Run to Win

This week last year used a few anecdotes to get some points across and commented on some recent news.

• Sometimes (usually) it is not such a bad thing to get lost on a run; it can help you learn new routes.
• When you have trouble with dogs, it will usually because the owner neglects them in some way, shape or form. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to come after you. Sometimes, though, a leash just isn’t enough. Ice can play a part in that too.
• I found a website that helped you to determine what you needed more to qualify for Boston, speed or endurance.
• On the news front, the USATF extended their drug policy to coaches, which I think was a good move.
• Are you having trouble losing weight? Perhaps you are doing too much aerobic exercise. An Alwyn Cosgrove inspired article.
• This week two years ago, I continued my series on animated exercises by demonstrating how to do a prone leg curl, and gave a great tip for how to warm up cold bars in your home gym when you are exercising. I also reviewed stabilicers, which are great for maintaining traction in icy conditions when you don’t want to put screws directly into your shoes.

A couple of years ago, I reviewed The New Rules of Lifting by Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove. It is one of my favorite exercise books and I have tailored quite a few of my lifting routines after ones that were provided in that book over the past couple of years. A common question that a lot of people were asking the authors, though, was how to adjust the workouts so that they would be appropriate for women.

Now, there is a New Rules of Lifting for Women. I have not read the book yet, so I do not know how different that it is from the original book. According to Lou Schuler, most workouts that would work for men will also work for women, except that instead of gaining bulk they would just get in shape and look better as women do not have as much testosterone as men do.

Ryan Lee interviewed Lou Schuler last week about writing the book, and they discussed why he wrote it and some of the influences that Schuler had. You can listen to the 12 minute interview at Ryan’s site or by clicking play here:
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I wrote a month and a half ago about the “300″ workout, which was a rite of passage for actors in the movie after they got in shape. The workout consists of the following exercises done back to back to back:

25x Pull-up +
50x Deadlift @ 135lbs +
50x Push-up +
50x Box Jump @ 24” box +
50x Floor Wiper @ 135lbs (one-count) +
50x KB Clean and Press @ 36lbs (KB must touch floor between reps) +
25x Pull-up

If you were curious exactly how to go about that, Craig Ballantyne of Men’s Health made a video demonstration.

(Source: Alwyn Cosgrove)

I just discovered the Precision Nutrition Forums through Alwyn Cosgrove. The forums used to be a bonus for paid customers of John Berardi’s Precision Nutrition program, but he recently opened the forum up to the public. It has a lot of e-books, exercise programs, and a good back log of nutrition and exercise related Q&A from the customers and members of the forum that are answered by experts in the field.

I signed up for the forum about a half hour ago, and I have seen enough to know that there are a few programs that I am going to try out after I run the Boston Marathon. You don’t need to register to be able to read the topics; you can just click through and see what other people have written. You can download some of the PDF e-books that are on the site, but some of them are still protected and for member’s of the system only. It looks like all of the interviews are for member download only. There is still a lot to see, though, and I am looking forward to digging through the archives.

I will link some of the more interesting ones that I find here at Run to Win.

I read the other day about the making of a Spartan, where Chris at Strength News pointed out some articles about how the actors trained for the movie 300. This morning, Alwyn Cosgrove wrote about the 300 Workout, which is relevant as he was one of the trainers.

“The second misconception surrounds the idea of the Spartan workout, aka “300” [or the 300 workout], how frequently it was done or who actually finished it. “300” is a one-time test, an invitation-only challenge undertaken by those deemed ready for it. By the end of our four-month project 17 people had done the workout (Logan and I were two of them). This constitutes about 50% of the cast and stunt crew. We supervised every test, evaluated each rep for quality and only counted those that achieved our standards for form and range of motion. Like many workouts “300” is not hard once you’ve done it but the apprehension built up ahead of it – something we encouraged – was enough to make some guys fear it to the degree that performance was compromised. This workout was a crucible that some passed through and others still have hanging over them.

“300 Spartan Workout”

25x Pull-up +
50x Deadlift @ 135lbs +
50x Push-up +
50x Box Jump @ 24” box +
50x Floor Wiper @ 135lbs (one-count) +
50x KB Clean and Press @ 36lbs (KB must touch floor between reps) +
25x Pull-up
300 reps total”

(The actors and stunt men performed the workout against the clock).

That’s a helluva workout, and I doubt that I would ever bother myself to do it. I can understand how some of the actors built up a certain apprehension before attempting it.

