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May’s 30 Day Fitness Experiment Recap and Analysis

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I’ve spent the past 9 months doing various 30-day lifestyle experiments which have targeted many different aspects of my life.  However, I had yet to do one concerning fitness so I figured it was about time.  The month of May was an attempt to do something active and different every day as a means to get out of my comfort zone to try new methods of exercise.  As with every other experiment I’ve done so far, aspects of them have crept their way into my life and have become habit (compost bin, talking with strangers on the train, minimalism, eating less meat and more veggies, reading short stories, having sober weekends and not feeling weird about it, etc) and I’m sure that this fitness month will be no exception to that.  As with any good experiment it is important to first ask the right kinds of questions.  I wanted to find answers to questions like: “Is broomball a legitimate form of exercise?”  or “Should I spend my time going to the gym or playing pickup soccer?” or “Do I get a better workout when I do them alone or with friends?”  I definitely found some answers to those questions and I’ll recap some of them in this post.

I did a total of 27 different kinds of workouts this month, it was pretty tough logistically but with a little bit of organization and a whole lot of supportive friends I managed to do it.  The only repeat workouts were running during Ragnar and hiking during my Hawaii trip.  In sum, I ended up doing 31 total bouts of exercise, some more intense than others but at the end of the day I accomplished my goal of getting out of my comfort zone and trying out new exercises.  For a full list of the workouts I did, scroll to the bottom of this post.

At the beginning of the month I bought a heart rate monitor because as an engineer, I had to find a way to measure my experiment.  How do my new workouts compare to my habitual workouts and how do all of those relate to my overall fitness level?  Here’s a chart for min/max/average heart rates for each exercise I did this month.  I managed to either forget or mess up my heart rate data for only 3 of my workouts, so they’re omitted from this chart, showing 28 out of the 31 workouts I did this month:

Having the heart rates recorded is one thing, but what’s more important is to put these into context of your training zones which differ from person to person depending primarily on age and resting heart rate (54bpm for me): Fat Burning Zone (125-160bpm), Aerobic Zone (160-174), Anaerobic Threshold Zone (174-181), and Anaerobic Zone (181-195).  I won’t go through how I calculated the zones because it’s pretty well-established and you can find the equations online anywhere. HERE are the equations I used.  Here’s the chart with the zones overlaid on my heart rate data:

In terms of Average Heart Rate, I did not have any exercises that were in my Anaerobic Threshold Zone nor in my Anaerobic Zone.  Most of my workouts landed me in the Fat Burning Zone:

