Triathlete turned Featherweight

With all fitness routines and training plans, there is always a potential for burnout due to excessive training.  The majority of my friends participate in endurance events and will train year round with few rest periods (you know who you are). For many of us, it's hard to ease up on the training when you see your times getting faster or all the cool kids are signing up for another half marathon in two weeks and you don't want to be left out. Getting better though requires training smarter and recovering from races, training and seasons.

So what's my point? Well, it's officially off season for the sport of triathlon and although there are plenty of swim, bike or run workouts I can be doing to improve for next year, I've decided to try a few different workouts to prevent burnout during my 2013 Tahoe Ironman training instead of trying to find a cure for burnout one month out from the race. Granted, I will continue to run and cycle during the next couple of months to keep up my fitness but I'm gonna have a different kind of fun for now.

Okay, so this picture was from Halloween '07 but fast forward five years and this week I had two successful power hours of boxing at Title Boxing Club in Arlington minus the robe. I bought a GroupOn for two weeks of unlimited boxing or kickboxing classes for $15. Hooray for savings! On my first visit the staff was great at making me feel comfortable and "The Apostle" (yes, our trainer for the class is a professional boxer whose real name is Kendrick) assisted me in wrapping my hand and wrists with my new free pink hand wraps. If you don't own gloves, they will let you borrow their loaners.

The place is a cool sight as the entire room is filled with rows and rows of punching bags and a small ring that I assume is used for personal training. The idea behind the power hour workouts is to give you a total body workout with the potential to burn up to 1000 calories. "The Apostle" had us warm up for about 20 minutes by jogging, performing lunges, side squats, jumping jacks, etc.  I was very comfortable at this point as one of my favorite classes called Nike Training Club at 24 Hour Fitness has the same type of warm up drills. Then it was time to put on the gloves and find our bag.

For the next 20-25 minutes, we performed one to three minute fitness rounds led by "The Apostle". I'm not the greatest when it comes to an instructor telling me what to do in a class. I'll be honest in saying that it takes me a minute to register the movements that I need to perform and I really have to think through it the first few times. I hope I'm not the only one like this but anyway, my first class was a learning experience as I tried to get my straight punches, left hooks and uppercuts completed in the right combination he asked for. If you have never repeatedly hit a punching bag, believe me...it's hard work when you don't have a ton of upper body strength. My deltoids were burning and I was failing at getting my gloves "home" after each punch. "Home" is putting the glove in front of your face for protection if you were really boxing, but since I wasn't about to get hit in the face at the moment the glove was not going home as my gloves felt like they weighed 50 lbs each after a few minutes of repetitive punching.

The last 15 minutes were dedicated to core exercises using medicine balls. I was happy we were about to do some exercises that I knew I was sort of good at. Then I realized that lifting the 10lb. medicine ball over my head was not happening with the spaghetti arms I had so I had to switch to an 8lb. ball.

When the hour was over I checked my heart rate monitor and I had burned 430 calories. This is pretty typical for an hour workout for me so my goal for the second class I took this morning was to burn more calories. It's pretty amazing how the body adapts to exercise, my arms were sore from Wednesday's workout but once I got going, I was able to last longer during the fitness rounds. With "The Apostle's" motivation and encouragement to concentrate on hitting his bare hands with my gloves faster than me hitting the bag on my own, I was able to burn 500 calories today.

Wiping the drops of my own sweat off the floor is guaranteed satisfaction that the $15 I spent to try something different was worth it. I would recommend anyone wanting to try something different or get out of a rut to check out a boxing class. I'm looking forward to some super sexy toned arms at the end of my two weeks!

Start Today, Not Tomorrow!

How many times have you said I’ll start working out tomorrow?

If you’re like most Americans, you spent the weekend doing everything except getting enough exercise. At least that’s what was said about Americans back in 2002 when CNN reported that only 30% of individuals were exercising three or more times per week.

I can honestly say that I was a victim of the “I’ll start tomorrow” disease year after year but in 2004, I signed up for my first marathon with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training program.  I don’t think I knew a marathon was 26.2 miles at the time but supporting this organization in memory of my grandfather seemed like a great way to work out regularly and improve my fitness.  Most non endurance athletes would think that if you run a marathon you are in really great shape, but that is not always the case.  Anyone with a body can be an endurance athlete with the right mental attitude and willingness to train.  I say this because I completed multiple endurance events including marathons, century rides and triathlons by doing the least amount of training possible due to time constraints or plain laziness. 

Today, it’s estimated that the trend in exercising has increased to over 50% but with over 300 million Americans, there are still over 150 million people NOT exercising and my goal is to encourage hundreds and maybe even thousands of people to get moving.  Exercising obviously decreases the risk of many chronic diseases but making a lifestyle change can be tough which is why I have refocused my life to improve my overall health while encouraging others to improve their lives as well.

I’m currently pursuing my Master’s degree in Kinesiology and taking courses in Exercise Physiology, Sports Psychology and Analysis of Human Movement to have a better understanding of how the body works.  I feel this is key in providing the best information for individuals wanting to improve their well being but also enhance performance.  I lost 20 lbs in less than three months this year and focused on strength training which allowed me to finally place in my age group at four different 5k’s and sprint triathlon races.  I’m a born again gym rat and look forward to helping people achieve their fitness and triathlon goals as I document my journey to my second Ironman in Lake Tahoe in 2013. 

So until next time, don't put off what you can do today until tomorrow! 

Take on The Heat Triathlon, 3rd place AG 30-34