May’s 30 Day Fitness Experiment Recap and Analysis

Posted on June 3, 2012 by The Young Urban Unprofessional

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:

Pickup Broomball in Somerville (thanks to Michelle for enlightening me to glory that is pickup broomball)
Harvard Stadium Run (thanks to Dan for always being willing to crush it)
Rowing in the Gym (thanks to no one because erging sucks)
Bouldering Pyramid Workout at Metrorock (boulder sesh with Tony)
Pickup Soccer at Tufts University (thanks Dan, Lauren, and Katie for inviting me)
Lead Rock Climbing at Farley Ledge (thanks to Tom)
P90X Shoulders, Biceps, and Triceps
12 Minute Tabata Abdominal Intervals (thanks Julia for sending this my way, sorry we couldn’t get any spinning classes in)
P90X Plyometrics in my Living Room (sorry neighbors below me)
Moving Apartments as a Workout (you’re welcome Sarah :)
Ragnar Relay Race Cape Cod (thanks Katie for organizing it and thanks team for being awesome, 6th place out of over 300 teams!)
Active Recovery Day
Boxing at the Ring Boxing Club (thanks Dan and JLo for joining me)
TRX Suspension Training (thanks Shane for providing the gear and walking me through a workout)
Insanity – Core Cardio and Balance (thanks Karen for letting me borrow the DVDs)
Road Biking
Dragon Boat Racing (thanks Julia for sending this my way, thanks Dave the team’s coach for letting me try it out)
Outrigger Canoe Paddling on Oahu (thanks to Sarah and the Lanikai Canoe Club)
Hiking the Kalalau Trail in Kauai (thanks to Sarah and her expert logistics)
Power Yoga on Kalalau Beach in Kauai Featured as the Adventure Photo of the Day on LetsbeWild.com
Fitness in Austere Environments (Kauai) (thanks Trevor for being a berzerk viking and designing these workouts)
Rollerblading on the Charles River Bike Path
Swimming at Tufts University (thanks Ashley)
Resistance Bands (thanks Graham)
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.
Spartan Race Workout of the Day (WOD) (thanks Andy and Joe from Peak and Spartan Races)
Fitness Park Workout (thanks Boston)

Resistance Bands on the Charles River Fitness Park

Posted on May 31, 2012 by The Young Urban Unprofessional

Having just come back from Hawaii, the last thing I wanted to do today was to workout inside. So I went for a short 10 mile bike ride. However, having already done a bike ride this month I decided to stop at the Fitness Park located along the Charles River to get in some alternative exercise. I brought my roommate’s resistance bands and did a shoulders/biceps/triceps workout. For those of you who think resistance bands are for sissies, guess again. You can make them as easy or as tough as you want depending on the strength of your band and/or the tension you create for yourself. I got a good burn going on my muscles and my muscles were shaking by the end of each set. We used to use them all the time when I played high school and during my brief stint in college as well. They are great for strengthening things like rotator-cuffs for example. You can also get a good burn doing just about anything as long as you’re doing it right (i.e. consistent tension in the band throughout the range of the exercise, if the bands go slack you’re doing it wrong).

Using a heart rate monitor for the first time during a resistance band workout I found that I should probably mix in some type of cardiovascular component next time. My min/max/average heart rates were 67/96/125, so pretty low intensity as far as heart rate goes. I was feeling a serious burn in my muscles but I wasn’t exactly working my lungs at all. It would have been great to do one set of shoulders/biceps/triceps and then jump rope or do abs as a way to get my heart rate average up overall. I felt ok with not doing this today because I had already biked 10 miles so I figured that was good enough cardio for the day.

I meant to bring the bands with me on my trip to Hawaii so I could get a workout done in the airport but I totally forgot and left them at home. I would definitely bring these on travel with me as a way to get a quick and effective workout in my hotel room instead of using the bogus equipment usually found in hotel workout facilities. I’d also use them for rehab as well if I were injured. For example, my roommate had shoulder surgery a while back and he’s been using them pretty consistently to regain strength. I used them last summer when I aggravated my shoulder 2 months into the P90X+ workout program. A mixture of rest (i.e. no shoulder exercises) and resistance band workouts helped me to move past the shoulder issue. I’m even thinking of getting a set of bands to keep at my desk at work for those times when I’m sleepy at the end of the day, getting the blood flowing is a great way to wake back up.

I like resistance bands because they are light-weight, low-maintenance, and can be used inside or outside to give you a serious workout so I definitely approve of using them as a way to stay fit and augment your normal workout routine.

