Dufisthenics

Last night I filmed an intro video for the March Bar-barian forum challenge, “Maximum Fatigue”.  The challenge involves pre-fatiguing your muscles before trying a max rep set of several exercises.

I was surprised how much of a difference it made doing a brief 20 second hold before repping out, it was uncomfortable.

I also dedicated a lot of time in the video demonstrating acceptable versus questionable form as this is an issue that is always present with these challenges.  We have had some issues with guys cranking some high rep upper body exercise sets but utilizing lower body momentum to help their numbers.

Many times guys don’t even realize they are not using great form as they are concentrating on just getting as many reps as possible.  Most of the time once we point it out to them they clean it up on subsequent attempts.

I still catch myself from time to time not concentrating on form like I should.  When you are in the midst of the pain of high level anaerobic activities it is easy to forget.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejnpPogCBY4

This Sunday I will be running the second half marathon of my life.  After I ran this same race last year I was in no rush to repeat the experience.  Even though running 13.1 miles is very tough physically, it is your mental endurance that is tested even more.  As the race progresses you develop lots of internal arguments in your head between the reasonable person who says “this is really uncomfortable now, just stop” and the tough guy that says “run and then when you feel tired, run faster”.

This back and forth dialogue can get to be a bit maddening.  That is why I wish I had a designated running partner for the race, I think it would make the experience a lot more bearable.  Anyway I have set my target at breaking the two hour mark for the race.  I have done that pace for a 10 mile run several times but never for 13.1.

I was happy to see that right now the forecast for Sunday morning includes temperatures in the mid to upper 50’s.  Running in cooler weather will be a big help.  It will be even better if it is overcast.

I plan to resume my juicing routine next week, it got side tracked when my family was in town.  I plan to supplement my dinner juices with some plant proteins.  We have a tub of hemp protein that has been sitting around unused.  Ali has bought a lot of these type of supplements with the hopes of including them in her normal diet.  However the implementation of that plan always seems to get derailed.  If I start handling it you can be assured it will be included on a consistent basis.

Dan Kalosthenos, a fellow 40+ year old bar enthusiast (much more advanced than I am), is a vegan.  He uses a number of these plant based supplements in his nutrition plan as well.  If it is good enough for him it is good enough for me.  It is because of Dan that I have started drinking more and more almond milk and less of the dairy variety.