That being said, the interesting part about Alwyn Cosgrove’s article was the methodology that they went to in order to get the cut look that the actors in the movie had. They did not give the actors a diet and work out regimen that they thought would lead to an aesthetically pleasing appearance; they gave them a diet and regimen that would get them strong and fit and let their bodies figure out what to do in terms of appearance. They wanted the actors to be able to perform great athletic feats, and not just look like they should be able to.

It is a great lesson, and even though most of us will probably never get paid nearly as much money to get into shape, we can still do our best to better our abilities. Skip the bicep curls the next time you are at the gym, and throw in an extra set or three of squats or deadlifts. They will give you more functional strength, if you manage to keep that up long enough will lead to having a better looking body anyway.

And don’t forget to check out Alwyn Cosgrove’s article if you are interested in seeing a before and after comparison of one of the actors.

Just about all of the news this week last year was about making your body better. There was a race report, a review of some gloves, and a whole bunch of articles about lifting weights and getting in shape.

• I continued the animated lifting series with instructions on how to do swiss ball dumbbell bench presses. I also had another dietary workout tip where I suggest that you always eat before and after working out. It is great advice.
• I reported upon the 2006 running of the Irish Road Rover, locally known as Ború’s race due to where it starts and finishes. I also mentioned my thoughts on early season pub races, of which the Road Rover is one.
• I reviewed a pair of under armour gloves that I have used quite a bit over the past year or so. My review still stands, although now that I have actually tested the gloves in colder weather they are a bit lacking. They do have a wide range where they work well, though, and on those colder days do serve as a good layer beneath some mittens.
• I began a weekly series on what I thought about the 20 new rules of lifting found in the book by the same name. I posted two rules per week, beginning this week with the list of rules and the first rule: use your muscles as they were designed.

Alwyn Cosgrove is always talking about how he feels that people should not do so much aerobic exercise when they’re sole intention is to lose fat. People who are new to exercise will see huge gains at first, because their body is not very efficient at walking on the elliptical or treadmill or stair climber. But people who are moderately fit or have at least been doing it for a while will become more efficient at the activity, and will burn fewer calories with the same amount of work.
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2006 has been a really busy year here at Run to Win. The website has really grown. I have written a total of about 750 articles so far, with around 900 comments and trackbacks on those articles. I have been taking a look at some of the most popular content over the past year, and some of it surprises me a little bit.

Based on total traffic throughout the year, my most popular topic that I wrote about is Dean Karnazes and his announcement to run 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. His announcement back in April and the coverage this Autumn as he ran it drove quite a bit of traffic through the site, as did Sam Thompson’s 50 marathon feat which finished up as Dean was starting.

The next most popular article was just a one off workout tip that I wrote about eating before and after working out last March. I have touched on diet quite a few times this years, giving my views and offering advice; I even hit on some zany ideas like intuitive eating. None of those articles were nearly as popular, though, or had as much time to be popular.

My series of articles on The New Rules of Lifting was also extremely popular. I hope that a few people decided to pick up a copy of the book, because I have been using workouts from it all year and have been very happy with my results. It probably did not hurt that one of the book’s authors, Alwyn Cosgrove, responded to the review. I shared my thoughts on all 20 new rules of lifting for those that wanted a preview of the first half of the book. The best part was definately the workout plans, though.

The series of articles that I wrote about Marathon Preparation this Autumn did not really have time to get enough eyeballs on it to make it to my official list, but I have no doubt it will be one of my most popular topics over the coming year. The past 2 or 3 months have shown that the tips in this 9 article series is very much in demand.

After reviewing Coast to Coast, I held a contest for a free copy of the book. I was rooting for a friend of mine to win the free copy, but I didn’t rig the system so somebody that I did not know wound up winning. By coincidence, it was somebody that is currently going to RIT. I also discovered that a current teammate of mine had also done a relay from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean about 20 years ago. That was when I discovered that transcontinental relay record.

I was a little bit surprised that my series about shoe maintenance was not more popular. I wrote all 12 articles ahead of time and had them appear on this site while I was on my honeymoon. My video about how to keep your shoes tied, however, was also very popular. It was helped in part by being a part of a group writing project over at ProBlogger, as is this article, for that matter!

I am looking forward to 2007, and have a lot of plans on ways to improve this website and provide even more valuable content for you. Until then, enjoy your holidays, and check out a few more retrospectives and looks ahead over at the ProBlogger group writing project.