P90X Plyometric Workout in my Living Room

Posted on May 11, 2012 by The Young Urban Unprofessional

I did another P90X workout earlier this week but todays workout was much different than weight training so I decided to go for it. Wikipedia defines plyometrics as “a type of exercise designed to produce fast and powerful movements. It is generally used by athletes to improve performance in sports, especially those that involve speed, quickness and power.” It’s also often referred to as “jump training” because the workouts typically involve jumping in one way or another. I’ve done various forms of plyometric workouts throughout my life as a high school athlete and then for one year playing baseball in college but since then I haven’t had much of a reason to train for explosiveness. Most of my favorite athletic events are running, hiking, biking, and climbing. I haven’t really played team sports in a long time so the need for agility isn’t as high as it used to be. I’ve done both P90X and P90X Plus and both involve this type of exercise and I found them to be total arse-kickers. I admit that working out in front of your TV or laptop is a bit corny but the reality is that I sweat like crazy and I can’t walk right the next day so you can’t argue with results.

The video itself is about 60 minutes long but with warmup and cooldown exercises the actual plyometric section is about 45 minutes, still not an insignificant amount of time to be jumping around. I originally started the workout barefoot because I left my running shoes at work but I was sweating buckets which made my floor pretty slippery so I had to switch to my hiking boots. I don’t recommend wearing boots during a plyo workout, it’s pretty similar to trying to jump while wearing bricks on your feet.

A view of my living room where I did my plyometric workout. I'm sure my neighbors down below weren't too pleased with me jumping up and down for 45 minutes straight, oh well. Also in view are only about half of the bikes that exist in our apartment as well as a pretty sweet wolf poster (Thank you New Hampshire).

In addition to leaving my running shoes at work, I also left my heart rate monitor at work so I took my heart rate at the beginning of each of the six 30 second breaks. My heart rates were as follows:

Break 1 (after warmup) – 104bpm

Break 2 – 120bpm

Break 3 – 144bpm

Break 4 – 162bpm

Break 5 – 150bpm

Break 6 – 156 bpm

So this lead to my minimum/maximum/average being 104/162/139 over 45 minutes. I was drenched with sweat and my legs were pretty wobbly, even two days later (as I’m writing this post) my arse is still sore. It probably wasn’t the best idea to do this workout two days before running the Ragnar Relay in Cape Cod; a 24 hour, 12 person, 200 mile relay road race. I’m sure it’ll be fine (famous last words).

I looked around YouTube to try and find some examples of a plyometric workout and this video actually made me laugh out loud: two bros just doin P90X together, super serious, and videotaping it for the world, no big deal haha, enjoy:

P90X Shoulders, Biceps, and Triceps

Posted on May 9, 2012 by The Young Urban Unprofessional

Despite climbing all day yesterday, I decided it would be a great idea to do an hour of P90X in the gym. Today (the next day) I am certainly sore as hell, but I do these workouts frequently so it wasn’t too much worse that normal. Back in 2008 I did the full 90 days of P90X and I followed it pretty strictly. I did it mostly because I had seen so many of the infomercials on late night television. It wasn’t marketed as an everyman’s workout, they said it wouldn’t take Joe-Shmo off the couch and make him shredded, they advertised it was taking someone who’s in great shape, and putting them in unbelievable shape. I thought to myself, “I’m in pretty good shape and yes I’d love to be in ridiculous shape, count me in.” I bought into it despite the corny-ness and hype associated with workout DVDs and it worked out great for me and I was sore every day for 90 days, #win.

After doing P90X and P90X+, I still mix the workouts into my weekly routine. I’ll do one or two of my favorite workouts each week on top of running, hiking, climbing and my other outdoor activities. Today I did a workout called Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps which has 24 different exercises that rotated between chest, shoulders, triceps for eight sets.

Workout sheet for Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps

After watching the videos a few dozen times and inadvertently memorizing every phrase that comes out of Tony Horton’s mouth, I now go straight off the workout sheets. There are a few exercises that I don’t like so I replace with ones that I find to be better for me. For example, who knows why they decided to put a set of one-armed pushups near the end of a 24 exercise Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps program, NFW, not going to happen Horton. So I substitute the one arm pushup for a staggered arm pushup where the hands are offset, one in front of the other but still a shoulder’s width apart.

All in all it was a great workout. My heart rate didn’t get too high but I was certainly pumped and my arms were totally useless by the end of it which I see as a general success of this workout. My min/max/average heart rates for this workout were 95/156/131 respectively. I highly recommend giving P90X a try, the structure helps keep you on track with your fitness goals and it’ll certainly challenge you every day.