Spartan Race

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In my bid to keep fit, lose the last bit of fat and do it all by trying to mix things up as much as I can and keep it interesting, I’ve stumbled across a new challenge, Spartan Race, or Warrior Dash it is also called.

This looks like a great way to challenge yourself in a way which is  achievable for the majority of people, as they start at just a 5k run with 10 obstacles on the way, so this is what im going to start with.

I’ve practiced with a couple of cross country runs, and since these are across fields and through mud, its a lot easier on my ITBS (which I mentioned in the last blog), so switching to cross country seems a good way to keep the 5k and 10ks going if your suffering and its a bit more challenging, so if you get ITBS give this a go.

Theres a Spartan Race pretty local to me in September, so im targeting that, and will post the first photos on this blog with the proof that I made it to the end in one piece.

so keep an eye open for that one, and in the meantime check out the website, it looks great

IT Band Syndrome

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If you read my previous post “Office Worker Exercise Plan” you will have seen that I complete a 5k and a couple of interval runs during my lunch breaks at work, this actually used to be a bit more where I would do 3 x 5k’s during the week with a 10k on a weekend, but due to some severe pains I was getting on the outside of my leg I had to reduce the amount of running I was doing, and this last week has seen me come to a total halt as the pain is too great to even bother thinking of running.

So the good news is after speaking to a couple of guys who regularly compete in half marathons, this pain is quite common and is known as ITBS or IT Bands Syndrome, and its a tendon that runs down the outside of your leg, becomes stressed due to the impact of running on roads and few other causes, with the symptoms being pain on the outside of the knee and in rare occasions the hip (trust me to get the rare one). Hopefully a bit of rest and pre run stretching will sort it out.

If this is something you have worked through let me know how you done and what worked, I want to hit those roads soon, and we all know cardio is king…..

Office Worker Exercise Plan….

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As an office worker I pretty much sit still for 8 hours a day, and then stick an hour or more commute either side of it, so find it really hard to get enough exercise into my day to make the big improvements im looking for. I’ve stuck with it for some time and it is paying off but it’s extremely hard to be disciplined when your brain is fried at the end of a long day, the exercise does help with more than the body, as it also helps me de-stress thanks to all of those little endorphins my brain happily releases.

I was wondering what others do to make the most of limited time, as looking at routines in menshealth written by marines is not giving me the boost I need.

I do 3 sets of 4 exercises in a morning and then again on a night, as read that splitting it, gives you a higher metabolism across the day to burn more calories, you also have more energy as you don’t get a slump in the final sets. I do this almost every day targeting different muscle groups each day.

Mixed with this is my cardio, where I do a 5k once a week, and get in 2 interval sets of either running or on the cross trainer, these are just for 10 minutes as Ive just started and they are killers.

but ive totally plateaued and feel the last bit of improvement im looking for is probably not worth the trouble, so what do you do? do you have any great tips?