from the same plant.

Flat Belly There are several studies showing that the antioxidants, catechins, in green tea are being found to trigger the body's metabolic functions. This boost in metabolism means a boost in burning calories according to scientific studies.  

The Journal of Obesity published a study in 2011 concerning a high fat diet and compounds in green tea. Mice that were fed some of the compounds in green tea with a high fat diet gained weight slower than moce on just the high fat diet.

Cancer Prevention
Thanks to its polyphenols (the antioxidants found in tea), sipping on a cup may have cancer-fighting effects. Polyphenols are being shown in studies around the globe to have anti-tumor effects. The compounds are being shown in more cases to halt pr limit tumor growth.

Hydration
Was a time my senior NCOs would holler at me for drinking coffee in all weather conditions. The argument was that I was dehydrating myself with the caffeine. Tea has caffeine, too. The upside is that researchers have agreed that, in spite of the caffeine, the drinking of tea and coffee still put liquid into our bodies.
Still, I would use this as a supplement to drinking water.

Heart Health
According to a study conducted in the Netherlands and published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, drinking tea was associated with a more than 50 percent reduction in severe atherosclerosis (hardening and narrowing of the arteries) in women who drank 1 to 2 cups a day.

The journal Stroke, found that long-term consumption of black, green, oolong or white tea can cut the risk of strokes by as much as 60 percent.

Brain Health
Tea may even be effective in preventing some neurological diseases including Alzheimer's. The polyphenols are believed to protect neurotransmitters like dopamine (regulates emotional responses, among other benefits) and epinephrin (adrenalin, it is released into the blood stream as a response to mental or physical stress), There are positive indications that the polyphenols also inhibit senile plaques in the brain.

Bone Health
Green tea has been found to improve bone mineral density and strength. Studies have shown that elderly women who drank tea had higher bone density in their hips and less bone loss than women who didn't drink tea.  Researchers also say that these results confirm previous studies that have suggested drinking tea may protect against bone loss and osteoporosis. 

Eye HealthA 2010 study found that components in green tea positively affected the tissues of the eyes, especially tissue related to the retina.

Prevent Wrinkles

A recent study demonstrates that white tea inhibited wrinkle production by strengthening elastin and collagen.

Simply, the amount of clinical studies, research, and anecdotal evidence clearly show there are several benefits to drinking tea. So much so that, in the course of researching and writing this piece, I have added several different teas to my daily routine.