  • Fat Burning Zone:  Broomball, Harvard Stadium, Soccer, Lead Climbing, Plyometrics, Ragnar 1/2/3, Insanity, Boxing, Road Biking, Dragon Boat, Austere Fitness, Rollerblading, Spartan Race WOD, and Swimming.
  • Exercises that didn’t make the Fat Burning cut for Average Heart Rate: Bouldering, Rowing, P90X Shoulders/Arms, Apartment Moving, TRX Suspension Training, Outrigger Canoeing, Hiking 1/2/3, Yoga, Resistance Bands, Fitness Park.
The caveat here is that I only measured heart rate.  I indeed burned fat while hiking 22 miles over 3 days in Hawaii, it’s just that my heart rate didn’t bring me into that zone.  A proper measurement would include EMG for measuring muscle activity and VO2 for measuring oxygen consumption, but I’ll never have such advanced equipment so heart rate is all I have to work with.  The moral of the story here for me is that for the exercises that didn’t make the fat burning cut, I likely wasn’t pushing myself hard enough (low intensity level) or consistently enough (too many breaks).  The other lesson is that I was burning fat doing a variety of different things; from rollerblading to boxing to throwing rocks, I was helping make my body leaner and healthier, all without having to join a gym, spend any money, or use any weights/gym machines.
In terms of my Maximum Heart Rate, I had a few surprising findings:
  • Anaerobic Zone: Broomball was the only exercise that brought me to an anaerobic level of working out, who knew?  I knew I was working really hard and super out of breath but I had no idea I was playing at such a high intensity level.  Thank you Social Boston Sports for introducing me to Broomball (league champs 2 years in a row!)
  • Anaerobic Threshold Zone:  Pickup Soccer and my 3rd Ragnar leg.  Both of these workout were done with friends, were competitive with other people, and were among the most fun I had while exercising.
  • Aerobic Zone:  Harvard Stadium Run, Plyometrics, Ragnar 1/2, Boxing, Spartan Race WOD, Austere Fitness, and Road Biking.
  • Fat Burning Zone: Rowing, Bouldering, Lead Climbing, P90X Shoulders/Arms, Apartment Moving, Insanity, Dragon Boat Racing, Outrigger Canoe Paddling, Hiking 1/2/3, Power Yoga, Rollerblading, Swimming, and the Fitness Park.
In all of my workouts this month, I at least reached the point somewhere in the workout where I was burning fat, it just might not have been burning fat the entire time as the average heart rate would indicate.
As for my initial questions starting this month, I found that Broomball is not only a legitimate form of exercise, it’s a fantastic form of exercise which could help push the limits of my anaerobic conditioning.  I also found that I didn’t need to go to a gym or lift weights, I’m better of running around outside playing pickup soccer.  Lasty, I did 15 of my workouts (roughly half) with friends, these were also the ones where I pushed myself the hardest (anaerobic threshold and anaerobic zones).
Would I do another 30day fitness experiment?  Definitely.  I had a blast, I feel great, and I have plenty of ideas for other types of exercise.  There were about a dozen other exercises that I couldn’t quite do just because of logistics, time, and access to gear, some of them are: ultimate frisbee, mountain biking, break dancing, capoeira, various martial arts, kick boxing, spinning, kayaking, canoeing, and others.
Here’s the list of the exercises I did this month, feel free to check them out by clicking on the links:
  1. Pickup Broomball in Somerville (thanks to Michelle for enlightening me to glory that is pickup broomball)
  2. Harvard Stadium Run (thanks to Dan for always being willing to crush it)
  3. Rowing in the Gym (thanks to no one because erging sucks)
  4. Bouldering Pyramid Workout at Metrorock (boulder sesh with Tony)
  5. Pickup Soccer at Tufts University (thanks Dan, Lauren, and Katie for inviting me)
  6. Lead Rock Climbing at Farley Ledge (thanks to Tom)
  7. P90X Shoulders, Biceps, and Triceps
  8. 12 Minute Tabata Abdominal Intervals (thanks Julia for sending this my way, sorry we couldn’t get any spinning classes in)
  9. P90X Plyometrics in my Living Room (sorry neighbors below me)
  10. Moving Apartments as a Workout (you’re welcome Sarah :)
  11. Ragnar Relay Race Cape Cod (thanks Katie for organizing it and thanks team for being awesome, 6th place out of over 300 teams!)
  12. Active Recovery Day
  13. Boxing at the Ring Boxing Club (thanks Dan and JLo for joining me)
  14. TRX Suspension Training (thanks Shane for providing the gear and walking me through a workout)
  15. Insanity – Core Cardio and Balance (thanks Karen for letting me borrow the DVDs)
  16. Road Biking
  17. Dragon Boat Racing (thanks Julia for sending this my way, thanks Dave the team’s coach for letting me try it out)
  18. Outrigger Canoe Paddling on Oahu (thanks to Sarah and the Lanikai Canoe Club)
  19. Hiking the Kalalau Trail in Kauai (thanks to Sarah and her expert logistics)
  20. Power Yoga on Kalalau Beach in Kauai Featured as the Adventure Photo of the Day on LetsbeWild.com
  21. Fitness in Austere Environments (Kauai) (thanks Trevor for being a berzerk viking and designing these workouts)
  22. Rollerblading on the Charles River Bike Path
  23. Swimming at Tufts University (thanks Ashley)
  24. Resistance Bands (thanks Graham)
  25. Elliptical – didn’t even write about it b/c it was so lame, recap: awkward/unnatural motion and couldn’t raise my heart rate higher than 140 no matter how high the resistance and how hard I pushed.
  26. Spartan Race Workout of the Day (WOD) (thanks Andy and Joe from Peak and Spartan Races)
  27. Fitness Park Workout (thanks Boston)

Dragon Boat Racing on the Charles River with Living Root

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Dragon Boat Racing is described by Wikipedia as being similar to outrigger canoe racing but instead of a traditional 6-man outrigger canoe there’s a 22 person crew in a canoe with no outrigger.  Of the 22 person crew, 20 people are paddlers all facing the front of the boat, one person is the drummer who sits on the front of the boat calling the cadence (similar to a coxswain in rowing), and another person is the steersman who stands in the rear of the boat and keeps the crew on course.  It was started as early as 1500 years ago by the Chinese as a way to pay hommage to their dragon deity (one of their 12 zodiac signs) in return for good fortune in the rivers and to promote rain for their crops.  Today Dragon Boat Racing is done all over the world with formal associations in Australia, the U.S., New Zealand, Italy, Hungary, and many other places.  Up until a few weeks ago I had no idea such a sport even existed.

I found this random image on Google and while their timing looks way off, it's a good picture to get the idea of what Dragon Boat Racing looks like (Image courtesy of Google Images and http://richardbrickman.com/richtext/?p=41).

I found out about this sport through a friend of mine who emailed me a suggestion for a new type of workout for my 30 day lifestyle experiment on fitness (feel free to email suggestions to theyoungurbanunprofessional@gmail.com or tweet @youngandurban).  My friend sent me the website of a local group in Boston called Living Root who practices three times each week and does various races in the Northeast and Canada.  Their website indicated that they were very receptive to new recruits, even offering a free first practice, discounted first month practice, and then if you’re really interested after that then you can drop the $200 to become a member of the team year-round.

After a quick set of internet searches (Google, Facebook, Wikipedia, Twitter, etc) I found that the web is loaded with info on dragon boat teams, events, and training plans.  Who knew that Dragon Boat teams from all over the world were blowing up the Twitter-sphere.  I quickly decided that it looked AWESOME so I emailed Living Root’s team leader David Parker to get some further details on the team’s practice schedule and what to expect on my first day.  He seemed super stoked to bring me on and I was psyched in return to give it a try.

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Saturday Morning 8:45am - Getting the dragon boats ready for a great practice on the Charles River.

I arrived first to the docks so I could be ready when everyone showed up.  I was kind of blown away by how chill and inviting the team members were.  I was quickly introduced to many smiling people who were totally pumped to do some dragon boat racing at 9am on a Saturday morning.  They supplied me with a life vest, a paddle, a short lesson and then promptly seated me in the rear of the boat.  From this position I could watch other people’s form and try my best to keep time.

I found it to be an exhilarating workout, especially while sprinting.  The fact that we were also practicing in the Charles River with the Boston Skyline as our backdrop was also very cool.  Wearing my heart rate monitor I saw that my heart rate routinely peaked around 150bpm with my average staying around 130 throughout a 1.5 hour practice.  When we were done I was totally beat and I could tell that my shoulder/back muscles got WORKED from all the paddling.  I’d be excited to see how fit I’d become if I paddled three times a week for a year in addition to my hiking and running routine.

Here’s a video of the Living Root Team from 2010 to get a glimpse of what it looks like to do Dragon Boat Racing (feel free to ignore or mute the techno music in the background lol):

There were several things that I enjoyed about this team/practice/sport.  1.)  The coaches really emphasized teamwork because you could have a boat of super strong athletes but if they’re not working together in synch then they’re useless.    2.) I enjoyed the raw power that’s needed to pull your weight in the boat.  Using your back/shoulders/abs to drive the paddle through the water was a great feeling.  If you’re not pulling your weight then you’re dragging the whole team down.  3.)  I had a great experience meeting the various members of the team, it seemed like a solid community to be a part of with some veterans, some newbies, and overall a bunch of motivated friendly people.

I’m sure with some focus on my technique to help harness and focus my enthusiasm I could actually get pretty good at this sport.  Unfortunately, much like the Boxing workouts I liked so much earlier this month, the practice schedules conflict with my work schedule.  Practices are at 6:30pm twice during the workweek and once on Saturday mornings.  During the week this would be impossible for me to get to practice and on Saturdays I’m generally on an adventure somewhere climbing/hiking/other shenanigans in New Hampshire/Vermont/Maine.  I think if I worked in the downtown or Cambridge areas I would definitely sign up for a year just to try something new.  However, until a new work arrangement happens, I’ll have to put Dragon Boat Racing on the list of awesome things I’ve tried, enjoyed, and would totally recommend to other people who are looking for a fun alternative form of exercise.